Letting Nature Take Its Course

by Colleen Crowley

Like a pearl plucked from an oyster, Bay Creek’s new nature preserve in Cape Charles, VA, needed an expert to reveal its small but precious treasure.

Joseph Fehrer worked for the Nature Conservancy for over 40 years, and during that time, he occasionally butted heads with land developers over environmental conservation. So when Preserve Communities approached him with a job offer, he was naturally skeptical. After careful research, however, he signed on to be the resident naturalist at Bay Creek. “There’s a commitment they have made as a company to provide quality living for folks who move into their communities,” says Fehrer, “but there’s also a strong commitment to the environment.”

Bay Creek came under Preserve Communities’ management in 2019. Conserving green spaces and the environment and sharing that space with residents is a common theme throughout all of the Preserve Communities. So it was only natural that the developers converted the back nine of one of the golf courses into a nature preserve.

There, on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay, 350 acres of land are now in the first stages of becoming a flourishing oasis for flora and fauna.

Avid Trails (a planning, design, and construction company whose mission is to create great trail systems), designed walking paths that meander along oak hickory forests, ephemeral ponds, tidal estuaries, meadows, and beaches.

The irrigation systems and bunkers of the golf course have been removed, and all chemical treatments have ceased in order to give the open spaces a chance to revegetate naturally. But, as Fehrer points out, rewilding a once heavily-manipulated landscape will not happen overnight.

“Some of these processes may take 50 or 100 years, but they will happen,” says Fehrer. “I think it’s really important that as the Nature Preserve matures, these processes are allowed to play out in their time.” places,” says Fehrer. “They won’t know what they have unless they experience that at a young age and appreciate it.”

With Fehrer leading the way, Bay Creek residents get to observe and understand these natural changes while enjoying waterway explorations, moonlight tours, and guided walks. As many of us have learned from the COVID-19 pandemic, having access to outdoor spaces is crucial to both your physical and mental health. “The fact that the residents of Bay Creek have this amenity within walking distance of where they live is quite incredible,” says Fehrer.

The preserve not only provides respite for Bay Creek’s human residents, but also for its avian visitors. The Mid-Atlantic coastal region, especially the Delmarva Peninsula, is crucial for migratory songbirds and seabirds, including osprey, pelicans, egrets, warblers, and more. Every fall, thousands of birds flock to the southern tip of the peninsula for rest and favorable weather before making the journey over the Chesapeake Bay to their final destinations.

Unfortunately, climate change, coastal erosion, and urban development continue to threaten the birds’ already delicate habitats. That’s why the preserve at Bay Creek is so critical.

Fehrer delights in interacting with and educating Bay Creek residents on his guided tours. He’s particularly conscientious of his younger guests, encouraging them to smell, touch, and take a closer look at the world around them. “It’s important that young people have these experiences, because they’re going to be the keepers of these

“The diversity in this three-dimensional habitat—everything from the canopy layer and the treetops, all the way down to the grass layer in the meadows—provides such quality habitat,” says Fehrer. “You wouldn’t get that if it was developed as it was originally conceived [as a golf course].”

These 350 acres are clearly more valuable, on every level, as a sanctuary, and Fehrer applauds Preserve Communities’ recognition of that fact. “You have to be forward-looking,” explains Fehrer. “Land conservation is an important tool, and it’s only going to become more so as time goes by.”

PEOPLE WHO VACATION IN ARKANSAS OFTEN END UP CALLING THE NATURAL STATE HOME FOR GOOD LATER IN LIFE. FIND OUT WHY THE LOCALS LOVE IT AND OUR VISITORS CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT IT.