June is World Ocean Month, and although Delaware Wild Lands doesn’t own oceanfront property, all of our properties do feed into either the Delaware Bay or the Chesapeake Bay, which in turn feed into the Atlantic Ocean. Oceans cover 70% of the Earth and support a wide diversity of species; from the smallest microscopic plankton, to the largest whales, to living fossils like the Horseshoe Crabs that come ashore every year in the Delaware Bay.
This year, we’re acquiring 45 more acres of saltmarsh and bayshore at Milford Neck, adding on to the 3,500 acres we’ve already protected there, part of a complex of more than 10,000 protected acres with our friends at The Nature Conservancy and Delaware Division of Fish & Wildlife! This property is crucial spawning grounds for Horseshoe Crabs, and as a result, a vital stopover for numerous species of migratory shorebird, including the Red Knot! We’ve also planted thousands of trees in the Pocomoke River Watershed in the Great Cypress Swamp, helping to contribute clean water to the Chesapeake Bay. What we do upstream to conserve land and protect water quality has a direct impact on aquatic life in our bays and oceans, and Delaware Wild Lands is dedicated to continuing to preserve, protect, and enhance Delaware’s natural beauty from the forests to the ocean, and everywhere in between!