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Latest push to preserve Crow's Nest collapses; owner wants to revive development plans for the property

By RUSTY DENNEN

Date published: 1/9/2004

By RUSTY DENNEN

Owner looks at developing Crow's Nest in Stafford

A deal was so tantalizingly close.

Eighteen months of work by local, state and federal preservation groups to create a nature preserve on the 3,800-acre Crow's Nest peninsula in eastern Stafford County was about to pay off.

Then, for reasons that few here can understand, the deal fell apart and now the landowner is seeking to revive development plans for the property.

The negotiations, done under a veil of secrecy, ended in November.

"This is one of the biggest disappointments of my life," said John Mitchell, a Fredericksburg shop owner and president of the Trust for Crow's Nest, which has been working for several years to protect the swath of forest between Potomac and Accokeek creeks.

"The only word I can come up with is total greed" on the part of the developer, K&M Properties of McLean, Mitchell said in an interview this week.

"The owners led us to believe that they were sincere in what they were negotiating with us," said Mitchell, a Stafford resident.

Crow's Nest has been on preservationists' radar for years. The effort reached a critical mass last year when the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, with help from Sen. John Warner and Rep. Jo Ann Davis, set aside $5 million toward the purchase of the first 1,500 acres. The idea was to buy the land for the Accokeek Creek National Wildlife Refuge in installments.

Through late summer and into the fall, the state was able to line up an additional $5 million in federal funds. The entire tract was recently appraised for $25 million.

Support and money rolled in from many quarters. The Stafford Board of Supervisors, for example, chipped in $100,000 toward the preservation effort. The trust raised another $100,000 to help manage and maintain what was envisioned as a natural jewel unparalleled along the East Coast.

Named after a black 19th-century schooner moored off the tract, Crow's Nest is one of the last stands of virgin timber in the region and home to a variety of rare plants and animals. A large heron rookery skirts the southwestern edge of the property.

Date published: 1/9/2004