Truckin' on the Western Branch

Hoffler Creek is the only urban wildlife preserve in Virginia? “We try to keep the human footprint to a minimum so you can experience the wonder of the world here,” Randi Strutton, the first director of the Hoffler Creek Wildlife Foundation, said. “You never know what you’re going to see—deer, birds, eagles, osprey, hawks, and rabbits, squirrels, ground hogs, black bear, grey and red foxes, frogs, turtles, crabs. And whenever you can tap into the human spirit, you’ve got something valuable.”

“As one man was signing in, his toddler daughter kept tugging on him. Finally she got his attention, pointed to a butterfly and said ‘Look Daddy—there’s a flying flower,’” Strutton said. “People find peace here. I remember one woman who stayed past closing—her husband had just died. And a young man who also overstayed said he lost track of time— he had just put his dog down.” Strutton moved from Chesapeake to Churchland in 1986, adjacent to the preserve property, then owned by Virginia Department of Transportation. In 1995 the River Shore neighborhood learned that VDOT wanted to sell the land to a developer.

Randi Strutton. Images by Sheally

Allysa VanDykenv. Image by Sheally

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