THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, June 20, 1996 TAG: 9606200464
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: WARSAW, VA. LENGTH: 44 lines
The Chesapeake Bay Foundation has donated seven miles of Richmond County creek frontage to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as the foundation for a wildlife refuge along the Rappahannock River.
``We are pleased to receive this property and see the Rappahannock River Valley National Wildlife Refuge become a reality,'' Ron Lambertson, regional director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said Tuesday.
The 1,112 acres along Cat Point Creek, a Rappahannock tributary, are home to a nesting pair of bald eagles and attract large numbers of ducks and geese in the winter. So far, 148 bird species have been found on the property.
The wildlife service has been working for five years to protect land along the lower Rappahannock. The federal agency identifies the region as one of its top 10 protection priorities in the nation.
Biologists recognize the tidal Rappahannock as an important wintering ground for migratory waterfowl in the Atlantic Flyway. Preservationists see it as the last undeveloped coastal river in the Chesapeake Bay's watershed.
Barry Brady, who has been named the manager of the refuge, said the Cat Point Creek property initially will be open to the public on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays beginning on a date to be announced.
The tract contains extensive marshes, farmland and pastures along Cat Point Creek and should be a favorite site for hiking and bird watching.
Brothers Michael Tayloe of Newport News and Richard H. Tayloe of Mount Laurel, N.J., sold the property to a conservation group more than a year ago after ruling out resort and residential development.
The Washington-based Trust for Public Land paid $1.7 million for the property, using a federal grant from tax money raised from sportsmen on the sale of guns, ammunition and outboard motor fuel.
The trust immediately gave the property to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, which spent the past year restoring wetlands.
``This is the best thing that could have happened to the property,'' said Estie Thomas, who heads the Bay foundation's Rappahannock office in Tappahannock.
KEYWORDS: CHESAPEAKE BAY FOUNDATION by CNB