Powhatan School has embarked on a project to convert a former cattle field into an outdoor laboratory for budding scientists. The school received a donation of nearly 50 acres adjacent to the current school grounds in 2011. The so-called Crocker Conservancy (named for donors, Agnes Crocker Brengle, Constance B. Crocker and Isabelle Crocker Osborne) was placed into conservation easement with Clarke County. Both Spout Run and Roseville Run, headwaters to the Shenandoah River, flow through the property.

Powhatan hired a wildlife biologist to survey the land and provide recommendations on how to manage and convert the Crocker Conservancy into an outdoor laboratory.

"We were very excited to learn that the Crocker Conservancy contains one of the rarest types of wetlands in Virginia and is known to occur in only a few places in the world. This makes the Crocker Conservancy an even greater treasure for the school and to the local community. We are committed to preserving it and using the Crocker Conservancy to teach children how to be good stewards of our environment," says Susan Scarborough, Powhatan's Head of School.

Other plans for the Crocker Conservancy include:

Cultivating a meadow with wildlife flowers;
Maintaining a trail around the perimeter;
Protecting and restoring the Spout Run stream corridor;
Creating an agricultural experimental area;
Building a nature trail which will visit all the habitats on the property.

Land clearing and trail cutting have begun. The streams have been measured and marked off into 22 sites for further study. The Virginia Department of Conservation and Restoration is interested in assisting with a fish survey and the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries has agreed to help conduct a baseline analysis of the fish and aquatic insects.

"We have a lot of work to do and are looking for ways to fund the many projects on the property, but we feel confident that this will be a wonderful and valuable community resource long into the future," says Scarborough.