Mattaponi 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 ...
(WMA) in
Caroline County, Virginia
Caroline County is a United States county located in the eastern part of the Commonwealth of Virginia. The northern boundary of the county borders on the Rappahannock River, notably at the historic town of Port Royal. The Caroline county sea ...
. Located west of
Bowling Green
A bowling green is a finely laid, close-mown and rolled stretch of turf for playing the game of bowls.
Before 1830, when Edwin Beard Budding of Thrupp, near Stroud, UK, invented the lawnmower, lawns were often kept cropped by grazing sheep on ...
, the area protects a mixture of wetlands and upland forests at the confluence of the
Mattaponi
The Mattaponi () tribe is one of only two Virginia Indian tribes in the Commonwealth of Virginia that owns reservation land, which it has held since the colonial era. The larger Mattaponi Indian Tribe lives in King William County on the reserva ...
and
South
South is one of the cardinal directions or Points of the compass, compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west.
Etymology
The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Pro ...
rivers.
History
Prior to state ownership, the land that was to become Mattaponi WMA was used for timber production and rock quarrying.
After being identified as an opportunity to conserve diverse wildlife habitat in an area undergoing
suburbanization
Suburbanization is a population shift from central urban areas into suburbs, resulting in the formation of (sub)urban sprawl. As a consequence of the movement of households and businesses out of the city centers, low-density, peripheral urba ...
, the WMA was acquired 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 ...
(VDGIF) in 2010.
The total purchase price of $7.6 million was shared between VDGIF and several partners, including
The Nature Conservancy
The Nature Conservancy (TNC) is a global environmental organization headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. it works via affiliates or branches in 79 countries and territories, as well as across every state in the US.
Founded in 1951, The Natu ...
,
The Trust for Public Land
The Trust for Public Land is a U.S. nonprofit organization with a mission to "create parks and protect land for people, ensuring healthy, livable communities for generations to come". Since its founding in 1972, the Trust for Public Land has compl ...
, and
Ducks Unlimited
Ducks Unlimited (DU) is an American nonprofit organization 501(c) dedicated to the conservation of wetlands and associated upland habitats for waterfowl, other wildlife, and people. It has had a membership of around 700,000 since January 2013.
...
.
[ A significant portion of funding – $1.4 million – was provided by the ]U.S. Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD or DOD) is an executive branch department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government directly related to national secur ...
as part of a program to protect lands in the vicinity of Fort A.P. Hill.
Mattaponi WMA was officially opened to the public on March 30, 2011.[
]
Description
Mattaponi WMA covers in 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 ...
's upper coastal plain
A coastal plain is flat, low-lying land adjacent to a sea coast. A fall line commonly marks the border between a coastal plain and a piedmont area. Some of the largest coastal plains are in Alaska and the southeastern United States. The Gulf Coa ...
, west of Bowling Green
A bowling green is a finely laid, close-mown and rolled stretch of turf for playing the game of bowls.
Before 1830, when Edwin Beard Budding of Thrupp, near Stroud, UK, invented the lawnmower, lawns were often kept cropped by grazing sheep on ...
in Caroline County. It borders of the upper Mattaponi River
The Mattaponi River is a tributary of the York River estuary in eastern Virginia in the United States.
History
Historically, the Mattaponi River has been known by a variety of names and alternate spellings, including ''Mat-ta-pa-ment'', Matapa ...
and of the South River; the confluence of the two streams is located at the southern end of the WMA. Its boundaries contain both upland forests, various types of wetlands, and open water habitats, including two rare oxbow lake
An oxbow lake is a U-shaped lake or pool that forms when a wide meander of a river is cut off, creating a free-standing body of water. In South Texas, oxbows left by the Rio Grande are called '' resacas''. In Australia, oxbow lakes are call ...
s found within bottomlands where the Mattaponi once flowed.
