Community Corner

Photos: Featherstone National Wildlife Refuge Tour

Prince William Conservation Alliance hosts tours throughout the year.

Tucked away from Jefferson Davis Highway and hidden just behind the Rippon Virginia Rail Express station sits the Featherstone National Wildlife Refuge, which has been closed to the public for 40 years.

Except for when the Prince William Conservation Alliance can bring groups of interested citizens into the refuge for special tours. According to the PWCA, other than a few trail improvements and miscellaneous items that need to be tidied up, there is no reason why the refuge should not be opened.

Featherstone Wildlife Refuge affords the public a unique view of Woodbridge; it is a middle-ground of sorts between the chaotic suburban lifestyle and the abundance of nature that envelop the community.

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Congressman Gerry Connolly has been integral in the effort to reopen the land, and sent a letter to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on July 15 calling for immediate action.

Early on Saturday morning, members of the alliance and some first-time visitors gathered at the Rippon train station before entering the wild.

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Bug spray, hats, boots and long pants were strongly encouraged for the two-hour walk through the refuge. The alliance hosts these special tours in hopes of making the Woodbridge community aware of the bottomland forests and freshwater tidal marshes.

According to PWCA, the refuge was created in the 1970s after the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service received 146 acres of refuge land from District of Columbia to protect the wetland area. Then, in 1992, Prince William County donated another 161 acres. 

As Kim Hosen, executive director of the alliance, put it: "You'd never know you're in Woodbridge."

The PWCA is a non-profit watershed organization that is dedicated to serving Prince William and its surrounding communities.


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