Media Center - Press Release
Media inquiries: Please contact Dave Neudeck, dave.neudeck@dcr.virginia.gov, 804-786-5053.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: September 29, 2015
Contact: Julie Buchanan, Senior Public Relations and Marketing Specialist, 804-786-2292, julie.buchanan@dcr.virginia.gov
Land critical for migratory birds, other natural resources, preserved in Northampton County
Parcel is an addition to Pickett’s Harbor Natural Area Preserve on Virginia’s Eastern Shore
A photo is available at https://flic.kr/p/yXuQUm.
RICHMOND, VIRGINIA — A small but important property on Virginia’s Eastern Shore has been acquired by the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation as part of a long-range initiative to permanently protect coastal natural areas and habitat for migratory birds.
The property is an addition to the existing 122-acre
Pickett’s Harbor Natural Area Preserve. The preserve was established to protect highly threatened natural communities of the Chesapeake Bay, including exceptional beach, secondary dunes, wetlands and maritime forest.
“While this addition to Pickett’s Harbor Natural Area Preserve may be small in size, its significance is huge,” said Tom Smith, DCR Natural Heritage director. “The property contains state and globally rare maritime forest and critical migratory songbird habitat. There aren’t many natural communities of this kind left, and the songbirds need all the stopover and refueling habitat they can get.”
Designation as a state natural area preserve guarantees the property will not be developed. Its resources will be managed by DCR’s Natural Heritage stewardship staff, whose goal is to restore and sustain the preserve’s biodiversity.
DCR purchased the property from The Nature Conservancy. The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality Coastal Zone Management Program helped finance the purchase with a federal grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
For years, the property has been a conservation priority for DCR and the other agencies that make up the Eastern Shore Southern Tip Partnership. The partnership has worked since the early 1990s to protect key land for migratory birds and other coastal species. The southern tip provides critical habitat for migratory songbirds, raptors, shorebirds and waterfowl.
“Keeping this parcel out of development helps buffer adjacent land and resources against sea-level rise and erosion,” said Michael Lipford, executive director of The Nature Conservancy’s Virginia chapter. “It also protects the integrity of the food sources and habitat needs of migratory birds.”
The Eastern Shore Southern Tip Partnership is made up of the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, The Nature Conservancy, the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality Coastal Zone Management Program, the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, the Virginia Eastern Shore Land Trust, Ducks Unlimited and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
An estimated 5 to 6 million neotropical landbirds and 10 to 12 million temperate landbirds rest and feed on the Eastern Shore’s southern tip during fall migrations. The region plays host to the annual
Eastern Shore Birding and Wildlife Festival, which will be held Oct. 8-11 in Cape Charles.
DCR’s Natural Area Preserve System now contains 62 natural area preserves supporting 760 exemplary natural communities and rare species on 55,600 acres.
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