THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, January 9, 1997 TAG: 9701090333
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY CATHERINE KOZAK, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ROANOKE ISLAND LENGTH: 61 lines
After donating more than 600 acres of Roanoke Island marshland for preservation in the past decade, Louis Midgette Sr. was tempted to sell a highland portion of the tract.
Developers offered as much as $450,000. But 22 years of conservation efforts weren't easy to forget.
He turned down higher bids and is selling the land to the state.
The North Carolina Governmental Operations Committee on Wednesday approved the purchase of 140 acres from Midgette for $350,000. The Council of State is expected to finalize the deal Feb. 4.
And in the spring the state plans to construct a boardwalk to the tract, which is southwest of the bridge linking Roanoke Island to Nags Head. Eventually, observation towers and informational placards will be erected at the site.
At least three centuries after his ancestor Matthew Midgette ship-wrecked between Bodie Island and Rodanthe, Midgette, 78, is proud that the marshland that he inherited soon will become a protected wildlife refuge.
``It's real exciting. . . . I had it in my hands and I could go with the developer, and I could've gotten a lot more money,'' Midgette said. ``But I'm glad I did it. The dollar is not everything. That's the way I've seen it my whole life.''
After Midgette put the property on the market, representatives from the Wildlife Resources Commission met with Midgette and asked him to sell it to the state.
``I told them it's not fair to my family to go ahead and gift this because this land is too valuable,'' Midgette said Wednesday. ``I told them if you want it that bad, you'd be willing to buy it.''
For Midgette, it was a bit of a compromise because he sold the land for the price of the lowest bid a developer had offered.
Midgette is famed for building the population of Canada geese at a manmade rookery on 220 acres of his land, where he constructed a pond and planted perennial grasses to provide a renewable food source. He said he has raised more than 1,100 geese and banded about 600.
State funds to purchase the land will primarily come from fees collected for hunting and fishing licenses, federal fees on hunting and fishing licenses, optional contributions to federal taxes, and portions of boating fees, said Richard Hamilton, assistant director of Wildlife Resources.
``It's a very productive area,'' Hamilton said about the marshlands, which stretch south of U.S. Route 64 on the Manteo causeway. Brown pelicans, Canada geese and other waterfowl share nesting grounds with snakes, muskrats and rabbits. Wildlife also thrive in a pine forest that has sprung up on spoil islands in the tract. The marsh is also an important spawning ground for shellfish and fin fish that inhabit nearby waters. ILLUSTRATION: LAND PURCHASE
The North Carolina Governmental Operations Committee on Wednesday
approved the purchase of 140 acres from Louis Midgette Sr. for
$350,000.
The Council of State is expected to finalize the deal Feb. 4.
In the spring the state plans to construct a boardwalk to the tract,
which is southwest of the bridge linking Roanoke Island to Nags
Head.