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Stafford board agrees peninsula should be preserved
What began last weekend as conversations among friends made the leap to fliers and e-mails and has now become a movement.
The fledgling Save Crow's Nest group made its presence known at the Stafford Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday night. About 60 people--many of them wearing green clothes and "Save Crow's Nest" tags--showed up to urge county officials to thwart a new development plan for the property.
Crow's Nest, a peninsula between Potomac and Accokeek creeks, has one of the last stands of virgin forest in the region and is home to rare plants and animals and a large heron rookery.
The latest preservation push began a few days after The Free Lance-Star reported that negotiations between the state and the land's owner, K&M Properties, had ceased.
The state had intended to buy the 3,800-acre tract for a nature preserve, but now K&M is exploring development options.
Patricia Kurpiel, who lives across from Crow's Nest, said the calls started coming over the weekend. Soon, others were on the phones or tapping out e-mails. Someone set up an e-mail address, savecrowsnest@yahoo .com, as a contact point. A Web site is also in the works.
"We were asking, 'What can we do? We can't just sit by and do nothing,'" Kurpiel said. "I think we have to get more of the community involved. We need people to know that we have not rolled over and we're not playing dead."
She added: "There's been really an outpouring. This has really taken on a life of its own. It's so heartening."
She said that she's just one of many involved in the group and that the next step might be to have a community meeting.
Doris Whitfield, head of the Battlefields Sierra Group in Fredericksburg, also helped get the word out.
"I've e-mailed everybody," she said. The local Sierra Club group has pushed for preservation of Crow's Nest for years.
By Monday, a plan was being circulated for supporters of saving the tract to show up at the board meeting. They spoke to a friendly audience: Supervisors are solidly behind the preservation plan and even chipped in county money to help.
"You can count on us to stand by you and support Crow's Nest," said board Chairman Jack Cavalier. "Each and every one of us is supportive of the whole project. Whatever you do, don't accept defeat. Do battle here and do your best to save this."
Supervisor Gary Pash dangled a "Save Crow's Nest" sign from his podium microphone. Several other board members wore the signs around their necks.
No one representing the developer spoke at the meeting. K&M met with county officials last week to discuss residential development there.
The company says it is considering a cluster development at Crow's Nest, which would build on certain areas and preserve roughly half of the tract.
The grass-roots group's message is that all of Crow's Nest, which has been called an environmental jewel, should be preserved.
"If we don't defeat this, it's going to send a signal that no matter how beautiful, no matter how historic and no matter what wildlife is there, if you have enough money and enough greed you will be able to take it over," Mike Harris, who lives next to Crow's Nest, told the board.
Some suggested appealing to all levels of government to find the money to meet K&M's asking price--said to be $30 million--and a payment schedule.
A K&M representative has said the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation failed to meet deadlines for purchasing the tract.
"Once we lose it, it's gone and we can't recover it," said Jerry Kirven.
Others said they don't think more money will be needed to save Crow's Nest. They point out that because of steep slopes and environmental regulations, the parcel would be difficult to develop and that the best deal for the developer would be to sell it to the state.
The land's value is in its history as well as its environmental assets.
Crow's Nest has American Indian sites, was the home of a relative of George Washington and was used by Union troops during the Civil War. Crow's Nest gained its name after a 19th-century black schooner was moored off the property.
Another speaker, Archer DiPeppe, told the supervisors: "I just hope that a number of citizens will come together and write letters. I hope that one day our descendants will be able to look back and see us as the ones who saved Crow's Nest for all posterity, instead of the ones who allowed cement to be poured over it."
To reach RUSTY DENNEN: 540/374-5431 rdennen@freelancestar.com