Gloucester, VA – Chesapeake Conservancy President & CEO Joel Dunn issued this statement following an announcement from the National Park Service regarding the permanent protection of Werowocomoco.

“Along with the U.S. Department of the Interior, Governor McAuliffe and our partners at the National Park Service, The Conservation Fund, and American Indian tribal leaders, the Chesapeake Conservancy celebrates the permanent protection of Werowocomoco.

“Once the capital of the Powhatan chiefdom for hundreds of years and one of the most significant American Indian sites in eastern North America, we think of it as the Machu Picchu of the Chesapeake. It is not yet open to the public pending a planning process in consultation with local American Indian tribes in Virginia, but this special place is now a part of the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail where visitors will be able to appreciate its antiquity and spirituality, and gain access to its majestic natural and cultural history.

“This success, which we celebrate on the 10^th anniversary of the trail and the 100^th anniversary of the National Park Service, is a great example of the importance and the power of the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF). This program has protected a long list of our nation’s most iconic places, to which Werowocomoco can now be added.

“On behalf of the Chesapeake Conservancy, I’d like to thank the huge outpouring of supporters who joined us in advocating for the Rivers of the Chesapeake LWCF Collaborative in fiscal year 2015 and fiscal year 2016, which included nine U.S. senators, 17 members of the House of Representatives, five governors, President of the Maryland Senate, the Speakers of the House of Delegates in Virginia and Maryland, six American Indian tribes, the John Smith Chesapeake Trail Advisory Council and 35 NGOs.”