VIEWED FROM SPACE, the undisturbed 4,000 acres of forest and marsh land in eastern Stafford County known as Crow's Nest stands out like--well, like a green thumb. The peninsula along the Potomac River near the King George County line is almost completely undisturbed by man and the clear-cutting and road-building that are his footprints.

Crow's Nest teems with wildlife. Blue herons, bald eagles, and wood ducks are among the fauna that call it home, as do many rare species of plant life never before discovered in Stafford County. Ronald Lambertson, northeast regional director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, declared the nearly 10 miles of undisturbed shoreline "one of the largest mature forests in the Virginia Coastal Plain."

But this land, which looked for months to be a shoo-in for federal protection, now seems likely to be a casualty of Washington's changing budget priorities. The Fish and Wildlife Service announced last month that it was not going to include Crow's Nest in the National Wildlife Refuge System.

"There are limited [federal] funds for operating and maintaining the site," says Andrew French, chief of real estate for the regional office of the Fish and Wildlife Service. With a backlog of maintenance projects totaling $831 million--and $1.1 billion in unfunded operational needs--the money just isn't there to buy Stafford's slice of natural paradise.

Crow's Nest would have long ago succumbed to the push of suburban sprawl had the land itself been more cooperative. The terrain has proved too rugged for the large-scale housing- and commercial-development plan drawn up in 1967. And since water and sewer lines have yet to penetrate the peninsula, the idea of replacing eagles' nests with two-car garages has struck most developers as impractical.

But the current owner of the land, K&M Properties of McLean, will not sit on its investment forever. If some kind of deal can't be struck for a federal purchase, the land might very well be harvested for timber. Once cleared, it might start looking good to the subdivision boys again.

What makes this dire situation maddening, however, is the position of the federal government. The feds don't consider the purchase of Crow's Nest an affordable one-time expense, but an aquisition that would continually drain the treasury. Once protecting the land from developers, the government would probably see fit to erect buildings to house conservationists, roads to help the rangers patrol the area, and maybe even a visitor's center or two--what they call "management." Why the feds can't do to the land what its private owners have done for the last 33 years--absolutely nothing--is a great mystery.

Clearly, the chance to preserve Crow's Nest is fleeting. At a time when mobilizing for war will dominate the federal budget, some creative thinking will be required to save this unique natural feature of Virginia. Buying the land and letting the wildlife handle its management is the simplest solution, and the best.