ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Monday, July 8, 1996                   TAG: 9607080074
SECTION: VIRGINIA                 PAGE: C-3  EDITION: METRO 
DATELINE: WOODBRIDGE 
SOURCE: Associated Press 

VA. BASE SAFE FOR DEMOCRACY ... AND BIRDS, TREES, FLOWERS

The Harry Diamond Laboratories once were used by the Army to test the effects of a nuclear attack, but planning for the end of the world helped save something wild.

In 1971, the Army began using electromagnetic pulse simulators on the base to test how well military equipment would hold up in a nuclear attack.

But the security measures that kept prying eyes away from the tests had an unexpected result - they created a haven for wildlife.

Now the picturesque base where the Potomac and Occoquan rivers meet is being closed down and turned into a wildlife refuge.

The House of Representatives recently appropriated $100,000 to help the old Army post, now called the Woodbridge Wildlife Refuge, open for education and research. It could happen as early as this year.

The 580-acre post has an uncommon combination of ecosystems: tidal river, freshwater bays, meadows and wetlands.

``We did this in response to folks coming to us,'' Rep. Tom Davis, R-Fairfax County, said of the refuge. ``It would have been just another routine base closure.''

With the appropriated money, the federal government plans to open the refuge to the public, offering nature walks, hiking trails and possibly a scenic drive.

Local schools and colleges already use the land for educational programs and research. Bird watchers are chronicling species, while students at Northern Virginia Community College are trapping, examining, tagging and releasing small land creatures.

``We know that this undisturbed land makes a good home for all of the species here, but we don't know why all these species are here,'' said Jim Waggener, chairman of the Woodbridge Foundation Inc., the group managing the land.

In the average suburban neighborhood, there are 60 to 75 species of birds living in the trees. At the Woodbridge Wildlife Refuge, there are roughly 210, including great blue heron, wood ducks, osprey, hawks and threatened bald eagles.

The Virginia Native Plant Society identified 650 native trees, shrubs, wildflowers, grasses and other plant life there in 1993.

Foxes, river otters, muskrats, beavers and deer feed and raise their young in the refuge.

``This is a very unique site, and one that we can preserve,'' said U.S. Sen. John Warner, R-Va., who plans to push the $100,000 appropriation through the Senate.

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