THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, September 2, 1996 TAG: 9609020041
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MEREDITH COHN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE LENGTH: 141 lines
The view of the small, concrete boat ramp nestled in the trees and vines is nearly blocked from Route 17 - presenting an appearance that belies its responsibility.
The ramp serves as Chesapeake's only public entrance into the Great Dismal Swamp Wildlife Refuge. The 22-year-old, 107,000-acre national wildlife refuge that borders the city's western edge and spills over into Suffolk.
For all its vast beauty, city and refuge officials fear that few local residents regularly enjoy the swamp and even fewer tourists know what it has to offer.
Many natives have never set foot inside the refuge to see the largest collection of black bears on the East Coast, miles of leaf-adorned canals approaching 170 years old and the 3,100-acre depression at the refuge's center, Lake Drummond. According to legend, it was created by a meteorite.
Residents and officials are engaged in a long-running discussion about how to improve access to the swamp's Chesapeake side for tourists and locals.
But growth and infrastructure improvements in the swamp face obstacles that are monetary, political and environmental.
``Any change is going to take support locally,'' said Lloyd A. Culp Jr., the refuge's manager.
``It's an awareness thing,'' he said. ``It's easy to forget about us down here in the corner of the city. When the community decides to get behind something, that will be the key to getting it done.''
Culp loosely estimates that 25,000 to 30,000 people visit the refuge each year. They are mainly locals who enter from the swamp's Suffolk side, he believes, but more fishermen, canoeists and kayakers have been spotted on the Chesapeake side in recent years.
While any change is probably years away, swamp officials have produced ideas that include enlarging the ramp and the narrow, gravel parking lot next to it. Any Chesapeake entrance, however, always likely will be by boat because the Dismal Swamp Canal, which runs for 22 miles from Norfolk into North Carolina, acts as a moat along the refuge's eastern border.
Also, Route 17 closely parallels the canal, limiting the area the refuge has for expansion to a slim stretch. The Virginia Department of Transportation is considering about a dozen alternatives to widening the road, one of which may involve moving it to accommodate refuge growth.
Another development idea is creation of one long visitor trail linking the swamp's Chesapeake and Suffolk territories. The trail would allow groups of refuge visitors to witness the wildlife safely without disrupting it.
There are no trails on the Chesapeake side now, and hikers and bikers in Suffolk can take only self-guided tours along old timber roads.
Other suggestions include a visitors' center on the Chesapeake side and official concessionaires to sell food and rent kayaks, canoes and small motor boats - although a 10-horsepower limit would remain, Culp said.
Now, the only real amenities besides the ramp are scattered picnic benches along Route 17. Most boaters and fishermen bring their own boats. Limited motor boat and kayak tours are available by appointment through two private operators.
In addition to finding support and funding for these projects, another issue causing officials concern is the refuge's mission: ecosystem preservation.
Each year several hunters and hikers veer off the 150 miles of old timber roads, lose their bearings and require rescue, Culp said. The refuge beyond the timber roads is generally untouched by man. Also, boaters often discover the shallow parts of the water for themselves when they run atop something such as an old tree stump.
``It's kind of rustic in the woods and at times you could be out here alone,'' said Culp said from his boat in the middle of Lake Drummond. ``We don't want to turn the Dismal Swamp into Disneyland, but, at the same time, it could accommodate more people.''
Refuge officials have initiated some growth. The Army Corps of Engineers, which maintains the canals, is improving a rail line crossing that allows boaters to pull their crafts from one part of a feeder canal to another, the only way boaters from Chesapeake can get from the canal into the rest of the swamp and Lake Drummond. Also, managers are looking for money to buy surrounding private land important to the refuge ecosystem.
Willing sellers have offered about 3,000 acres, but the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service does not have the money - more than $750,000 - and Culp fears it will be lost to another buyer, as was a tract recently on the Suffolk side.
Congress doles out funding to the service, as well as other federal land management agencies, from a federal pot called the Land and Water Conservation Fund. It's fueled by a tax on offshore oil and gas production. But in the past few years, much of the money has not been allocated for land purchases because lawmakers have successfully argued that the feds cannot care for property they now manage - particularly in the national parks, which have seen a dramatic surge in visitors.
The Chesapeake land was not even included on the service's wish list this year, according to Mitch Snow, a spokesman for the Fish and Wildlife Service in Washington.
``Difficult choices have to be made in times of limited resources,'' Snow said. ``That's not to say the refuge will never get any money for land or for for other things like a visitors' center. It just means it's not going to happen next year.''
The service got almost $67 million for land purchases in 1995, and about $37 million in 1996. The service requested $21 million from the Land and Water Conservation Fund for all 508 of its refuges for 1997.
``To say the money has shrunk is an understatement,'' Snow said. ``It's nearly disappeared.''
The refuges accept private funds, but Culp said the swamp's main supporters, a group called the Great Dismal Swamp Coalition, does not have that kind of money.
The city is trying to develop ways to help the swamp and, in return, capitalize on it economically and recreationaly, said Jaleh Pett, a long-range planner for Chesapeake.
``We consider it a resource,'' said Pett, who recently toured the swamp to gather information for a comprehensive plan of development for the area. ``For now, in terms of access, there aren't any plans, but it's never too early to start thinking about it.''
Pett said convincing Chesapeake residents the swamp is an asset could be difficult.
``It's a Catch-22,'' she said. ``We need better access to get more visitors, but we need more visitors to argue for better access. We have to work on public awareness.''
Culp, the refuge manager, pointed out that the refuge does not drain city resources for fire and maintenance. Further, the federal government pays about $100,000 a year to the city in lieu of taxes that could have been charged for the land if it wasn't in government control.
Motor boat tour guide George T. Wallace IV, whose family has lived by the swamp for four generations, said the swamp's value to the region shouldn't be underestimated.
``It's hard to believe the whole area used to look pristine like this,'' he said. ``At least we have a piece of it left to see.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo by GARY C. KNAPP
Mike Wirth of Virginia Beach, left, and Bill Bland of North Carolina
help launch a boat into the Intracoastal Waterway. The ramp is the
only public entrance to the swamp in Chesapeake.
Graphic
More Information
For more information about the swamp, call the Dismal Swamp
National Wildlife Refuge office in Suffolk at 986-3705.
For motor boat tour reservations call Dismal Swamp Tours at
421-0729.
For kayak tour information call Outdoor Experience at 464-5794.
To join the Great Dismal Swamp Coalition, write to the group at
Suite 30, 4107 Portsmouth Blvd., No. 101, Chesapeake, Va. 23321.
Watch for details advertised in the Pilot about a meeting this
winter on the Route 17 road-widening project held by the Virginia
Department of Transportation. The public will be invited to discuss
the impact on the swamp.
KEYWORDS: CHESAPEAKE DISMAL SWAMP BOAT RAMP by CNB