Saving The Crow’s Nest from development would be the single largest victory in the fight against sprawl that Stafford County has ever seen and probably would ever see. It is estimated that The Crow’s Nest makes up approximately 3% of the privately held land in Stafford.
It is home to hundreds of species of plants and animals, many of which are rare.
It is home to at least two federally endangered plants and two federally protected animals, one of those animals being the Bald Eagle.
It is home to at least two State listed endangered plant species.
It is home to some of the oldest growths of hardwood trees in the area, having largely been undisturbed for over a century. “Overall, Crow’s Nest supports one of the finest, if not the finest, upland hardwood forests remaining in the Virginia Coastal Plain,” says Gary Fleming of the Virginia Division of Natural Heritage.
Its shorelines and marshes make up over half of all of the shoreline and marshes in Stafford County.
Its rich history boasts having been the birthplace, and in some cases the resting place, of several influential American leaders from the eighteenth century, as well as a temporary home to Pocahontas.
It has somehow managed to avoid wholesale or piecemeal development though a period of growth in Stafford that has been unrivaled by almost any other county in the country, a period of growth that does not show any signs of abating.
Most of The Crow’s Nest was owned by one entity that was willing to part with their investment at a relatively reasonable price.
There is virtually no opposition to saving The Crow’s Nest from the threat of development. All we have to do is raise awareness, and our leaders will do our bidding.
