NEWSOMS
The Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation recently announced that a matching-fund grant from the Enviva Forest Conservation Fund will help permanently protect a 220-acre easement known as the Crowder and White tract in Southampton County. According to a press release from Enviva, the tract will be the first of two parcels of environmentally sensitive land in Southampton County to be protected with financial assistance from the Fund.

When the second easement is completed, a total of 385 acres of floodplain forestland, dominated by mature cypress-tupelo, will be protected. The land protected through this first award is across the Nottoway River from another parcel already protected by the DCR. Together, the two parcels form “The Narrows,” an important transit point for river herring, shad and alewife – fish species that rely on floodplain forests for spawning and nursery habitats. The swamps also provide habitats for a multitude of waterfowl, water birds, mammals, amphibians, reptiles and other fish.

The Narrows will now be permanently protected.

“The permanent protection of this property with a conservation easement is cause for celebration,” said Carlton Owen, president and CEO of the U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities, which administers the Enviva Forest Conservation Fund. “Not only is it a valuable property for fish, wildlife and recreation, it is also the first transaction to be completed of the four Enviva Forest Conservation Fund awards made in 2016. It’s the first of many more to come.”

The Fund awarded $500,00 in 2016 to help conserve more than 2,000 acres of environmentally sensitive forests. In addition to the DCR, 2016 grant recipients included the Virginia and North Carolina chapters of The Nature Conservancy and the Triangle Land Conservancy of North Carolina.

The Crowder and White tract easement was made possible through combined support of the Fund, donated timber value from the owner, and a North American Wetlands Conservation Act grant secured by Ducks Unlimited and supported by several partners, including the Atlantic Coast Joint Venture, the Virginia Department of Game and  Inland Fisheries, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Virginia Outdoors Foundation.

“Conversion to other uses is one of the greatest threats to Virginia forests,” said Clyde Christman, director of the Virginia DCR. “Our partnership with the Enviva Forest Conservation Fund and Ducks Unlimited builds on the Cypress Bridge Natural Area Preserve, allowing us to conserve another key property along the Nottoway River and protect more ecologic, recreational and scenic resources, helping to build a legacy for future generations in southeast Virginia.”

The conservation easement blends forest land reclamation with conservation of cypress/tupelo swamp forest, one of four specific types of sensitive bottomland forest ecosystems the Fund has targeted for special conservation.

The terms of the conservation easement will eliminate all timber harvesting in the wetlands, as well as any subdivision and development rights.

The landowner, a Southampton County local who made this property available and provided a significant contribution toward the easement in the form of donated timber value in a desire to see this section of the Nottoway River permanently protected, will continue to hold hunting and fishing privileges. As the easement holder, the Virginia DCR will conduct annual monitoring visits to document easement conditions.

“Conservation easements are irreplaceable in meeting the needs of landowners who wish to protect valuable natural resources,” said Ducks Unlimited Conservation Lands Coordinator Justin Park.

“Ducks Unlimited is proud to work with grant partners, VA DCR, private landowners and the Enviva Forest Conservation Fund to help landowners protect sensitive bottomlands while continuing to enjoy the area for recreation. Such easements provide the best of both worlds — protection of broad benefits to society at large while also affording rights to the landowner.”

“Enviva is very pleased to announce the permanent protection made possible by our very first project under the Enviva Forest Conservation Fund — the Virginia DCR’s Lower Nottoway River Project,” said Jennifer C. Jenkins Ph.D., vice president and chief sustainability officer at Enviva. “We treasure the forests and communities where we work, and we are absolutely delighted to be a part of this important project.”

The fund is a $5 million, 10-year program established by Enviva Holdings LP and administered by the U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities. It is designed to protect tens of thousands of acres of bottomland forests in northeast North Carolina and southeast Virginia.