Virginia Natural Heritage E-News Spring/Summer 2008 Conserving Virginia’s Biodiversity through Inventory, Protection and Stewardship The Virginia Natural Heritage Program was maintain the globally rare forest communities and established in 1986 to protect the state’s diversity other natural heritage resources it supports, and of life. The program focuses on the when staff and management resources are identification, protection and stewardship of secured, the property will be open to the public Virginia’s natural communities, and rare plant for compatible and appropriate uses as a state and animal species. natural area preserve. CROW’S NEST NATURAL AREA THE CHANNELS STATE FOREST AND PRESERVE! NATURAL AREA PRESERVE The protection of Crow’s Nest has been one of The Channels became the 53rd State Natural Area Virginia’s highest land conservation priorities for Preserve in March. Funding came primarily from more than ten years. On April 18, the Virginia the Virginia Land Conservation Foundation and Department of Conservation and Recreation the General Assembly for the Va Dept of (DCR) and Stafford County purchased 1,770 Forestry to purchase the 4,836 acre property. acres on the eastern end of the Crow’s Nest With the state’s purchase, 720 acres of the upper peninsula, the first phase of a two-phase land slopes, an area that contains the Channels – a purchase to protect Crow’s Nest as Virginia’s unique, extensive fissured sandstone formation – 54th state natural area preserve. Funding for this has been dedicated as The Channels Natural Area purchase came from DCR, Stafford County, the Preserve. This is the first state natural area Virginia Department of Environmental Quality preserve to be dedicated on state forest lands. and the Aquatic Resources Trust fund of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and The Nature DCR acquired two critical natural area preserve additions on Tuesday August 12th. The Kirk tract, aka Horse Swamp Pine Barrens, a 92-acre tract supporting a native long leaf pine community and numerous rare plants was added to the Anticoh Pines Natural Area Preserve, Isle of Wight County. This tract has been a Natural Conservancy. Heritage Program acquisition target since 1991. By December 2009, DCR and its conservation Persistence pays off. Also closing on Tuesday partners hope to acquire an additional 1,101 acres was the donation of 145 acres at Grassy Hill on Crow’s Nest which is under a purchase Natural Area Preserve, Franklin County. The contract. Successful purchase of the Phase 1 and tract supports multiple rare communities and Phase 2 parcels will result in the permanent species and was donated by Dr. Alice Melchor to protection of nearly 2,900 acres of significant the Western VA Land Trust for transfer to DCR’s coastal habitat. The property will be managed by Natural Area Preserve System. The Antioch DCR’s Natural Heritage Program to restore and Virginia Natural Heritage E-News Spring / Summer 2008 1 Pines NAP now contains 1,016 acres and Grassy vegetation on Hill has been expanded to 1,449 acres. Appomattox Court House DOT FIELD - EASTERN SHORE SOIL AND National WATER CONSERVATION DISTRICT Historical Park, EDUCATOR OF THE YEAR Booker T. Dot Field, Eastern Shore Natural Areas Steward Washington has been named the Eastern Shore Soil and Water National Conservation District Educator of the Year The Monument, award usually honors a K-12 educator who Colonial National Historical Park, Fredericksburg implements innovative soil and water and Spotsylvania National Military Park, George conservation activities for reaching students and Washington Birthplace National Monument, other audiences. Dot works with Eastern Shore Petersburg National Battlefield, and Richmond high school students in the Envirothon Program, National Battlefield Park. Over the course of the teaches a section on landscaping with native project, over 32 examples of globally rare or plants for the Eastern Shore Master Gardner exemplary natural communities were documented Program, implements Phragmites control on the seven parks; 20 of these were new workshops for private landowners, presents occurrences. Vegetation data collected from the lectures on Natural Heritage resources, leads seven national parks were combined with over numerous field trips to Eastern Shore Natural 2000 existing plot samples from throughout the Area Preserves, and acts as advisor and instructor Mid-Atlantic Piedmont and Coastal Plain and for the Eastern Shore Master Naturalist Chapter. analyzed to refine the United States National Vegetation Classification for the Mid-Atlantic region. The vegetation maps and vegetation classification will provide the foundation for resource management activities in these parks, thus influencing the conservation and management of the