Carvins Cove Natural Reserve
Carvins Cove Natural Reserve is a city park in Botetourt and Roanoke counties, Virginia. Managed by the Western Virginia Water Authority and the City of Roanoke, it is the fifth-largest city park in the United States, and the second-largest city park managed by a municipality. Within the park's boundary is Carvins Cove Reservoir and also the main ridgeline of Brushy Mountain, which rises about 1200 feet above the lake's waterline.
History and ownership
In the 1930s, Carvins Creek was dammed to create the Carvins Cove Reservoir, which for many decades served as the primary water source for the City of Roanoke. A small rural community was displaced by the reservoir's creation, and some of its roads and housing foundations still become visible during droughts. A series of droughts in the late 1990s spurred the City of Roanoke and Roanoke County to create the Western Virginia Water Authority, which consolidated their water delivery systems.The reservoir and the land below the contour are owned by the Authority; the land above the contour is owned by the City of Roanoke. In April 2008, Roanoke City Council placed of Carvins Cove under a conservation easement donated to the Western Virginia Land Trust and the Virginia Outdoors Foundation. The easement protects much of the Cove from inappropriate development and is the largest ever recorded in the Commonwealth of Virginia.