Obituary
Elizabeth Speer Hartwell
Environmental Activist, Bald Eagle Champion and
Former Fairfax County, Virginia Citizen of the Year
Born December 1, 1924 -- Died December 14, 2000
Elizabeth Speer Hartwell, 76, a leading environmental activist and successful advocate of
protecting the Mason Neck, Virginia peninsula for the preservation of the American Bald Eagle,
died of congestive heart failure Dec. 14 at Alexandria INOVA Hospital. Mrs. Hartwell had a
long history of cardio-pulmonary disease that hindered but never stopped her environmental
activism.
Mrs. Hartwell won dozens of awards and honors for her role protecting the environment,
the Bald Eagle, the water quality of the Potomac River, and in leading the successful citizen
effort to preserve over 5,000 acres of the Mason Neck peninsula in southeastern Fairfax County,
Virginia. Her ongoing crusade resulted in the 2,277-acre Mason Neck National Wildlife Refuge,
the first refuge in America established for the protection of the bald eagle; the 1,804-acre Mason
Neck State Park, and the 1,003-acre Pohick Bay Regional Park.
Liz Hartwell, who was chided as the “Eagle Lady” by many prominent but defeated
northern Virginia developers who flapped their arms mocking her support for the bald eagle, was
named Fairfax County’s Citizen of the Year in 1971 by the Washington Star newspaper.
During her environmental career, Hartwell served as a member and Vice Chairman of
the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority, as Secretary and Vice President of the
Conservation Council of Virginia, as Chairman of the Citizens Council for a Clean Potomac,
as a Board Member of the Audubon Naturalist Society of the Central Atlantic States, an elected
member of the Committee of 1000 on the Federal City, Fairfax County Sewer Committee, and
organized the Friends of Mason Neck.
Liz Hartwell also was appointed by former Gov. Linwood Holton (R-VA) to the
Virginia Board of Agriculture and was appointed by the Fairfax County Board of
Supervisors to the Fairfax County Wetlands board for nine years and served as it’s Chairman
for seven years. Hartwell was appointed and reappointed to the Northern Virginia Potomac
River Basin Committee by Governors Charles Robb and Gerald Baliles respectively.
Recognition for Liz Hartwell’s effort began in 1967 when she won the Conservation
Award of the National Capital Area Federation of Garden Clubs. Afterward, Hartwell was
honored by the District’s Soil and Water Conservation Society of America; the Virginia
Department of Agriculture; the Virginia Wildlife Federation’s Conservationist of the Year
(1976); the Virginia Izaak Walton League; the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors; Virginia
Division of Parks & Recreation; and the Fairfax County Park Authority’s Elly Doyle Park
Service Award (1990).
In addition, the historic archaeological Tauxenent Indian site visited by Captain John
Smith in 1608 at Mason Neck, was named the “Hartwell Site” by the Fairfax County Heritage
Resources Branch. Hartwell received many other local and national awards for her
environmental activism and accomplishments.
Hartwell began her environmental crusade in February 1965 when she learned of a
rezoning application in Fairfax County for the development of a satellite city of 20,000 people on
the most ecologically sensitive area of Mason Neck. She decided to lead an effort to stop this
development and that the fight would center on preserving the “Neck” habitat for the endangered
American bald eagle. On March 2nd Hartwell crashed uninvited a 40 mile bus tour headed by
Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall along the Potomac. Hartwell wrote an account of the tour
which was published on the front page of the Fairfax County Sun Echo newspaper. Hartwell
then arranged a 14-passenger helicopter flight over Mason Neck to show federal (Interior),
regional and local officials the two remaining eagles’ nests in Northern Virginia which were on
Mason Neck.
Hartwell moved forward in her crusade by filming 8 mm movies of the habitat and
wildlife and showing them to Garden Clubs, Civic Associations and community meetings
throughout the region. She then started conducting boat tours of the Great Marsh and Kane’s
Creek waterways around the neck for elected officials, reporters and other environmental
advocates. She founded the 11-member Conservation Committee for Mason Neck which
included two Democratic and two Republican candidates for the General Assembly. The
Committee’s Chairman, former Rep. William Durland (I-Fairfax) was elected to the assembly
and testified with Hartwell to preserve Mason Neck.
These efforts led to Secretary Udall’s direct opposition to the rezoning, along with the
Interstate Commission on the Potomac River. After dozens of skirmishes, involving all levels of
government, developers withdrew their proposed development and the Fairfax County Board of
Supervisors approved a “Lower Potomac Master Plan” proposing over 5,000 acres of Mason
Neck for what eventually became the current regional, state and federal park land.
From 1965 through 1983, Hartwell led successful efforts against 21 threats to Mason
Neck including: a deep-sea port for ocean-going vessels on Belmont Bay at Mason Neck (which
was to be filled in with Potomac dredge spoil); an outer beltway plan proposed through the
wildlife refuge and the historic Gunston Hall estate (the colonial home of George Mason); a $500
million federal Science and Industry museum; a U.S. Army aerosol spraying experimental tower
adjacent to eagle nesting habitat; a landfill for District of Columbia garbage; a resort “island” in
Belmont Bay; a military airport; a liquefied natural gas pipeline through the state park; another
local 60-acre landfill; a major sewer line construction project which would have brought massive
development to all remaining holdings; and others. Hartwell led the successful 1982-1983 effort
to lobby Congress for the initial $3 million appropriation to purchase Mason Neck open space
from the Nature Conservancy its eventual use.
Over the years, Hartwell was the subject of numerous news articles and television stories,
and she published works in the Fairfax County Sun Echo; the Atlantic Naturalist; The Virginia
Outdoors; the Globe Newspapers; and a History of the Occoquan Regional Park by the Northern
Virginia Park Authority in 1987. Articles about her efforts appeared on the front pages of the
Washington Post (27 March 1972 Carl Bernstein), Alexandria Gazette, The Washington Star,
and the Fairfax Journal, and chapters on several books have been written about her activism.
Born in Danville, Virginia to Elizabeth van Laer and John Emory Speer, Hartwell
attended Mary Washington College in Fredericksburg, VA and married Stephen Hartwell of Mt.
Vernon, Virginia in 1946. Both were active in the Republican Party in the 1950’s and 1960’s
and lived in the Mt. Vernon and Mason Neck sections of Fairfax County, VA until they were
divorced in 1973. Elizabeth Hartwell is survived by two sons, Stephen W. of Lorton, VA and
Robert v. L. of Alexandria; her Sister Martha Irvine of South Padre Island, TX; and two
grandchildren Heather L. and Stephen A. Hartwell both of Alexandria.
***
A memorial service for Hartwell is being planned for April 2001 at the Mason Neck
State Park and in her memory, the Elizabeth Hartwell Environmental Education
Fund1 has been established for the protection of the Bald Eagle habitat on Mason
Neck. Contributions in lieu of flowers should be directed to the: Potomac
1
Tax-exempt 501(c)(3) charitable foundation status is pending. Contributions are tax-deductible for federal income tax
purposes
Foundation Hartwell Fund c/o Mason Neck Citizens Association, Box 612, Lorton,
VA 22179.