natural heritage resources found there. VA LEAST TRILLIUM REDISCOVERED The globally rare plant and US Fish and Wildlife Dot Field (on left) receiving District Educator of Service Species of Concern, Virginia least the Year Award trillium (Trillium pusillum var. virginianum) G3T2 / S2) was rediscovered in Dinwiddie MID-ATLANTIC NATIONAL PARK County by a Natural Heritage field botanist VEGETATION MAPPING AND surveying several tracts for Hancock Forest CLASSIFICATION COMPLETED Management. DCR Natural Heritage Ecologists, under contract Virginia least to the Northeast Region of the National Park trillium, a Service, have been working since 2002 to map member of the and classify the vegetation on over 23,000 acres lily family, is of National Park land in the Piedmont and found only in Coastal Plain of Virginia. Seven reports have Virginia, been completed that describe and map the Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia Natural Heritage E-News Spring / Summer 2008 2 and North Carolina. Habitat includes margins of and a breeding population of a rare grassland swamps, hummocks within swamps, or in areas bird, the Bobolink (Dolichonyx oryzivorus G5 of ground-water seepage. In Virginia 33 S1B) were found just outside of Ward Cove. occurrences have been found in both the coastal plain and mountains, but 12 are historical and 2 At Clifton Farm in Russell County, the have been extirpated. David Green, Virginia Area globally rare Alleghany Snaketail dragonfly Manager for Hancock Forestry Management, (Ophiogomphus incurvatus alleghaniensis G3Q visited one of the colonies shortly after its S1) was discovered along the Little River, along discovery and worked with the Field Botanist to with the Rapids clubtail (Gomphus quadricolor buffer the colony from the effects of a planned G3G4 S1), and the state rare Appalachian pine thinning immediately upslope from the jewelwing (Calopteryx angustipennis G4 S2). colony. Cave surveys at this site were also successful, producing several potential globally rare species, FLORA OF VIRGINIA UPDATE including cave beetles (Pseudanophthalmus sp.), The Foundation of the Flora of Virginia is and diplurans (Litocampa sp.), and the Federally working to produce and publish a comprehensive Endangered gray bat (Myotis grisescens G3 S1), manual to all vascular plants found as both as well as a host of other cave fauna. Species natives and naturalized within the identification is pending for cave invertebrates. Commonwealth. Strong financial progress Funding for the work was provided by The towards publication of the Flora of Virginia was Nature Conservancy. made during this period. Four 2008 Foundation grants totaling over $60,000 supplemented JAMES RIVER DRAGONFLIES substantial support received in 2007 through a Numerous members of the Division of Natural large grant from the Virginia Environmental Heritage participated in surveys during late April Endowment. These funds have enabled the for two spring-active, rare dragonflies along the Project to move forward on illustrations and text James River. The target species were the Spine- needed for the manual and some funds are being crowned Clubtail (Gomphus abbreviatus G3G4 used to revamp the Project website. Natural S2S3), and the globally rare Wisconsin Snaketail Heritage scientists Chris Ludwig (Ophiogomphus susbehcha G1G2). The Spine- and Johnny Townsend are co-authors on the Flora crowned along with UNC herbarium curator Alan Clubtail was Weakley. found at 18 sites on the GLOBALLY RARE ANIMALS FROM SW James ranging VIRGINIA from Belle Isle Recent zoological field surveys produced several in Richmond globally rare species in Russell and Tazewell to James River counties. In Ward Cove, Tazwell County staff State Park in Buckingham County. It was also zoologists found the globally rare Cherokee documented near the mouth of the Appomattox clubtail dragonfly (Gomphus consanguis G2G3 River in Petersburg and along the Rivanna River S2), Sable clubtail (Gomphus rogersi - DNH in Fluvanna County. The Wisconsin Snaketail watchlist), two rare birds, the Loggerhead Shrike (or close relative) was found at 13 sites on the (Lanius ludovicianus G4 S2B/S3N, State James ranging from North Bank Park in Threatened), and the Alder flycatcher Richmond to several sites in Albemarle County. (Empidonax alnorum G5 S1B, State Special Both species are apparently common and Concern). Another record for Loggerhead Shrike widespread in the James River, but neither was Virginia Natural Heritage E-News Spring / Summer 2008 3 detected during surveys of the Rappahannock their own analyses using land cover data (2001 River, and they are both reportedly very rare in National Land cover data) and hydrology data to the Potomac River. Adult and larval specimens broadly identify the lands associated