Cavalier Wildlife Management Area is a

Wildlife Management Area A Wildlife Management Area (WMA) is a protected area set aside for the conservation of wildlife and for recreational activities involving wildlife. New Zealand There are 11 Wildlife Management Areas in New Zealand: * Horsham Downs Wildlife Ma ...

Chesapeake, Virginia Chesapeake is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. At the 2020 census, the population was 249,422, it is the second-most populous independent city in Virginia, tenth-largest in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 90th ...

. It preserves habitat for a number of species, including

black bear Black bear or Blackbear may refer to: Animals * American black bear (''Ursus americanus''), a North American bear species * Asian black bear (''Ursus thibetanus''), an Asian bear species Music * Black Bear (band), a Canadian First Nations group ...

canebrake rattlesnake The timber rattlesnake, canebrake rattlesnake, or banded rattlesnake (''Crotalus horridus'') Wright AH, Wright AA (1957). ''Handbook of Snakes of the United States and Canada''. Ithaca and London: Comstock Publishing Associates, a division of ...

white-tailed deer The white-tailed deer (''Odocoileus virginianus''), also known as the whitetail or Virginia deer, is a medium-sized deer native to North America, Central America, and South America as far south as Peru and Bolivia. It has also been introduced t ...

, eastern

wild turkey The wild turkey (''Meleagris gallopavo'') is an Upland game bird, upland ground bird native to North America, one of two extant species of Turkey (bird), turkey and the heaviest member of the order Galliformes. It is the ancestor to the domestic ...

s, and many varieties of

songbird A songbird is a bird belonging to the suborder Passeri of the perching birds (Passeriformes). Another name that is sometimes seen as the scientific or vernacular name is Oscines, from Latin ''oscen'', "songbird". The Passeriformes contains 500 ...

s. The preserve comprises two separate tracts of land. The main tract is located about east of the

Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge The Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge was created in 1974 to help protect and preserve a portion of the Great Dismal Swamp, a marshy region on the Coastal Plain of southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina between Norfolk, ...

and adjacent to the

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

–

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

border; it was once a part of the

Great Dismal Swamp The Great Dismal Swamp is a large swamp in the Coastal Plain Region of southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina, between Norfolk, Virginia, and Elizabeth City, North Carolina. It is located in parts of the southern Virginia inde ...

but was drained more than 200 years ago. The main tract today is typified by recently logged forestlands planted with young

pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden accep ...

. A smaller, tract lies about north of the main area of land, immediately adjacent to the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge. The area is open to the public for seasonal hunting, trapping, fishing, hiking, and primitive camping. Firearms are prohibited in the Dismal Swamp tract, where only bow-hunting is permitted; firearms may be used for hunting within the main tract. Neither area permits horseback riding. Cavalier Wildlife Management Area is owned and maintained by the

Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries The Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources is a department of the government of the U.S. state of Virginia that regulates wildlife conservation. History The Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries was created on June 17, 1916, under the ...

. Access for persons 17 years of age or older requires a valid hunting or fishing permit, or a WMA access permit.

References

External links

Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries: Cavalier Wildlife Management AreaVirginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries: Dismal Swamp Tract of Cavalier
Wildlife management areas of Virginia Protected areas of Chesapeake, Virginia Great Dismal Swamp {{Virginia-protected-area-stub

See also

References

External links