| Fast Facts |
location
240 miles from Washington, D.C.; 20 miles from Virginia Beach
ecoregion
Chesapeake Bay Lowlands
project size
670 square miles
preserves
Virginia Coast Reserve
public lands
Chincoteague and Fisherman's Island national wildlife refuges, Assateague National Seashore, Kiptopeke State Park
partners
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Science Foundation, Center for Conservation Biology, Virginia Marine Resources Commission, Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, Coastal Virginia Avian Partnership, Ducks Unlimited
conservancy initiatives
Fire, Freshwater, Global Climate Change, Marine, Invasive Species
natural events
Eastern Shore Birding Festival, October; migration of shore birds, April-June | |
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| Preserving local traditions may be the best solution to protecting the last stretch of coastal wilderness remaining between Maine and Florida. |
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Winter sunset, Phillips Creek Marsh.
© Macduff Everton |
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Across the Chesapeake Bay from Virginia’s mainland, the tip of the Delmarva Peninsula forms a narrow finger of farm field and salt marsh laced with tidal creeks, mud flats, shallow bays and ponds. Together with the 18 sandy barrier islands that shift along its margins, this flat and fragile landscape comprises the longest stretch of coastal wilderness remaining on the Atlantic Coast of the United States.
Here on Virginia’s Eastern Shore, 850 miles of shoreline provide varied and ample habitat for 380 species of resident and migratory birds. In autumn, one of the greatest concentrations of Atlantic Flyway neotropical songbirds and raptors converge in mixed-hardwood forests along the shore. Winter brings thousands of ducks and geese to the marshes. And piping plovers make their nests on broken-shell beaches in spring while shorebirds, including 80 percent of the Northern Hemisphere’s whimbrel population, arrive in droves to feed and rest on the mudflats.
The barrier islands have been at various times the hunting grounds of Native Americans, a hide-out for pirates and a resort for well-heeled hunters. Some islands hosted short-lived settlements, but frequent storms prevented any long-term occupancy. Vestiges of fishing villages now lie beneath the waves. Beginning in 1969, The Nature Conservancy bought 14 of the islands as the core of the Virginia Coast Reserve, to ward off huge development schemes that would have seen marinas, bridges and condos built. Parts of the mainland were later added to the reserve to safeguard coastal marsh lagoons—nurseries for fish and shellfish.
Today lower land prices and the Eastern Shore’s rural charm are attracting residential development from nearby Virginia Beach and other cities of Hampton Roads—only 20 miles away via the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel. Unplanned development will undermine not only this world-class ecosystem but also its historic farm and fishing communities. The Nature Conservancy works to influence land-use planning and is helping local communities learn about development approaches that preserve local character, history, traditions and, ultimately, the ecosystem itself.
Learn more about The Nature Conservancy's work in Virginia. |
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| Conservation Profile |
targets
Chesapeake Bay estuary, barrier islands, coastal lagoons, salt marsh, Delmarva fox squirrel, piping and Wilson’s plovers, American oystercatcher, terns, black skimmer
stresses
incompatible development and agricultural practices, overfishing, incompatible forestry practices, invasive species
strategies
acquire land, secure conservation easements, promote ecologically compatible land-use practices, build conservation alliances, protect water quality and supply
results
approximately 100,000 acres in conservation management; 14 barrier islands protected; last undeveloped coastal barrier island lagoon system on eastern seaboard protected; local citizens groups established | | | | |
