The number of area students treated to firsthand lessons on the beauty and importance of Presquile National Wildlife Refuge could increase from a trickle to a steady flow, if the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wins approval of a plan for a bunkhouse on the island in the James River.
The service has completed an 84-page environmental assessment of the proposal and has opened the process to public comment. After the public comment, the idea has to pass muster with a variety of federal acts, guidelines and regulations.
If all goes well, the bunkhouse could be up and running as early as next fall on the 1,329-acre island refuge, about 20 miles south of Richmond.
The assessment is available for public inspection at the Chester and Hopewell Regional libraries and on the service's website. The public comment period is open through Dec. 31.
"It's really a wonderful asset for this region," said Bill Street, the executive director of the James River Association.
For the past decade, Street's group has worked closely with the Presquile staff in developing an "ecology school" geared toward introducing inner-city children to nature.
The new project would greatly expand that program and could open it to children throughout the area. For the past four or five years, the association has put together small overnight trips, with about a dozen students sleeping in tents. But, Street said, about half of the trips have had to be canceled because of weather concerns.
"It's really showed the need we have for facilities that can accommodate overnight (campers)," he said.
The proposed bunkhouse would include space for 30 campers and six adults. It would include bathrooms and showers.
"It would allow us to really expand the program," Street said.
He said the bunkhouse would allow the association to serve 1,200 to 1,500 students a year. The assessment says the number could be more than 1,800, with trips of as long as five days on the island.
The assessment also includes an alternative plan for sticking with a campsite. That would still require the construction of a bath and shower facility.
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