Interior Department leaders on Friday celebrated the long-awaited hatching of the country’s newest wildlife refuge, a piece of rural Maryland that’s starting small but is destined to grow.
The Southern Maryland Woodlands National Wildlife Refuge is opening with a newly acquired 31-acre parcel near the small town of Nanjemoy in Maryland’s Charles County, about 30 miles south of Washington, D.C.
According to the Fish and Wildlife Service, the initial 31-acre parcel represents the first of several intended donations by The Nature Conservancy that in the coming months will span more than 300 acres of forest and riparian wetlands habitat.
In the long run, the agency plans on securing up to 40,000 acres through either outright purchase or acquiring conservation easements from willing sellers.
