Money will help prevent wildfires

Severe wildfires will be less likely in the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge thanks to a $3.13 million investment by the U.S. Department of the Interior.

The money, along with funds from other sources, will be used to install about 15 water control structures throughout the swamp to raise the water table and slow the drainage of the swamp, director Chris Lowie said Friday.

With a wetter swamp, severe wildfires will be less likely, Lowie said. That benefits human health and tourism in the local area, he added.

“It’s good for wildlife, and it’s good for people,” Lowie said of the project.

The funding was announced Friday as part of a $162 million package that will fund 45 restoration and research projects along the East Coast. The projects will help the communities protect against the effects of severe storms like last year’s Hurricane Sandy and help mitigate the effects of climate change.

The Great Dismal project also will help reduce local flooding, improve water quality in the area and help reduce the emission of carbon into the atmosphere, Lowie said. The organic peat soil throughout the swamp emits less carbon when it’s wet, he explained. Less carbon in the atmosphere, he said, will help slow climate change.

The swamp has suffered from two large wildfires in recent years, most recently in 2011, when two separate lightning strikes turned into the biggest fire in refuge history, consuming 6,400 acres. The blaze burned heavily throughout August of that year before being mostly extinguished by Hurricane Irene on Aug. 27, but it was not declared entirely out until Nov. 21.

Brian van Eerden, Southern Rivers program director for The Nature Conservancy, said the funding will be “transformational” for the swamp.

“It’s about trying to undo 250 years of mismanagement,” he said, referring to ditching and draining done before the swamp became a national wildlife refuge. “There’s really an opportunity to achieve large-scale restoration of that system’s hydrology … and ensure the long-term health of the refuge.”

Lowie said the swamp could not do its work without the help of The Nature Conservancy and other partners, including the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the Migratory Bird Conservation Commission, the U.S. Geological Survey, Christopher Newport University and many others.

“We can never get this far without the partnerships in place,” Lowie said. “It’s a team effort. Everyone realizes the value of this work.”