Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, July 10, 1995 TAG: 9507100087
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ALISON FREEHLING DAILY PRESS
DATELINE: WILLIAMSBURG (AP) LENGTH: Medium
Since 1987, Kingsmill has been home to one of the most productive bald eagle nests in the Chesapeake Bay area. The nest has spawned 15 chicks, including its current occupants, two 12-week-olds about to fly for the first time.
Under pressure from federal and state wildlife agencies, Busch Properties Inc., which manages Kingsmill, has left a large buffer zone around the nest.
That includes six lots, valued at about $130,000 each, that were to have been part of a subdivision now under construction.
``It's kind of an unusual situation,'' said Keith Cline, a biologist with the state Department of Game and Inland Fisheries who has monitored the nest. ``It's not often that eagle nests and developers come into such close contact.''
The bald eagle has been on the federal Endangered Species List since 1978, after large numbers of the majestic birds died in the 1950s and 1960s of poisoning from DDT and other pesticides.
Federal law prohibits anyone from directly harming an eagle, but it does not stipulate how large a buffer zone should be kept around nests, Cline said.
``Individual regions have developed guidelines and provided them to landowners,'' he said. ``Generally, it's recommended that development not come within 750 feet of a nest. People are usually pretty cooperative.''
According to Bill Voliva, vice president of Kingsmill, the decision to protect the area around the nest was simple - but balancing development with preservation has been more complicated.
``Obviously, if the eagles weren't there, we'd be working on the land,'' Voliva said. ``The nest is in the central part of the remaining property to develop. But we've been preserving wildlife in Kingsmill from day one. Most of the wildlife here got here before we did.''
The Kingsmill nest, a bowl-shaped mass of sticks that measures about 5 feet across the top, sits near the top of a tall pine along the James River shoreline. Busch Properties, which in 1993 began working on the new subdivision as part of the expanding Kingsmill East development, originally planned to clear 23 lots.
Some of the lots came within 660 feet of the nest, which at one time was the recommended buffer zone.
In 1994, however, officials with the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries informed developers that the recommended buffer had been extended to 750 feet. Busch responded by overhauling its plan, redesigning lot placement and cutting the number of lots to 17.
``The new guidelines did catch us off guard,'' Voliva said. ``That 90 feet affected some of our earlier plan, and we had to work hard to adjust some lot placement. It took a lot of doing.''
It was a move greatly appreciated by area wildlife experts.
``While the eagle population has recovered, it is still an endangered species,'' said Mitchell Byrd, a College of William and Mary biology professor who specializes in birds. ``Busch Properties has made an admirable effort to protect this nest.''
The nest was discovered about eight years ago during one of the biannual flyovers of the area conducted by Byrd and other wildlife experts. Its yearly production has been well above average for the 170 nests in Virginia.
``The average works out to about one baby per nest,'' Cline said. ``I wouldn't want to call one nest more important than the other, but this one really is productive.''
The eagle population has increased steadily since the late 1970s; DDT use was banned in 1972. In Virginia, for example, numbers have climbed from a low of 40 breeding pairs in the early 1970s to about 170 pairs today.
The Kingsmill eagles leave their nest during the late summer and fall but return around December and lay their eggs in January, Cline said. Chicks usually hatch around April.
Scientists believe eagles pair for life, so it is possible that the same two eagles return to the nest each year, Cline said.
``Hopefully, if we're lucky, they'll keep deciding to come back, and all this will repeat itself again and again,'' he said.
by CNB