Volunteers sought for spring cleanup day March 18

DOVER – The DuPont Nature Center at Mispillion Harbor Reserve, a DNREC Division of Fish & Wildlife facility located in the heart of Delaware’s Bayshore Region, will reopen Wednesday, April 4 after being closed for the winter. The center will operate from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesdays and Saturdays through the end of April. From May 1 through Aug. 30, spring and summer hours will be 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday, closed Mondays. For the month of September, the center will be open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesdays and Saturdays only.

Prior to reopening day, the DuPont Nature Center will hold a volunteer spring cleanup day from 1-3 p.m. Sunday, March 18. Projects include exhibit and tank set-up, deck maintenance, painting, planting beach grass and cleaning the center and the surrounding grounds. Volunteers under age 18 must provide a parental consent form, and volunteers under age 16 must be accompanied by an adult. For more information or to sign up to volunteer, contact Lynne Pusey at lynne.pusey@delaware.gov or 302-422-1329.

Located on the edge of Mispillion Harbor at the intersection of the mouths of the Mispillion River and Cedar Creek, the DuPont Nature Center at Mispillion Harbor Reserve offers a variety of interactive exhibits and educational programs. Spring and summer programs can be viewed at de.gov/dnc. Indoor freshwater and saltwater tanks allow a close-up look at a variety of aquatic species, from horseshoe crabs to diamondback terrapins.

In the spring, the center’s large deck overlooking the harbor offers wildlife watchers an unparalleled view of the spectacle of spawning horseshoe crabs and migrating shorebirds, including red knots, that depend on horseshoe crab eggs to help fuel their 9,000-mile journey.

The DuPont Nature Center is located at 2992 Lighthouse Road, near Slaughter Beach, east of Milford. Admission to the center is free and open to the public. For general information about the center, please call 302-422-1329 or visit DuPont Nature Center. For inquiries about the center’s programs and operations, please contact Lynne Pusey, lynne.pusey@delaware.gov or 302-422-1329.

Follow the Division of Fish & Wildlife on Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/DelawareFishWildlife.

Media contact: Joanna Wilson, DNREC Public Affairs, 302-739-9902.

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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 close beginning Thursday, March 1, for the benefit of threatened and endangered beachnesters and migratory shorebirds, including red knot, 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 Park Superintendent Grant Melville. “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.

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

LEWES – DNREC’s Divisions of Parks & Recreation and Fish & Wildlife announced today that stretches of ocean beach between Gordons Pond and Herring Point, and beachfront along the ocean side of The Point on Cape Henlopen, will reopen Sept. 1, following the conclusion of beachnesting bird season. The beach is now accessible for fall surf-fishing, and in time for the Labor Day holiday weekend.

These areas have been closed to the public since March 1 for the benefit of threatened and endangered beachnesters and migratory shorebirds, including red knot, piping plovers, oystercatchers, least terns and other species.

The bay side of The Point will remain closed until Oct. 1 to give refuge to the many species of migratory birds that pass through Delaware on their way to overwintering grounds to the south.

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

SLAUGHTER BEACH – The DuPont Nature Center at Mispillion Harbor Reserve, a DNREC Division of Fish & Wildlife facility located in the heart of Delaware’s Bayshore Region, will host two programs Sept. 2 and 6 highlighting World Shorebirds Day, which takes place annually in September to celebrate shorebirds around the globe.

Each year on Sept. 6, World Shorebirds Day seeks to highlight the need to protect shorebirds and their habitats, raise public awareness about continued shorebird research, monitoring and conservation, and connect people with shorebirds through wetland sites around the world. DuPont Nature Center programs connecting Delaware to World Shorebirds Day are:  

• Mispillion Harbor Shorebirds Presentation and Birding Trip, 1-3 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 2. Join DuPont Nature Center educators for a presentation about the most common shorebirds that visit Mispillion Harbor and the importance of the harbor to the success of their migration. Nature Center staff will also unveil a new shorebird exhibit with carvings by local artist Harold VanDyk, whose work offers a unique portrayal of species that visit Delaware. After the carvings are unveiled, DNREC biologists will lead a shorebird trip that begins at the DuPont Nature Center and ends at Slaughter Beach. The birding trip will focus on the shorebirds currently visiting Mispillion Harbor and surrounding area.

• Delaware Shorebirds Today, 1-2 p.m., Wednesday, Sept. 6. Join DNREC Shorebird Biologist Audrey DeRose-Wilson for a presentation about the shorebirds that visit Delaware each year, identifying these species, their status, and the research conducted by the Division of Fish & Wildlife to monitor and protect these important migratory birds.   

The DuPont Nature Center is located at 2992 Lighthouse Road, near Slaughter Beach, east of Milford. Hours of operation through the end of August are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday, closed Mondays. For the month of September, hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesdays and Saturdays only. Admission is free and open to the public. For more information about the center, call 302-422-1329 or visit DuPont Nature Center.

Contact: Lynne Pusey, DNREC DuPont Nature Center coordinator, 302-422-1329, or Joanna Wilson, DNREC Public Affairs, 302-739-9902.

DOVER – DNREC’s Division of Fish & Wildlife announced today that Delaware’s 2017 commercial harvest quota of 162,136 male horseshoe crabs has been met, and that the horseshoe crab fishery will close at 12:01 a.m., Thursday, June 22 in accordance with Delaware law and regulations. The fishery will remain closed the rest of the year.

Horseshoe crabs are managed by the Division of Fish & Wildlife through the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Interstate Fishery Management Plan. Annual allocations for the Delaware Bay area states are determined through an innovative adaptive resource management model that takes into account changes in both the horseshoe crab and migratory shorebird populations to address the shorebirds’ nutritional needs. Under the management plan, Delaware’s 2017 quota allocation was 162,136 male horseshoe crabs. Harvest of female horseshoe crabs is prohibited year-round in Delaware.

Horseshoe crabs are harvested in Delaware for use as bait in the whelk (conch) and American eel fisheries. Horseshoe crabs also play an important role in the ecology of the Delaware Bay, notably by providing migratory shorebirds with the horseshoe crab eggs that fuel their long-distance migrations to Arctic breeding grounds. The horseshoe crab’s copper-based blue blood also is used in medical testing and research.

Media contact: Joanna Wilson, DNREC Public Affairs, 302-739-9902.

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