Cape Charles nature preserve back open and twice its size
Area was trashed over the summer by intruders
The Cape Charles Natural Area Preserve is open to the public again — and has nearly doubled in size.
The preserve closed for repairs over the summer after repeated trespassing and unauthorized use caused problems.
Some people jumped off the boardwalk and went through off-limits areas such as the coastal maritime forest and eroding dunes, while others walked over a sandy shore that’s a habitat for the endangered Northeastern beach tiger beetle, officials with the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation said at the time.
“The urge to get outside during the pandemic has led to a steadily increasing level of visitation that is impacting the stability of the boardwalk and the sensitive natural communities it traverses,” Dot Field,
Eastern Shore steward for the department’s natural heritage division, said in July.
The preserve, created in 1997, reopened last month with a revamped boardwalk, according to a department news release Wednesday. As before, there is no public beach access.
The formerly 29-acre area, located just south of the town on the Shore’s Chesapeake Bay side, also expanded to about 50 acres after the state acquired another 21 next to it.
That happened under Gov. Ralph Northam’s ConserveVirginia initiative, which picked out the spot as a high priority for natural habitat and ecosystem diversity, among other environmental issues.
The expansion, which includes non-tidal wetlands, will provide freshwater and a safe space for migratory birds, officials said.
“Land acquisition, permanent protection and habitat restoration are the best tools we have to ensure that high-quality habitat is available for these species,” natural heritage program director Jason Bulluck said in a statement.
Bulluck’ s program plans to manage the forest habitat by controlling non-native species that would, over time, decrease the birds’ habitat through changing its structure and makeup.