In the News

In a major step forward in the ongoing efforts by Congressman Gerry Connolly and local officials to provide improved public access to Featherstone National Wildlife Refuge, Connolly said the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) will award a $585,000 federal grant for trail and boardwalk improvements at the Woodbridge site along the Potomac River.  

Since 2010, with the backing of concerned citizens, area organizations, and Woodbridge Supervisor Frank Principi, Congressman Connolly has pushed the Department of Interior’s Fisheries and Wildlife Service (FWS) to open the wildlife refuge to public access from water and from land.  

In September 2011, the FWS issued a Comprehensive Conservation Plan for Featherstone that allowed public access to the refuge for the first time in four decades, but it was limited to access from the river via non-motorized boats.  Since that time, Connolly and Principi, with local support, have sought to secure approvals to provide safe public access to the wildlife refuge from land.

Supervisor Principi secured a proffer for improvements to the Rippon Virginia Railway Express Station that will allow the public to use the station platform to access the refuge.  Supervisor Principi also worked with the homeowners association adjacent to the refuge to win support for a link from the nearby Potomac National Heritage Scenic Trail to the refuge.

With the trail and boardwalk improvements funded by the federal grant, the long-standing dream to provide hikers, birders and other outdoor enthusiasts improved access to Featherstone Wildlife Refuge is close to fruition.  The refuge is home to white-tail deer, red foxes, bald eagles and a variety of other wildlife.  

Featherstone Wildlife Refuge encompasses 325 acres of pristine Potomac River shoreline.  In 1970, the federal government acquired 164 acres of land on the site of the Featherstone property.  An additional 161 acres of land was acquired from the District of Columbia in 1979, fully establishing the Featherstone refuge.  Various levels of restricted access have persisted at the refuge throughout the duration of the federal government’s stewardship.

In 2010, concerned citizens notified Congressman Connolly that the refuge was in danger of being mistreated and forgotten.  They hoped that the Congressman could rescue the refuge from a fate it narrowly escaped decades earlier when the property was planned to be converted into a landfill.  Environmentalists, including Elizabeth Hartwell, acted quickly to preserve the land, and thanks to their efforts we can enjoy this natural treasure today.   

Local, regional and state environmental organizations joined the Congressman’s coalition demanding that the FWS open Featherstone to the public.  Cosignatories on a  letter to FWS demanding such action included; the Prince William Conservation Alliance, the Elizabeth Hartwell Environmental Education Fund, the Virginia Native Plant Society, the Virginia Chapter of the Sierra Club, the Audubon Naturalist Society, the Prince William Wildflower Society, the Virginia Society of Ornithology, the Piedmont Environmental Council, and the Northern Virginia Bird Club.

“We have a public lands deficit in Northern Virginia and during my years in local government and now in Congress I have fought to erase that deficit,” Connolly said.  “I feel strongly that the region’s citizens and visitors deserve total access to this natural treasure on federal land.”

The FHWA grant, authorized through the federal MAP-21 Federal Lands Access Program, will fund the bulk of the $750,000 trail and boardwalk project at the refuge.  The grant includes a $165,000 local match.