FRIENDS OF DRAGON RUN
Friends of Dragon Run was organized, in 1985, by a group of Virginia's Middle Peninsula citizens who generously donated funds to purchase and preserve a 203 acre tract of Dragon swampland, near Churchview in Middlesex County.
With assistance from the Chesapeake Bay Foundation staff and an affiliation with the Virginia Outdoors Foundation, the purchase was made possible with tax deductible contributions.
The organization now independently owns and manages this and additional wild areas. Its members and the public enjoy the use of the property for purposes consistent with conservation and education.
Concerned with the future of the entire Dragon wilderness area, Friends of Dragon Run as an organization, seeks to promote preservation and protection of the watershed through the example it gives the community by its actions. Those being primarily the concern it shows for the land it owns or manages.
The Association encourages others who own or manage property in and adjacent to the swamp to donate conservation easements or otherwise protect the area from future development. The application of forestry and agricultural best management practices are encouraged.
These practices include: use of no-till planting, filter strips, reforestation, sod waterways, contour farming, and sensitive timbering techniques in the Dragon wetlands and along its streams. All aim to reduce the amount of nutrients and sediment that would otherwise enter the Dragon as a result of farming and forestry.
These efforts are essential in assuring that development adjacent to the Dragon Run swamp and its corridor is compatible with maintaining the swamp's ecological integrity.
It is the intent of the Association to seek these objectives through continued cooperation with other appropriate conservation organizations, local governments and landowners.
With assistance from the Chesapeake Bay Foundation staff and an affiliation with the Virginia Outdoors Foundation, the purchase was made possible with tax deductible contributions.
The organization now independently owns and manages this and additional wild areas. Its members and the public enjoy the use of the property for purposes consistent with conservation and education.
Concerned with the future of the entire Dragon wilderness area, Friends of Dragon Run as an organization, seeks to promote preservation and protection of the watershed through the example it gives the community by its actions. Those being primarily the concern it shows for the land it owns or manages.
The Association encourages others who own or manage property in and adjacent to the swamp to donate conservation easements or otherwise protect the area from future development. The application of forestry and agricultural best management practices are encouraged.
These practices include: use of no-till planting, filter strips, reforestation, sod waterways, contour farming, and sensitive timbering techniques in the Dragon wetlands and along its streams. All aim to reduce the amount of nutrients and sediment that would otherwise enter the Dragon as a result of farming and forestry.
These efforts are essential in assuring that development adjacent to the Dragon Run swamp and its corridor is compatible with maintaining the swamp's ecological integrity.
It is the intent of the Association to seek these objectives through continued cooperation with other appropriate conservation organizations, local governments and landowners.
OUR PROPERTY
- Nature Conservancy Records 13,350-acre Easement in Dragon Run and Mattaponi Drainages: 20,645 acres, 23% of Watershed Protected.
- Acquisition of 12 Acre "Milby Tract" in Middlesex County
- Dragon Run Protected Lands
DRAGON WILDERNESS
The Dragon wilderness is a unique ecosystem which has been ranked second in ecological significance among 232
areas investigated in a Smithsonian Institution study which covered 12,600 square miles of the Chesapeake Bay region.
areas investigated in a Smithsonian Institution study which covered 12,600 square miles of the Chesapeake Bay region.
