Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, September 26, 1993 TAG: 9309260005
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B8 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium
The partnership, which was announced Friday, would set up the Virginia Coast Institute. The new organization will double as a think tank and classroom for conservationists, the university's academics and students, and Eastern Shore municipal planners. Its missions will include fostering small businesses and doing marine science research.
Old Dominion and The Nature Conservancy hope the institute will become a laboratory for sustained development, meaning more cooperation between developers and ecologists.
"We're looking for ways to capitalize on our world-class assets while protecting them for the long-term future," said Timothy Hayes, director of sustainable development for Northampton County, where the institute will be located. "Our community decided to protect the rural character and lifestyle here but at the same time build jobs and industry. The challenge is how to do both."
The institute will build on Old Dominion University and Nature Conservancy projects already in place on the Eastern Shore. The Norfolk school has had a barrier island marine science research station at Oyster since the 1970s. In addition, its health science college treats Eastern Shore migrant workers.
The university also brings access to more than $50 million a year in research grants and dozens of faculty members, researchers and laboratories. Grants will eventually be the financial bedrock of the new institute, university officials said.
The Nature Conservancy, meantime, offers the resources of its 650,000-member organization. The conservancy owns more than 1 million acres nationally. Among its land holdings are 43,000 acres along the Eastern Shore's Atlantic coast, including 14 of the 18 barrier islands.
The islands and surrounding marshes and shoreline provide pristine and undisturbed habitat for shorebirds and other marine life, including shellfish. They have been identified by the United Nations as among the rarest and most valuable ecosystems in the world.
"We see the Eastern Shore as a prime laboratory for our students and faculty to work together," said Jo Ann Gora, Old Dominion provost. "We are crafting here a model for how universities will relate to communities in the 21st century."
The Nature Conservancy, the world's largest conservation organization, entered into a partnership with Old Dominion in part because of its proximity and commitment to the Eastern Shore.
"If we succeed, we will have established a model that can be used on a global scale," Old Dominion President James V. Koch said. "Preserving this ecological system is an important goal for us and them."
The institute will be housed in a leased building in Northampton County. A site hasn't been selected yet but it will probably be near The Nature Conservancy's coast reserve headquarters at Nassawadox.
M. Lee Payne, a Hampton Roads banker and former Old Dominion rector, plans to raise $400,000 in money to launch the institute. No opening date was announced.
Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.