THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Tuesday, March 19, 1996                TAG: 9603190302
SECTION: LOCAL                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: BY MASON PETERS, STAFF WRITER 
                                             LENGTH: Medium:   56 lines

CORPS OF ENGINEERS TO GIVE LAND AREA TO DISMAL SWAMP

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will donate 21.35 acres near Lake Drummond to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for use by the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge.

The move allows Dismal Swamp law enforcement authorities to have jurisdiction in the area, said William Brown, a spokesman for the Corps of Engineers in Norfolk.

The acreage is part of a recreational area where visitors may camp, fish, and use hiking trails in the heart of the 107,008 acres of the refuge.

The corps will continue to maintaine the recreation area as well as the spillway and the Lake Drummond feeder ditch that supplies water to the Dismal Swamp Canal.

The corps operates the locks at South Mills, N.C., and in Chesapeake's Deep Creek area, at each end of the Dismal Swamp Canal. The corps' task is to maintain a navigable depth of water in the 55-mile-long canal through the Lake Drummond spillway.

After Congress created the wildlife refuge in 1974, the corps retained jurisdiction over the area around the feeder ditch and Lake Drummond and kept personnel stationed at the spillway to operate the floodgates.

The historic canal, first surveyed by George Washington, was reopened last Saturday after being closed since last summer - initially because of low water. When the 1995 area drought continued, the corps decided to keep the canal closed and do maintenance work on the locks. Repairs were finished this month.

``By turning over this part of the refuge to the Fish and Wildlife Service, Dismal Swamp Wildlife law enforcement officers will have jurisdiction in the area,'' Brown said.

``The corps will maintain the buildings and grounds as well as operate the water control structure,'' Brown said.

Lloyd A. Culp Jr., manager of the Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, will join Maj. Jack D. Regan, deputy district engineer, at a ceremony on Friday that will mark the formal transfer of the land to the wildlife service, which was announced last week.

A spokesman for Culp said Monday that the Fish and Wildlife Service would monitor public use of the area and make any decisions about changes. ILLUSTRATION: CEREMONY

What: Formal transfer of land to Wildlife Service

Where: Dismal Swamp Canal Welcome Center on U.S. 17 in South

Mills

When: 11 a.m. Friday

VP Staff

by CNB