THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 3, 1995 TAG: 9509020152
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY TONI WHITT, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 132 lines
A QUIET CONVERSATION startles three great blue herons, who fly screaming across the salty marsh and into a far-off stand of pine trees.
As the birds settle into the branches, a canoe moves steadily through the waters of Hoffler's Creek. Fiddler crabs scurry along the grassy marsh banks and frogs croak to one another.
The scene is not set on Virginia's Eastern Shore or even in the undeveloped parts of Virginia Beach. It is a typical day in Portsmouth - one of the region's oldest urban centers.
While it is a world away from traffic lights, garbage trucks and concrete sidewalks, this pristine area is a 15-minute drive from the city's Downtown.
Eagles nest here. Osprey fish here. Aquatic plants have their roots deep in these marshes and even in the man-made lake.
Today, the only sounds are the birds and frogs, but less than four years ago the sound of bulldozers, trucks and pumps disrupted this quiet area.
The Virginia Department of Transportation dug out a 35-acre borrow pit. They used the sand, clay and gravel to fill in the land and build the Western Freeway through Portsmouth and Chesapeake to Suffolk.
The Transportation Department still owns the 142 acres, including wetlands, woodlands and the former borrow pit, now a lake. The agency nearly sold the land to a developer who wanted to build homes around the lake and on the borders of the wetlands.
But the River Shore community got wind of the proposal and they quickly wrote letters to the Transportation Department and to their state representatives offering another alternative - a wildlife refuge where inner-city kids and folks across the region could see wildlife in its true habitat.
After months of negotiations, the state, the city and the community have agreed to work on preserving the land.
The state has promised to hold the land for Portsmouth for at least one year, until a group of community activists can design a plan to turn the land into a refuge.
Those folks began looking at their options even before the city agreed to work with the state. They came to the City Council with the options in hand and convinced the leaders that they could pull together a plan to preserve the land through community efforts or through a public-private partnership.
Jerry Nickerson, who settled in this area eight years ago after traveling the globe in the military, said he has been working for several years to try to save the land. He and his wife have fed the birds and even named the ducks that nest in their yard.
They realized this was a rare place, a home to egret, owls and otter, in the midst of the urban jungle.
Randi Strutton, who has long lived on the edge of this land, has taken the changes in stride. She has come to appreciate the beauty of this area abutting her neighborhood - especially since the digging has stopped and the land has turned into a quiet sanctuary.
One hot summer afternoon as a thunderstorm approached, Strutton and a visitor stood on the edge of the marsh where they could see both the lake and the creeks.
The sky turned dark and the woods became quiet seconds before a bolt of lightning streaked across the sky and thunder boomed. Suddenly, the sky was filled with large blue herons startled from the trees where they were nesting.
The two stood watching and listening as the birds screamed and then settled back into their nests. Strutton and her visitor stood there waiting for the thunder and lightning - the chance to relive the wonder of that moment.
The second time the birds filled the sky, the rain began to come down hard, drenching the two as they ran from the woods for shelter.
``It was an amazing sight,'' Strutton said, explaining that she had to pull her guest away from the scene despite the rain and the threat from the lightning.
For Nickerson, it's easy to see how first-time visitors can become so enchanted with the area and the scenes. As he takes two visitors on a canoe trip through the marshes, he reminds them that the city is all around. To make his point, Nickerson navigates his canoe down a crooked finger of the creek right up to Twin Pines Road, a busy Portsmouth street.
Nickerson wants Suffolk residents to get involved in saving some of the nearby woodlands across the creek that is the city line. He wants those woods declared a fringe wildlife area so they can stop the growth encroaching on Suffolk's wetlands.
``I think we've got a few people in Suffolk who will readily jump on the bandwagon,'' Nickerson said.
On the trip, his guests watch as a king fisher sits atop a dead tree. Suddenly, the bird takes off from the top of the tree and hangs over the water, looking for all the world like a helicopter, as he beats his wings in place for several long seconds.
Then the bird with the crest of feathers on his head dives into the water for his dinner, showing the paddlers how he got his name.
Folks in the neighborhood have chronicled the wildlife and the vegetation, putting together lists for state and city officials as well as environmentalists who might be interested in studying the area.
The community has seen the great horned owl, green heron, great blue heron, American egret, sandpiper, Canada geese, buffle-head ducks, Coopers hawk, pileated woodpecker and peregrine falcon.
The marsh is filled with salt bush, salt marsh cord grass and salt meadow hay. There is sassafras, locust and greenbrier. Aquatic plants like Eurasian water milfoil and widgeon grass are submerged inside the banks of the lake.
Pine, oak and cherry trees provide homes to the birds who nest in the area.
``My main thrust is to preserve the life that is here,'' Strutton said.
``It is an excellent example of the heritage that is Virginia. It has all of the wildlife native to southeastern Virginia.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Cover]
NATURE'S PARADISE IN THE CITY
[Color Photo]
Photos by L. TODD SPENCER
As the silence of the refuge is broken by a quiet conversation, a
startled great blue heron flees to the pine trees. Less than four
years ago the sound of bulldozers, trucks and pumps building the
Western Freeway disrupted this quiet area.
Eagles nest here. Osprey fish here. Aquatic plants have their roots
deep in these marshes and even in the man-made lake. Residents of
River Shores have convinced the state, city and community to make it
a wildlife refuge.
Sea gulls perch atop the pilings in Hoffler's Creek. The area is a
home to egret, owls and otter, to sandpipers, Canada geese and
buffle-headed ducks in the midst of the urban jungle.
Resident Jerry Nickerson, who has been working for several years to
try to save the land, helps identify the wildlife for
environmentalists.
by CNB