Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, May 13, 1990 TAG: 9005140171
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: MADELYN ROSENBERG NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: DUBLIN LENGTH: Medium
But this land, known to the locals as Roudebush, has something on it that surrounding properties don't have: a rest stop for birds.
A few of the 78 species spotted in Roudebush, just northeast of Dublin, are rare. Some nest here, feeding on bugs stirred up by the cows that roam fields on Neuhoff Farms. Others use the land on both sides of the road as a stopover when they fly north or south with the changing seasons.
"It's a habitat not many people are aware of," said Randi Lemmon, who works with both the New River Valley Planning District Commission and the New River Valley Preservation Society. "We need to devise ways of saving it."
Concern for the habitat began two years ago when the portion not owned by Neuhoff Farms was divided into 14 narrow lots shaped like bowling alleys. Houses have been built on five of the lots over the past eight months, Lemmon said, and bird lovers expect more.
"Birds in multitude cannot co-exist with people's dogs and children," Lemmon said. "We're trying to put together an alternative development scenario."
The scenario might include building around a protected 15-acre core or working with private groups to raise money to buy the critical areas, Lemmon said.
The planning commission is working on maps and sketches that identify the main and secondary habitats. The maps are expected to be complete by mid-May, and the preservation society and others concerned about the habitat plan to meet then to discuss possible action, Lemmon said.
In the meantime, he is trying to identify the landowners to seek their help and ideas.
"We don't want to threaten or scare the homeowners; we want to work with them to help reach a goal," he said.
Lemmon and others say land values could increase if the habitat is saved.
"If we plan it right, we can make this an asset to the community," said Clyde Kessler, who is helping put together an atlas documenting the birds of Virginia.
"People moved here because it was a nice, quiet place. We need to keep the green space. I'm not resistant to change. I don't mind if houses or industry go in there. I just don't want it to happen without setting aside a few acres of land."
The core of the habitat sometimes houses short-eared owls, Kessler said. On a nice night during a wet spring, bird watchers also may see a golden plover. Or a rough-legged hawk. Or an upland sandpiper, which has been on the list of Virginia's endangered species.
In November, Kessler spotted a peregrine falcon, which is on the federal endangered-species list. "But he was just passing through."
Birds need a stopover place as much as they need a place to breed, Kessler said. "It's like going on a long-distance trip and stopping at rest stops and hotels - we need places like that when we travel long distances. Birds need that sort of thing when they migrate."
It was Stan Bentley, a naturalist from Pulaski, who first noticed birds resting here.
"I was just driving through the area and saw the ponds and stopped," he said. "I stayed there for a while, but I didn't see anything. Then, after about three or four minutes, the ground started undulating."
Bentley said 300 pectoral sandpipers, birds usually found along the coast, flew into the air. Since that time, Bentley and other bird watchers have studied and documented a number of species at the site.
And for the past two years, they have studied options to keep development from coming too close to nature.
"We've been wishing and hoping, but not knowing where to go," Bentley said.
So far, the two or three lots at the core of the habitat, where water runoff creates a marsh, have not been sold.
"It would probably be unsatisfactory for a house anyway," Bentley said. "But if houses are built close to it, the birds might not use it."
Saving habitats like these is fast becoming an issue in the more urban areas of Virginia, Lemmon said. And he thinks the New River Valley can't be far behind.
"The New River Valley is a desirable place to live," Lemmon said. "We're going to see growth. But that growth needs to be steered, directed and planned. The concern over activities in Northern Virginia and the Tidewater area hasn't occurred here yet. There's just not that perception of concern, but I think it's time. We're developing, too."
Habitats such as Roudebush need to be identified now, while they still exist, Lemmon said.
"If we don't do it now, they'll be gone."
by CNB