The Volgenau Virginia Coast Reserve Story

Island in the Crosshairs

In January of 1955, an Eastern Shore newspaper reported that the United States Navy had a plan for Parramore Island, the largest of Virginia’s barrier islands. The Navy would use condemnation to take ownership of Parramore and turn the island into a bombing range.

The Power of Partnership

A New York Times article highlighted the development scheme in February 1970, helping revive and bring new urgency to negotiations involving TNC and island landowners. Patrick Noonan (who would rise to TNC president a few years later) was leading the organization’s renewed efforts when a series of fortunate events resulted in an epiphany.

Noonan was visiting the islands and discussing conservation options with trustee Ed Bentley and representatives from The Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust when the proverbial lightbulb clicked on. According to the Cary Trust’s Ned Ames, that’s when the realization surfaced that, working together, they had an opportunity to protect not only a tract here and there, but an entire barrier island ecosystem.

By year’s end, TNC would acquire Godwin and Hog islands and would purchase Smith, Myrtle and Ship Shoal islands from Smith Island Development Corp. Having now consolidated five islands under conservation management—and cemented a powerful partnership with the like-minded Cary Trust—TNC had protected the core of the Virginia Coast Reserve.

Years of persistence and relationship building finally bore fruit in 1973, when TNC added Parramore, a crown jewel in the island chain. By 1975, the Cary Trust had invested nearly $8 million in The Nature Conservancy’s conservation work on the Eastern Shore.

As a result of these combined efforts, the Virginia Coast Reserve encompassed nearly all of 14 islands—then, as now, the longest stretch of wilderness along the nation’s entire Atlantic coastline.

A Living Laboratory for the World

An early sticking point in negotiations to acquire Parramore Island had been plans for its ongoing stewardship. The owners preferred it to remain privately owned, whereas TNC, until then, had generally looked to hand off land acquisitions to an appropriate local, state or federal agency. (Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge is an iconic example from this era.)

As it embarks on its next half-century, the Volgenau Virginia Coast Reserve stands out as one of the most important living laboratories in the world. Having piloted community-based conservation, contributed landmark migratory bird research and pioneered techniques for restoring critical habitats such as oyster reefs and seagrass meadows, the Volgenau Virginia Coast Reserve continues to produce groundbreaking science and innovative conservation.

Today, the barrier and marsh islands of the Volgenau Virginia Coast Reserve—along with thousands of additional coastal acres TNC subsequently protected—hold the key to restoring natural coastal systems and to protecting coastal communities around the world from the harshest impacts of climate change.

TNC conservation scientists and partners are unlocking more new knowledge by the day, offering reasons for optimism as we face the environmental challenges of our time.