Bay View: A Conservation Gem on the Chesapeake, Protected by Partnerships

by Kevin Howe

The Northern Neck Land Conservancy’s Bay View is a jewel of a property with 220 acres of forested and open wetlands located along Balls Neck Road, on the north side of Ball Creek, and touching the Chesapeake Bay in Northumberland County. It lies between Dameron Marsh and Hughett Point Natural Area Preserves. It is open to the public on the Fourth Friday of each month and during special events.

 

At one time, Bay View was the site of the original Shiloh School built during Reconstruction in the 1870’s. As the local population grew it became too small, so just down the road, at the corner of Balls Neck Road and Shiloh School Road, a larger school was built in 1906. Northumberland Preservation, Inc. lifted the original Shiloh School building from Bay View and placed it next to the 1906 school where visitors can see both historic buildings today.

 

With its frontage on both Ball Creek and the Chesapeake Bay, Bay View is a prime location for observing important local ecosystems. The property contains a variety of ecological communities including High, Middle and Low Marshlands, a Coastal Plain Bottomland Forest, Salt Scrub Habitat, Sand Beach Shoreline and Loblolly Pine Forest.

In 2020, the Land Conservancy was able to obtain the property through the generosity of The Nature Conservancy which continues to hold a conservation easement on the land. The Bay View property is one link in a 1,068-acre corridor of perpetually protected Chesapeake Bay waterfront land helping to provide significant protected habitat for shellfish, fin fish, birds, waterfowl and much more in a region where waterfront lands are increasingly being developed.

 

Northern Neck Land Conservancy is eager to involve the community in land conservation and to be part of our community’s solutions to the lack of public access to open space lands. For the past three years, Master Naturalists and others have held winter bird and waterfowl counts as well as butterfly counts on the property. This data had been submitted to the North American Butterfly Association’s database while the bird data has been shared with the National Audubon Society Christmas Bird Count database. Volunteers conduct Bay View camera trapping projects, as well. For these, a camera equipped with a movement sensing shutter is set up to capture images of animals that may be hard to spot otherwise. At Bay View, common animals including deer, foxes, rabbits, possums, and turkeys have been photographed, along with more rarely seen bobcats.

 

Northern Neck Land Conservancy also needed a baseline biodiversity census of Bay View’s flora and fauna to help make informed decisions as it serves as a thoughtful steward of the property. The Northern Neck Chapter of the Virginia Master Naturalists began a long-term species inventory in January 2024 that is documented using the iNaturalist citizen science platform at inaturalist.org. To keep track of all flora and fauna, the Land Conservancy has a specific project page dedicated to Bay View Biodiversity. The iNaturalist website allows anyone with the app to share their plant and animal observations. All observations made in the Bay View geographic footprint are collected into one directory.

So far, the iNaturalist Bay View survey has documented 148 species of plants and animals.  Considering that it is likely the site could contain more than 700 animal species and at least as many plant species, the biodiversity list has a long way to go. If you are interested in what has been seen, go to the iNaturalist website Bay View page.

 

The Master Naturalist Chapter has some upcoming days dedicated to the observation and recording of flora and fauna at Bay View including specific days for birds and butterflies. If you have any interest in joining in or contributing, please contact Kevin Howe, Virginia Master Naturalist and Northern Neck Land Conservancy Board member at kevinmhowe@gmail.com.

 

Learn more about the Northern Neck Land Conservancy’s Bay View by visiting our website https://nnconserve.org/home/visit-bayview.

 

Please think about a visit to Bay View on one of the Fourth Fridays of the month. Visit the https://nnconserve.org/home/visit-bayview or call the Land Conservancy office at (804) 250-2334 for more information.