Management at Mattaponi WMA focuses on enhancing wildlife habitat, using techniques such as selective timber harvest, prescribed burn
A controlled or prescribed burn, also known as hazard reduction burning, backfire, swailing, or a burn-off, is a fire set intentionally for purposes of forest management, farming, prairie restoration or greenhouse gas abatement. A control ...
s, and controlling water levels within wetlands and ponds.[ Approximately is used by Fort A.P. Hill as a wetland mitigation bank.][
Wildlife found on the property include a number of ]game animal
Game or quarry is any wild animal hunted for animal products (primarily meat), for recreation (" sporting"), or for trophies. The species of animals hunted as game varies in different parts of the world and by different local jurisdictions, thou ...
s, such as deer, bear, turkey, and squirrels; waterfowl are also abundant within the area's wetlands. Other game bird species, such as bobwhite quail
The northern bobwhite (''Colinus virginianus''), also known as the Virginia quail or (in its home range) bobwhite quail, is a ground-dwelling bird native to Canada, the United States, Mexico, and Cuba, with introduced populations elsewhere in th ...
and woodcock
The woodcocks are a group of seven or eight very similar living species of wading birds in the genus ''Scolopax''. The genus name is Latin for a snipe or woodcock, and until around 1800 was used to refer to a variety of waders. The English name ...
, are also found at the property and benefit from management that periodically clears portions of the landscape of mature vegetation.[ Fish found within the river include ]bluegill
The bluegill (''Lepomis macrochirus''), sometimes referred to as "bream", "brim", "sunny", or "copper nose" as is common in Texas, is a species of North American freshwater fish, native to and commonly found in streams, rivers, lakes, ponds and ...
, redbreast sunfish
The redbreast sunfish (''Lepomis auritus'') is a species of freshwater fish in the sunfish family (family Centrarchidae) of order Perciformes. The type species of its genus, it is native to the river systems of eastern Canada and the United Sta ...
, and largemouth bass
The largemouth bass (''Micropterus salmoides'') is a carnivorous freshwater gamefish in the Centrarchidae ( sunfish) family, a species of black bass native to the eastern and central United States, southeastern Canada and northern Mexico, but ...
; ponds on the property contain crappie
Crappies () are two species of North American freshwater fish of the genus ''Pomoxis'' in the family Centrarchidae (sunfishes). Both species of crappies are popular game fish among recreational anglers.
Etymology
The genus name ''Pomoxis'' ...
, bluegill, largemouth bass, chain pickerel
The chain pickerel (''Esox niger'') is a species of freshwater fish in the pike family (family Esocidae) of order Esociformes. The chain pickerel and the American pickerel (''E. americanus'') belong to the ''Esox'' genus of pike.
Taxonomy
French ...
, and a limited number of bowfin
The bowfin (''Amia calva'') is a bony fish, native to North America. Common names include mudfish, mud pike, dogfish, grindle, grinnel, swamp trout, and choupique. It is regarded as a relict, being the sole surviving species of the Halecomorphi ...
.[
A survey conducted by the Virginia Herpetological Society indicated a healthy diversity of amphibians, turtles, lizards, and snakes, including the ]carpenter frog
The carpenter frog (''Lithobates virgatipes'') is a species of true frog found on coastal plain of the Atlantic coast of the United States between central New Jersey and northeastern Florida.
Identification
Carpenter frogs are distinguished by ...
, a species more typically found in extreme southeastern Virginia, with only occasional occurrences in Caroline County.
Public use and access
Mattaponi WMA is open to the public for hunting, trapping, fishing, hiking, and primitive camping.[ Access for persons 17 years of age or older requires a valid hunting or fishing permit, or a WMA access permit.]
See also
* List of Virginia Wildlife Management Areas
Virginia Wildlife Management Areas (WMAs) are state-managed protected areas that exist primarily for the benefit of wildlife. Within the Commonwealth of Virginia, 44 tracts of land have been protected as WMAs, covering a total of over . They are ma ...
References
External links
Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries: Mattaponi Wildlife Management Area
{{Protected areas of Virginia
Wildlife management areas of Virginia
Protected areas of Caroline County, Virginia