THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, February 1, 1995 TAG: 9501310115
SECTION: ISLE OF WIGHT CITIZEN PAGE: 08 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY LINDA MCNATT, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SOUTHAMPTON COUNTY LENGTH: Long : 162 lines
IF THE BIOGRAPHY of Dr. Arthur Kirk, a retired orthopedic surgeon who lives in Portsmouth, is ever written, it might go something like this:
Arthur Kirk was born and grew up in Suffolk. As a boy, he roamed the woods and fields of Chuckatuck.
He went to college at Virginia Tech. From there, he went to the Medical College of Virginia.
For years, he was a successful surgeon.
When he reached his senior years, he retired, polished gemstones, belonged to the Archeological Society of Virginia.
And he gave to the world an enchanted forest.
As Kirk, 79, stood on a knoll in that forest on a recent sunny, winter day, he studied the bottomlands of the Blackwater River just beneath him and smiled.
``This,'' he said, peering into the damp valley, ``is a very special place. It's something that has been here for a long, long time.''
And thanks to Kirk, this forest where the river runs will be here for a long, long time, just as it is.
Kirk and his wife, Marie, recently donated 77 acres of pristine woods near Ivor to the Nature Conservancy, a national, nonprofit conservation group dedicated to protecting and preserving rare and endangered species and outstanding examples of natural areas all over the country.
They did it, the retired doctor said, because they want the forest to remain a special place. Always.
The land is on the Southampton County side of the Blackwater, directly across the river from Isle of Wight County. Geographically, the Kirk tract is like much of the area surrounding Windsor, Zuni and Ivor: sandy soil dotted with wetlands.
In the river bottom, the low, marshy, fertile land with rich biological diversity has ties to the Earth like few other places.
About 150,000 years ago, much of southeastern Virginia was covered by a saltwater sea with tidal action. When the Sangamon Sea subsided into the Atlantic Ocean after the last Ice Age, it left behind sandy bottoms, natural ponds and wetlands.
Many of the plants and animals that exist in the area - especially in undeveloped, pristine forests along the rivers, like the Kirk tract - have existed since the beginning of time. Naturalists speak to the importance of assuring they remain until the end of time.
To envision what the forest is like, it's helpful to imagine what the first settlers who came to Virginia might have seen, says Rob Riordan, a conservancy spokesman in Charlottesville.
All of Southeastern Virginia would have been a wilderness with swampy areas and incredible wildlife everywhere.
``Because of all the development, there are only a few areas anywhere that even resemble what must have been,'' Riordan said in a recent interview. ``But there are still a few untouched patches, and they tend to cluster around these river corridors. If we don't take steps to preserve these last few remnants, 50 years from now it will all be gone.''
It is, in effect, a ``natural museum,'' says Tom Smith, director of the Natural Heritage Division of the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation.
``It's one of the most spectacular old-growth cypress/tuppelo stands certainly in Virginia and, I would say, in much of the Southeast. I don't think you could take anyone out there that they won't just stop and stare and reflect upon the beauty of the place.''
Part of the interest and the beauty of the forest is in the contrast the river bottomland provides its surroundings.
The knoll where Kirk recently stood paints a landscape of typical Virginia woodlands, with pine trees, holly, hardwoods and saplings stretching toward the sky.
But just below the knoll, the landscape plunges into another world, a world of fern-covered earth carpeted in lacy cypress droppings, of cypress knobs jutting from the ground like stalagmites from a cavern floor.
And above it all, standing like mammoth sentries, are the cypress trees, many of them several hundred years old.
Kirk calls the forest ``unique,'' unlike any place he's ever seen. Others call it ``awe-inspiring,'' ``untouched,'' ``a treasure.''
But Kirk will always remember his late father's words.
John Russell Kirk, who owned and operated a family-owned sawmill near Chuckatuck, now in Suffolk, that still exists today, sent a cousin to Ivor when the tract was auctioned in the mid-1940s. His father bought the land, Arthur Kirk said, and the cousin wanted to know: whatever for?
``Our cousin said, `It's not good for anything,' '' Kirk recalled, chuckling as his laughter echoed across the swampy ravine. ``And my father said, `Well, if it's not worth anything else, it will hold the world together.' ''
Kirk's father died in 1969 and left the land to his wife. When she passed away in 1971, Kirk and his brother, Stokes, divided the family's land holdings.
Over the years, the entire family has always been aware of the significance of what originally was known as the Pompie Tract, said Charles Rose, vice president of Kirk Lumber in Suffolk.
It has been opened for anybody to visit and to enjoy for hunting and recreation, but there was always a warning that there would be no timbering.
``You can't imagine what it's like in the summertime,'' Rose said. ``It's like going into the Superdome in Georgia. I can't explain the feeling I get when I walk in here. All these years, lightning has struck, the wind has blown, and these cypress are stronger than any natural element.''
It's likely the trees were almost as large when the settlers came as they are today, Riordan said. Many have 25-foot circumferences, are up to 8 feet in diameter, and some are as tall as 140 feet.
Gary Williamson, a naturalist who explored the area in the mid-1980s, calls the cypress the giant redwoods of the Southeast. Over the years the trees have been in a protected area, he said. Cypress are fairly disease resistant, very slow-growing trees.
Riordan said the conservancy hopes eventually to expand the area. Kirk's gift, he said, could inspire others who own similar tracts along the river to donate the land for conservation.
The Kirk tract is filled with rare creatures such as barking tree frogs, and with snakes, lizards and salamanders. It's a haven for wood ducks and other waterfowl, for deer, raccoon, possum, beaver, otter and squirrels.
What has been dubbed by the conservancy as the Blackwater River Preserve will be opened to the public, but it will be much easier to get to by canoe than by land, Riordan said. So the conservancy intends to push the water approach. There will be no paved road leading there, no parking lots. The conservancy also plans to sponsor organized field trips for its members.
The Kirk family offered the land to the state as early as the 1950s, the doctor said, but the tract was too small for the state to be interested. About 10 years ago, he said, the Nature Conservancy contacted him.
It's taken that long to work out the details and to value the gift at $345,000.
The established preserve could attract visitors nationwide who are interested in the natural environment and could improve the economy in the entire area, said Smith, of the Department of Conservation and Recreation.
``The polls we've done tell us that the citizens of Virginia are very interested in having these types of places protected,'' he said.
Kirk hikes the area today with the vitality of a man half his age, Rose said. It's obvious every time he visits that he enjoys being there.
``It is so beautiful, and so wild,'' Kirk said, surveying his gift to fellow Virginians.
It is an enchanted forest - helping hold the world together. MEMO: The Nature Conservancy is a nonprofit, tax-exempt organization that
depends on individual and corporate contributions, foundation grants and
membership dues to support its mission of preserving biological
diversity.
For more information about the Nature Conservancy, write to the
Virginia chapter at 1233A Cedars Court, Charlottesville, Va. 22903-4800,
or call (804) 295-6106.
National membership is $25 a year and includes a subscription to the
group's magazine.
ILLUSTRATION: [Cover]
[Color Photo]
A VERY SPECIAL PLACE
Staff photos by JOHN H. SHEALLY II
John Russell Kirk, who owned and operated a family-owned sawmill
near Chuckatuck, bought the land in the mid-1940s. His portrait,
above, hangs at the lumber company office in Everetts. Some old wood
tools, a plane and scribe, bear Kirk's name.
Staff photo by JOHN H. SHEALLY II
Dr. Arthur Kirk, a retired orthopedic surgeon who lives in
Portsmouth, donated 77 acres of pristine woods near Ivor to the
Nature Conservancy.
STAFF Map
by CNB