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In partnership with the Virginia Outdoors Foundation, DCR has acquired 56 acres as an addition to Camp Branch Wetlands Natural Area Preserve in Floyd County.
The property adjoins the existing preserve, near Floyd Pike (US 221), and expands wetland and stream protection as well as including some upland forests. Collectively these habitats protect the source of Camp Branch, a small stream at the headwaters of the Lower Big Reed Island Creek, which flows into the New River.
Funding for the acquisition came from a Virginia Land Conservation Foundation grant for fiscal year 2023.
The Conservation Fund acted as a conservation buyer for the project. VOF then stepped in as an intermediary, holding the property since 2023 until it was transferred to DCR last month.
“This preserve expansion is the result of years of persistence and collaboration,” said Lesley Starke, chief of natural areas stewardship for the Virginia Natural Heritage Program. “We are deeply grateful to the Virginia Outdoors Foundation and The Conservation Fund for the extraordinary work they carried through a long and complex acquisition process. Quite simply, this expansion would not have been possible without their leadership and commitment to conservation.”
The 259-acre preserve is located in one of Virginia’s “essential conservation sites” and protects headwater streams and wetlands. Once common across Floyd, these wetland areas support unique wildlife assemblages and their habitat. One of the rare animals protected by these habitats is the Appalachian snaketail, a dragonfly that requires open, clear streams, and is notably sensitive to water pollution.
Natural Heritage staff will work to restore the property by managing invasive plants and reducing trees and shrubs that are encroaching on the wetland habitats, in hopes of restoring open sedge wetlands and meadow habitats needed by wildlife, while protecting water quality.
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