Virginia Coastal Zone Management - Summer/Fall 2008
The new Willis Wharf Observation Platform (above) on the seaside of Northampton County was built by Eastern Shore Homecrafters using recycled plastic lumber for the decking.
The platform was dedicated on Sept. 19, during the 16th Annual Eastern Shore Birding and Wildlife Festival. Officials from the Village of Willis Wharf, Northampton County, the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries and the Virginia CZM Program, as well as the builder, Eastern Shore Homecrafters, cut the ribbon at the platform’s dedication.
The dedication was attended by over 40 people including residents of the Village. Attendees enjoyed the view from the 64’ X 24’ platform, and bird watching through the permanently installed binoculars. DGIF provided portable scopes for the day.
Virginia's Coastal Places: The Winning Ways of Willis Wharf
By Laura McKay, Virginia CZM
The Village of Willis Wharf, on the seaside of Virginia’s Eastern Shore, is one of those places that you might think, “time forgot,” but the truth is, it’s at the forefront of some very innovative thinking when it comes to ecology and economy.
In the 1980s, Willis Wharf became a hot spot for pioneering work in shellfish farming and is now home to several shellfish aquaculture companies: Cherrystone Aqua Farms, J.C.Walker Brothers Seafood and Terry Brothers, Inc. Shellfish farming is now a $50 million/year industry on Virginia’s Eastern Shore.
In 2004 it was one of the first locations to accept a Virginia CZM grant for a floating dock that would help highlight the Village as a prime put-in for our Seaside Water Trail, launching the village as an ecotourism destination. If you’re interested in cashing in on that growing industry, sign up for the Virginia CZM-funded Ecotour Guide Certification courses to be offered at the Eastern Shore Community College in January 2009 by visting http://es.cc.va.us.
In 2005, the Village petitioned Northampton County to adopt special zoning that protects its rural atmosphere and working waterfront ethic (see Watermen and Working Waterfronts article in this issue). Now in 2008 the Village has worked with the County, the Planning District Commission, the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries and Virginia CZM to install a state-of–the-art wildlife observation platform. The platform, funded by Virginia CZM, is constructed of recycled plastic lumber, has its own set of attached binoculars and provides one of the most panoramic views on the Eastern Shore. All sorts of shorebirds favor the vast wetlands that extend beyond the deck as you scan from the north, to the east and to the south. At low tide the mudflats are covered with herons, egrets, and sandpipers.
The area around the wildlife observation platform will become a demonstration site for the Virginia CZM Program’s soon to be unveiled social marketing campaign to promote the planting of native trees, shrubs, flowers and grasses. This latter effort, which includes a long list of local, state, and federal partners, is also being funded through Virginia CZM’s Seaside Heritage Program. As a prelude to this planting effort, potted specimens of selected native plants were on display at the observation deck for a September ribbon-cutting and dedication ceremony.
Later this winter, interpretive signage will be installed at the wildlife observation platform. These metal-framed signs, developed through the Seaside Heritage Program, will have three panels: two that describe the ecological and economic value of the seaside of Virginia’s Eastern Shore and a third panel that will be designed with the local communities to depict the special coastal resources at that site. We plan to place these interpretive signs in Chincoteague, Wachapreague, Willis Wharf, Oyster and at the Eastern Shore National Wildlife Refuge.
So, if you would like a glimpse of waht a sustainable coastal village of the future might offer, spend a day walking (or paddling) around Willis Wharf.