A former explosives testing site at Fort Belvoir is the only known home of a rare and endangered orchid in Fairfax County, according to a broad environmental study that illustrates the complex puzzle of construction and conservation.
The small whorled pogonia is a perennial flower listed as “threatened” federally and “endangered” byVirginia. At Fort Belvoir, a single such orchid on the Engineer Proving Ground’s western end was considered important enough to prompt the Army to move a planned parkway through the 800-acre parcel — if only by 8 feet.
The Army is now targeting the proving ground as its preferred location for 18,000 of the 22,000 new workers expected to drop on the base by 2011 in the Base Realignment and Closure plan. A recently released environmental impact statement on the move forecast an “unavoidable loss” of some 113 acres of natural habitat at Belvoir.
The orchid is located away from the planned development, which under preliminary plans is slated for the eastern portion of the proving ground, according to Belvoir spokesman Don Dees.
But BRAC, as well as the construction of two miles of the Fairfax County Parkway through the proving ground, will mean the orchid’s natural surroundings will be dramatically encroached upon in coming years as the property turns from a broad cut of natural land to a functioning military facility.
The land’s natural habitat has been re-establishing itself since training activities ceased there in the 1970s, the report says.
The small whorled pogonia generally stands 8 to 10 inches high and blooms in May or early June, said J. Christopher Ludwig, chief biologist for the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation’s Division of Natural Heritage. It occurs in hard-wood forests common throughout the Commonwealth, where he estimated 20 to 25 populations of the plant still exist.
“It’s a very unusual plant in that its habitat is relatively common, but the plant is very rare,” Ludwig said.
Fort Belvoir would need to consult the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which manages the endangered species program, on any actions that may affect the orchid, said Eric Davis, an endangered species biologist for the agency.
