North Tidewater News

Portsmouth, Va. – July 6, 2023 – The Elizabeth River Project and its partners are making sure a federally protected bird called the Chimney Swift can find a safe place to roost and nest at Paradise Creek Nature Park.

The non-profit group will hold a special ceremony on Friday, July 14, at 11 a.m., to celebrate the public park’s two new “Chimney Swift Towers,” which are designed as a welcoming home for a species that has lost nearly 70% of its habitat since 1970.

“The towers are not only beautiful additions to Paradise Creek Nature Park, but crucial for the survival of these amazing birds,” said Larry Lapell, Park Manager of the Elizabeth River Project.

The celebration on the two towers come just days after the public was captivated by 40 tiny egrets blown from their nests in a gusty Portsmouth storm.

Chimney Swifts once nested inside hollow forest trees all across Hampton Roads and the eastern United States. But as cities and towns grew and those trees were cut down for development, the birds quickly adapted to nesting in home chimneys – hence the name.

Today, the birds are protected under the U.S. Migratory Bird Treaty Act, and with few forests remaining with trees large and hollow enough to serve as nesting sites, scientists fear the birds are heading for endangered status.

That’s where the new Chimney Swift Towers come in.

Built as a collaborative effort between scientists, state agencies and local volunteers from the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources, The Tidewater Woodworkers Guild, Cape Henry Audobon Society,and the Elizabeth River Project, the towers are designed to provide the birds with the crucial habitat they need to survive.

“We hope that these towers will inspire more people to learn about and appreciate the wildlife that shares our urban environment,” Lapell said.

Elizabeth River Project Executive Director Marjorie Mayfield Jackson hopes so, too, noting that the new towers are part of a much larger environmental restoration and education story at Paradise Creek.

She said visitors are continually amazed at how the Elizabeth River Project turned a 40-acre area of heavy industry and historic pollution into a public park filled with restored wetlands, a revitalized forest and miles of hiking and kayaking trails.

About The Elizabeth River Project

The non-profit Elizabeth River Project has worked since 1993 to restore the environmental health of the urban Elizabeth River. Once presumed biologically dead, the river is now enjoying an exciting rebirth. Today most major industries on the port river, along with the cities of Chesapeake, Norfolk, Portsmouth and Virginia Beach and tens of thousands of school children and residents, collaborate with the Elizabeth River Project in the success story that is the river’s revival. Pelicans, eagles, river otters, seahorses and dolphins are now a common site. Along with Paradise Creek Nature Park, signature programs of the Elizabeth River Project include the Dominion Energy Learning Barge, River Star Homes, River Star Businesses and the Youth Resilience Expo. Landmark projects include restoring oyster habitat in the Lafayette and Eastern branches and cleaning up some of the world’s highest levels of contamination at Money Point in Chesapeake, resulting in a sixfold reduction in fish cancer. Do Something Beautiful. Join us today: ElizabethRiver.org

Contacts:

Casey Shaw, cshaw@elizabethriver.org, 757-613-0411 (cell)

Larry Lapell, llapell@elizabethriver.org, 757-376-7971 (cell)

Address: Paradise Creek Nature Park, 1009 Victory Blvd., Portsmouth, VA

Original source can be found here.