NEW CASTLE – DNREC’s Division of Fish & Wildlife announced today that repairs and upgrades to the rifle-pistol range at the Ommelanden Hunter Education Training Center will begin Sept. 3. The rifle-pistol range will be closed during construction until its anticipated reopening on Wednesday, Oct. 3.

Repairs and upgrades to the rifle-pistol range will involve replacing a damaged concrete floor, and installing a new drainage system, block wall and entryway. The improvements are part of upgrading the Ommelanden shooting range facility to better serve the Division’s shooting sports customers.

Trap and skeet fields and archery courses will not be impacted by these improvements and will remain open during regular operating days and hours available at Ommelanden Range.

For more information, contact the Division of Fish & Wildlife’s Wildlife Section at 302-739-9912.

Contact: Beth Shockley, DNREC Public Affairs, 302-739-9902

Vol. 48, No. 237

LEWES – DNREC’s Division of Parks & Recreation today announced that the Point at Cape Henlopen State Park, including a stretch of ocean beach and dunes, and a half mile along the bay shoreline, will reopen beginning Saturday, Sept. 1. The Point was closed on March 1 for the benefit of threatened and endangered beachnesters and migratory shorebirds, including red knots, piping plovers, oystercatchers, least terns, and other species.

The nesting habitat on the ocean side will reopen Sept. 1. The bayside beach will remain closed until Oct. 1 for use by shorebirds migrating south for the winter.

DNREC’s Divisions of Parks & Recreation, Fish & Wildlife and Watershed Stewardship have been working together since 1990 to implement a management plan to halt the decline of beachnester and migratory shorebird populations. The Point has been closed annually since 1993.

“We appreciate the public’s cooperation in this effort,” said Coastal Regional Administrator Pat Cooper. “DNREC is committed to providing protection for these species, hopefully to prevent them from disappearing in Delaware.”

For more information, contact Cape Henlopen State Park at 302-645-8983.

Contact: Beth Shockley, DNREC Public Affairs, 302-739-9902

Vol. 48, No. 236

It’s never too early to read or be read to. And to help build the reading, learning, and library habit, Delaware’s First Lady, Tracey Quillen Carney, announced the My First Delaware Library Card and the kids Super Library Card this summer. These new library cards target babies, toddlers, and preschoolers (birth to 5 years old) and school age children (6 to 12).

The new cards are designed to encourage independent reading and book selection and parent/caregiver interaction with children, reading aloud together and talking about book choices and children’s interests. “Reading aloud and talking with babies and children builds skills in communication, listening, memory, and language development – skills that correlate with so many good outcomes later in life, including high-school graduation,” First Lady Tracey Quillen Carney said.

The My First Delaware Library Card features a baby version of Delaware’s state bird, the Blue Hen. And the Super Library Card features superhero children. Cards are currently being rolled out and they will be available at all public libraries by the end of September.

A tracker card comes with each of the new library cards to help develop the library habit. Get your tracker card stamped at every library visit and after 10 visits receive a prize! My First Delaware Library Card members will receive a growth chart after 10 visits; Super Library Card members will receive super hero zipper pulls.

Frequent, habitual use of the new library cards will help children “unleash super powers”!  “The library habit is about raising readers, as well as parent-child engagement and access to other services that support strong and healthy families,” said State Librarian Dr. Annie Norman.

Both cards are free for any child living in Delaware. To register, the parent or guardian should bring their child to their local library and present a photo I.D.  For more information visit delawarelibraries.org/kidscards

About:
The Delaware Division of Libraries, a state agency dedicated to unleashing the potential in all Delawareans in partnership with Delaware Libraries, offers free access to the online catalog (delawarelibraries.org); Wi-Fi; computers/internet; eBooks; programs/workshops; community partnerships; and more.

DOVER – DNREC’s First State Heritage Park’s lantern tours of The Green and three of Dover’s historic cemeteries will entertain with stories from Dover’s history at 8 p.m. on Friday evenings this fall. Take a walk through Dover’s history by the light of a lantern on one of the four of the evening tours offered by the park.

