DATE: Thursday, November 27, 1997           TAG: 9711270694

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B4   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY MARY REID BARROW, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   54 lines

FARMER EMBRACES RESTORATION OF WETLANDS

Spooked, a flock of green-winged teal took off in a flurry from the water in John W. Cromwell Jr.'s recently restored wetlands in Pungo.

The ducks flew high and circled round and round, looking to settle back on the marsh to feed on seeds and roots of smartweed and other grasses that thrive where grains once grew on Cromwell's farm.

Had the teal migrated overhead last fall, they would have found a soybean field below. But this year, they found something different: rich wetlands full of food, just what ducks must have on their southern migration.

Another parcel of restored wetlands nearby is filling with water and will be available to waterfowl this winter, too. In all, Cromwell has returned 25 acres of farmland in a low area between his home and New Bridge Road to wetlands.

For his efforts, he recently was named Water Conservationist of the Year by the Virginia Wildlife Federation. The federation is a nonprofit wildlife conservation and education organization based in Richmond. It gives conservation awards annually to recognize outstanding conservers of wildlife resources.

Cromwell is the only person in South Hampton Roads to win a conservation award this year. In addition, as a result of the restorations, he was named Virginia Dare Conservation District Clean Water Farmer for 1997.

When Cromwell bought his farm, the low land already had been drained and turned into cropland. Before the 1950s however, it was wetlands along the shores of Tabernacle Creek, an arm of Back Bay.

Now the land is back as it was with a few man-made improvements. Earthen berms and water-control structures enable Cromwell to manage the wetlands to maintain the water at an optimum level for ducks. The restoration was a cost-sharing project with Ducks Unlimited, Virginia Department of Game and Island Fisheries, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Restoring wetlands not only brings back some fast-disappearing habitat for migrating ducks, but it also renews the marsh, important as a pollution and flood buffer for Back Bay.

Cromwell's efforts are not totally altruistic. He grows mainly vegetables, and only grains do well in the poorly drained soil. He also really likes having ducks around, he said, as he watched the skittery teal finally settle back on the water.

``Look at them go down,'' Cromwell said. ``Man, I wouldn't give a million dollars for that.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo

STEVE EARLEY/The Virginian-Pilot

John W. Cromwell Jr. was named Water Conservationist of the Year by

the Virginia Wildlife Federation for restoring two sections of his

Virginia Beach farm to their natural state as wetlands. He also has

been named Virginia Dare Conservation District Clean Water Farmer

for 1997.

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