RICHMOND, Va. – The Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation has completed the acquisition of 1,916 acres in the City of Suffolk to add to South Quay Sandhills Natural Area Preserve.
The agency acquired the land with the critical assistance of The Nature Conservancy with support from the Virginia Coastal Zone Management Program and the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality.
The site, located about a mile east of the existing preserve, contains one of the largest blocks of contiguous forest in the region and includes an abundance of wetlands. Its permanent protection will benefit water quality in the nationally significant Albemarle-Pamlico watershed. The expansion brings the total acreage of the preserve to 5,668…