Tours will be held at:

• Old Methodist Cemetery
  Fridays, Sept. 7 and Oct. 12
• Christ Episcopal Churchyard
  Friday, Sept. 21
• The Green
  Friday, Sept. 28
• Presbyterian Churchyard Cemetery
  Friday, Oct. 5

Old Methodist Cemetery
Meet at the Johnson Victrola Museum Parking Lot – 375 S. New Street
The stories of those buried in this historic cemetery help reveal the meanings behind the elaborate rituals associated with death and mourning in the 19th-century, as you are guided among the ornately decorated tombstones of the Wesley United Methodist Church’s old historic cemetery. Uncover the meanings of the carefully chosen and crafted funeral art that decorates the tombs of the high and lower classes alike, and what those symbols might reveal about the people buried beneath them.

Christ Episcopal Churchyard
Meet at Christ Church – At the corner of South State & Water Streets
Encounter characters from the past to hear not only tales of the tombstones, but also tales of joy and sorrow from those who are laid to rest within the walls of the churchyard. From Caesar Rodney’s unrequited love, to Civil War opponents buried within yards of one another, be prepared for a surprise or two on this unique tour.

Lantern Tour of the Dover Green
Meet at the John Bell House on The Green
Join historical interpreters from the First State Heritage Park dressed in colonial attire as they relate the stories of historic Dover. Dover’s public square was the site of markets and fairs, suffragists and abolitionists, soldiers and slaves, lawmakers and law breakers. Hear tales of the most infamous resident of Dover’s jail, of devastating fires that threatened the town, of poisonings, and tragic love.

Presbyterian Churchyard Cemetery
Meet at the Johnson Victrola Museum Parking Lot – 375 South New Street
Visit by lantern light the Presbyterian Church of Dover’s historic cemetery, where many prominent Delawareans and their families are buried. Among them is Delaware’s great statesman John M. Clayton, and Revolutionary War martyr Colonel John Haslet, who died a hero’s death at the Battle of Princeton in 1777. Meet these figures from Dover history along with several 18th-century Dover widows with decided opinions about their husbands.

Admission to all lantern tours is $10. All fall tours begin at 8 p.m. Space is limited; call 302-739-9194 to reserve your lantern. Lantern tours cancelled due to inclement weather will not be rescheduled.

The churchyard tours are made possible with the cooperation of the Presbyterian Church of Dover, Christ Episcopal Church and Wesley United Methodist Church.

The First State Heritage Park is Delaware’s first urban “park without boundaries,” linking historic and cultural sites in the city that has been the seat of state government since 1777. The park is a partnership of state agencies under the leadership of DNREC’s Division of Parks & Recreation, working in collaboration with city and county government, nonprofit organizations and the private sector.

Contact: Sarah Zimmerman, DNREC Division of Parks and Recreation, First State Heritage Park, 302-739-9194 or sarah.zimmerman@delaware.gov.

Vol. 48, No. 233

HARRINGTON – Natural Resources Police Officers with DNREC’s Environmental Crimes Unit arrested a Greenwood man Aug. 21 for illegal dumping in Harrington.

Raymond H Wood, 32, was charged with causing or contributing to the disposal or discharge of solid waste materials, and transportation, storage, or collection of solid waste without a permit. Wood was arraigned at Justice of the Peace Court 7 in Dover, Delaware and released on $200 unsecured bail.

His arrest comes following an investigation into a dumping complaint along Fisher’s Bridge Road in Harrington. Through investigative measures, Wood was identified as having been hired through a contracting company to remove and dispose the refuse that was later found dumped off Fisher’s Bridge Road.

The minimum fine for dumping is $500, up to $1,500 maximum. The fine for transportation, storage, or collection of solid waste without a permit is $100 for a first offense, plus the cost of an annual permit, $350.

Delawareans are asked to report illegal trash dumping to DNREC’s Natural Resources Police Environmental Crimes Unit by calling the 24-hour environmental complaints line at 800-662-8802.

Contact: Joanna Wilson, DNREC Public Affairs, 302-739-9902

Vol. 48, No. 234