Bird Conservation in Burke’s Garden

Burke’s Garden, Photo Credit: Virginia Living

The Cornell Lab Land Trust Bird Conservation Initiative awarded the New River Land Trust a $10,000 grant for 2025. The Land Trust is partnering with the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources, and the Center for Environmental Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University to grow a landowner-conservation partnership in Burke’s Garden, Virginia. Through a series of community meetings and surveys, project partners will identify the conservation strategies landowners are most interested in and connect them to the technical service providers who can implement these strategies on the ground.

Burke’s Garden (a.k.a. God’s thumbprint) is a truly unique high elevation valley in southwest Virginia that encompasses about 40 square miles of highly productive farmland. Because the valley is enveloped by a ridgeline, mostly owned by the U.S. Forest Service, with the Appalachian Trail running along its southern edge, it has avoided development and has remained a rural community. The interior of Burke’s Garden is in private ownership with nine parcels totaling 6,693 acres in conservation easement. On the steep slopes surrounding the valley floor, there are patches of shrubland habitat and mature forests; this mix of habitats in Burke’s Garden supports tremendous biodiversity and numerous species of conservation concern, including Golden-winged Warbler, Bobolink, and Cerulean Warbler. 

*Adapted from the CornellLab Land Trust Bird Conservation Initiative - 2025 Small Grant Awardees page at https://www.birds.cornell.edu/landtrust/2025-small-grant-awardees