| False Cape Natural Area Preserve | |
|---|---|
IUCN category V (protected landscape/seascape) | |
Egrets at False Cape Natural Area Preserve | |
  | |
| Location | Virginia Beach, Virginia |
| Coordinates | 36°36′59″N75°53′43″W / 36.6163°N 75.8954°W [1] Coordinates: 36°36′59″N75°53′43″W / 36.6163°N 75.8954°W [1] |
| Area | 3,573 acres (14.46 km2) |
| Established | 2002 |
| Governing body | Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation |
False Cape Natural Area Preserve is a 3,573-acre (14.46 km2) Natural Area Preserve located in Virginia Beach, Virginia, just north of the state border with North Carolina. The preserve covers a one-by-six-mile (1.6 by 9.7 km) strip of largely undeveloped land located on False Cape between the Atlantic Ocean and Back Bay, and is one of the most undisturbed areas of coastal habitat remaining in the Mid-Atlantic.
The Virginia Natural Area Preserve System is a system of protected areas in the state of Virginia. It is managed by the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation.
Virginia Beach is an independent city located on the southeastern coast of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 437,994. In 2015, the population was estimated to be 452,745. In 2017 the estimated population was 450,435. Although mostly suburban in character, it is the most populous city in Virginia and the 41st most populous city in the nation. Located on the Atlantic Ocean at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, Virginia Beach is included in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area. This area, known as "America's First Region", also includes the independent cities of Chesapeake, Hampton, Newport News, Norfolk, Portsmouth, and Suffolk, as well as other smaller cities, counties, and towns of Hampton Roads.
North Carolina is a state in the southeastern region of the United States. It borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west, Virginia to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. North Carolina is the 28th-most extensive and the 9th-most populous of the U.S. states. The state is divided into 100 counties. The capital is Raleigh, which along with Durham and Chapel Hill is home to the largest research park in the United States. The most populous municipality is Charlotte, which is the second-largest banking center in the United States after New York City.
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The preserve protects a variety of wetland and upland habitats, including maritime and swamp forest, interdunal wetlands, and Back Bay marshes. It also hosts various plants and animals rare in Virginia, more than two dozen in all; many of these are southern species at the northern limit of their range in far southern Virginia. Many birds also come to the area during the fall and spring migrations. [2]
A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is inundated by water, either permanently or seasonally, where oxygen-free processes prevail. The primary factor that distinguishes wetlands from other land forms or water bodies is the characteristic vegetation of aquatic plants, adapted to the unique hydric soil. Wetlands play a number of functions, including water purification, water storage, processing of carbon and other nutrients, stabilization of shorelines, and support of plants and animals. Wetlands are also considered the most biologically diverse of all ecosystems, serving as home to a wide range of plant and animal life. Whether any individual wetland performs these functions, and the degree to which it performs them, depends on characteristics of that wetland and the lands and waters near it. Methods for rapidly assessing these functions, wetland ecological health, and general wetland condition have been developed in many regions and have contributed to wetland conservation partly by raising public awareness of the functions and the ecosystem services some wetlands provide.
A swamp is a wetland that is forested. Many swamps occur along large rivers where they are critically dependent upon natural water level fluctuations. Other swamps occur on the shores of large lakes. Some swamps have hammocks, or dry-land protrusions, covered by aquatic vegetation, or vegetation that tolerates periodic inundation or soil saturation. The two main types of swamp are "true" or swamp forests and "transitional" or shrub swamps. In the boreal regions of Canada, the word swamp is colloquially used for what is more correctly termed a bog, fen, or muskeg. The water of a swamp may be fresh water, brackish water or seawater. Some of the world's largest swamps are found along major rivers such as the Amazon, the Mississippi, and the Congo.
A marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous rather than woody plant species. Marshes can often be found at the edges of lakes and streams, where they form a transition between the aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. They are often dominated by grasses, rushes or reeds. If woody plants are present they tend to be low-growing shrubs. This form of vegetation is what differentiates marshes from other types of wetland such as swamps, which are dominated by trees, and mires, which are wetlands that have accumulated deposits of acidic peat.
The preserve is owned and maintained by the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation as part of False Cape State Park, and comprises the undeveloped portions of the park; these were dedicated as a Natural Area Preserve in 2002. The preserve, like the remainder of False Cape State Park, is not publicly accessible by vehicle. The nearest parking is approximately five miles (8 km) from the preserve, which can be accessed by hiking, boating, or via a seasonal shuttle. Visitors must travel through Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge, which assesses a separate access fee. [2]
The Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation is a department of the government of Virginia; it oversees all Virginia state parks and Natural Area Preserves.
False Cape State Park is a 4,321-acre (17.49 km2) state park located on the Currituck Banks Peninsula, a one-mile-wide (1.6 km) barrier spit between the Back Bay of the Currituck Sound and the Atlantic Ocean, within the city of Virginia Beach, adjacent to the state border with North Carolina, and just north of Mackay Island National Wildlife Refuge.
Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge in southeastern Virginia is located in the independent city of Virginia Beach. Established in 1938 in an isolated portion of the former Princess Anne County, it is managed by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. The administrative office is located on Sandbridge Road at Sigma between Lago Mar and Sandbridge Beach. The Visitor Contact Center is accessed via Sandpiper Road from the Sandbridge area of Virginia Beach, which is the southernmost area of development on the Atlantic Coast of Virginia.
