Friends of Blackwater NWR

In addition to the Osprey Cam, the Eagle Cam, annual Open Houses, a Youth Fishing Derby, and the Butterfly Garden, the Friends of Blackwater have also recently undertaken the following projects:

environmental education building In June 2007, Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge completed the construction of an environmental education building with the additional assistance of a grant acquired by the Friends of Blackwater from the MHAA. The Friends of Blackwater and the Blackwater Refuge liaison, Visitor Services Manager Maggie Briggs, formed an education committee and worked with the Dorchester County Public Schools to develop an environmental education program that enables teachers to do the programs while making use of volunteers, partners, and the small staff at the Refuge.

The first environmental program, aided with a Nature of Learning grant from NFWF and assistance from the Baltimore Aquarium, occurred in 2007 when a volunteer and 4th-grade teacher’s workshop was held August 2, 2007. During October 9-17, six elementary schools brought their students (300 students total) to the Refuge for the environmental education programs, which included a food chain activity, a walk along the Marsh Edge Trial for a marsh-sit, a Refuge film and tour of the Visitor Center exhibits and observatory, and a guided bus tour through the Wildlife Drive. Then on March 27, 2008, a volunteer and 6th-grade teacher's workshop was held, and during April 14-17, the entire 6th grade in Dorchester County's two middle schools (approximately 280 students total) came to the Refuge for their own environmental education programs, which included a tree planting event, a Refuge film and tour of the Visitor Center exhibits and observatory, a guided bus tour through the Wildlife Drive, and a GPS activity where students learned to locate three invasive species and two native species of shrubs whose locations were previously entered into the GPS units.

Based on the feedback from students and teachers alike, the environmental education programs and the new education building were a big hit, and more programs are being planned for the future.

refuge observatory The Friends of Blackwater acquired funding through grants and donations to help renovate the Blackwater Refuge Visitor Center -- renovations that included an observatory and natural history library on a new second floor in the building.

The second floor now contains a set of TV monitors for the Osprey Cam and Eagle Cam, as well as bird exhibits and a bird-watcher's observatory where visitors can use spotting scopes to view the Osprey Cam platform, the Blackwater River, and the marsh. This observatory is called the "Wild Birds Unlimited Pathways to Nature Observatory" and was made possible by a grant from the Pathways to Nature conservation fund, which is a partnership between Wild Birds Unlimited stores and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.

The second floor also contains a Birding and Natural History Library where visitors can browse books about the local wildlife. Richard C. Kleen, a long-time volunteer at Blackwater who traveled to many states and countries to add to his U.S. life list and his world life list, donated the first 450 books to the library.

Access to the second floor is via a staircase, as well as a small wheelchair-friendly elevator.

The Friends of Blackwater assisted in the creation of two new hiking/birding trails at Blackwater Refuge -- the Key Wallace Hiking Trail and Demonstration Forest, and the Tubman Trail. These trails were also supported by a grant from the Chesapeake Bay Gateways Network.

The Key Wallace Trail is appoximately 2.7 miles long and provides visitors with a chance to observe forest management techniques, as well as wildlife and birds.

The Tubman Road Trail, which was named after a road near the trail, is in the same region where Harriet Tubman was born. Tubman became a "conductor" of the Underground Railroad, which helped many slaves escape to freedom during the Civil War era. The Tubman Road Trail is a 1.7-mile-long trail that uses new paths and existing access roads as it takes visitors through mixed pine and hardwood forests, sloughs and marshes, and reforested fields. The trail also includes an area that is still recovering from a tornado that blew through several years ago.

In addition to helping construct the trails, the Friends of Blackwaterr, with help from the abovementioned grant, also paid for the creation of two hiking trail brochures, which can be found at the trail heads and also on our Land Trails page.

The Friends of Blackwater, with aid from a Chesapeake Bay Gateways Network grant, created three canoe/kayak trails that opened on June 28, 2003 at the Refuge:

Purple Trail - 9 miles one way
Purple Spur Trail - 2.8 miles round trip
Green Trail - 8 miles round trip
Orange Trail - 7.6 miles round trip

You can learn more about the trails on our Paddling page. You can also purchase our wonderful Paddling Trails map in our online store. We strongly suggest purchasing a map before entering any of our trails. The maps also make a terrific guide to the Refuge in general.

The Friends of Blackwater worked in conjunction with the National Aquarium in Baltimore on a major marsh restoration project at Barren Island in the Chesapeake Bay (Barren Island is located twelve miles south of the Choptank River and is part of the Chesapeake Marshlands NWR Complex; the island is adjacent to Blackwater Refuge).

The efforts of this partnership (which included the Army Corps of Engineers, NOAA, the FWS, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, and Maryland Conservation Corps) have resulted in the planting of over 302,000 native marsh grasses with the help of 927 volunteers totaling 7,700 volunteer hours.

Aquarium staff and the Friends of Blackwater have returned to the site semi-annually to monitor the success of this restoration project. Topographic, vegetative, and fish utilization data have been collected. Initial monitoring indicates that the project has been successful as wave energy is being absorbed and sediment is in fact being accreted. A very natural marsh community which includes small invertebrates that live in the sediments, larger invertebrates including crabs and shrimp, and fish and birds can be found in the more mature parts of the site that were planted in 2001. The more recently planted areas appear to be progressing well toward a similar community.

Before and After: These images were taken on Barren Island in July of 2005 and 2006 respectively, and show the lush growth that occured just one year after planting.

Before and After: These images were taken on Barren Island in December 2000 and July 2006 respectively, and show the dramatic transformation from a "moonscape" of bare dredged material to a lush marsh.