A massive stretch of trees and wetlands in Suffolk will soon be added to Virginia’s South Quay Sandhills Natural Area Preserve.
The state Department of Conservation and Recreation recently announced its purchase of nearly 900 acres just east of the preserve and plans to close on another 1,000 acres later this year.
Lesley Starke, the department’s chief of natural areas stewardship, said officials have long eyed the area for its distinctive habitat for many plant and animal species.
“It's one of these places that, through decades of exploration and documentation, we're able to say that it is one of, if not the highest, concentration of biodiversity in our commonwealth,” Starke said.
That includes the federally endangered northern long-eared bat and frosted elfin butterfly.
The newly acquired land will also be the “first stepping stone” for a planned conservation corridor between South Quay and the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, the department stated in a news release. Such corridors create space for wildlife to travel without encountering highways, homes or bridges.
For a long time, the Suffolk property was used for industrial silviculture, which controls the growth of forests for timber production.
The nonprofit Nature Conservancy bought it a couple years ago and sold it to the state last month. The state is using a $5.6 million federal grant for the project, including the remaining 1,000 acres.
A big focus for the site will be to restore longleaf pine trees, Starke said.
Virginia is the northern end of the native range for the species, which once dominated the state’s southeast landscape.
Early colonists used the trees for timber, shipbuilding, tar production — “an almost endless number of products made from that species,” Starke said.
By the late 20th century, longleaf pines were nearly eradicated from Virginia. Only about 200 remained, all at the South Quay preserve.
Through a long-term collaborative effort, officials have been collecting seeds from those “relic trees,” breeding them at a nursery in Western Tidewater and planting seedlings to rebuild the population.
The newly acquired land in Suffolk currently comprises mostly loblolly pines.
Over time, Starke said officials plan to remove and replace many of them with longleaf pines, using controlled burns and other forestry techniques.
“We believe that restoring that keystone species is an important part of the natural community restoration in general,” she said.
Longleafs are also biologically adapted to the area’s ecology, which complements the state’s other restoration initiatives, she said.
The Suffolk preserve will eventually include some form of public access. Starke said officials haven’t yet developed plans for what that will look like.
