Free tours offered of Crow’s Nest natural preserve May 17

A field day at Crow’s Nest Natural Area Preserve in Stafford County will be Saturday, May 17, starting at 9 a.m. Participants will see various plant life while on a guided hike through wetlands and rolling landscape.

The field day is free, but reservations are required. Call 804-786-7951 to reserve a spot. The event is limited to 80, and reservations are on a first-come, first-served basis. Driving directions will be provided to those who register.

Participants should wear casual clothes and comfortable shoes, and be prepared to walk up to 4 miles. The field day will take place rain or shine.

Crow’s Nest is a peninsula between Accokeek and Potomac creeks. The 2,872-acre preserve contains mature hardwood forest and some of the best examples of diverse, intact wetlands in the Potomac River drainage basin. It supports habitat for a variety of species, including bald eagles, migratory birds, the federally endangered short-nosed sturgeon and 22 plant species important to Virginia’s Coastal Plain.

Crow’s Nest was designated a natural area preserve in 2009 and is co-owned by Stafford County and the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation.

Virginia’s natural area preserve system was established in the 1980s to protect significant natural areas and rare-species habitat. Today, the system comprises 61 preserves totaling 55,352 acres.