DOVER – Registration is open now for the 2018 Delaware Wetlands Conference, organized by DNREC’s Division of Watershed Stewardship, to be held Wednesday, Jan. 31 and Thursday, Feb. 1 at the Chase Center on the Riverfront in Wilmington. Online registration and information about the event, including sponsorships, can be found at de.gov/dewetlandsconference.

DNREC’s Wetland Monitoring and Assessment Program and the Delaware Coastal Training Program have planned a two-day event that showcases the importance of wetlands. Each day includes invited speakers, poster sessions, networking time, lunches and a total of 62 presentations that cover wetland restoration, climate change, mapping, education and outreach, planning and conservation and plants and animals. New to this year’s conference is a wetlands poster contest for undergraduate and graduate college students.

More than 400 wetland experts and enthusiasts from the Mid-Atlantic area are expected to gather at the biennial conference to share the latest innovations in wetland research, outreach and conservation programs. The conference brings together scientists, planners, county and federal representatives, community leaders, educators and natural resource managers to discuss current research on tidal and non-tidal wetlands, the value of the region’s wetlands and the impact their management has on the community.

Discounted conference admission rates are available through Wednesday, Dec. 6 for early-bird registration. Registration closes Wednesday, Jan. 24.

For more information on the 2018 Delaware Wetlands Conference, including the agenda, list of presentations, and instructions on how to submit a poster, please visit Delaware Wetlands Conference, or contact Brittany Haywood at Brittany.Haywood@delaware.gov, or 302-739-9939.

Vol. 47, No. 247

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

HARRINGTON – Today at the Delaware State Fair, Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control Secretary Shawn M. Garvin welcomed Governor John Carney, DNREC conservation partners and guests to the DNREC Building’s theater for the premiere of “Delaware Bayshore Forever,” a new video produced for DNREC by Michael Oates and Jeanne Covert of 302 Stories, Inc.

The 12-minute video takes viewers on a land and aerial tour of the Bayshore’s important ecological, economic, cultural, and historic resources, as well as featuring some of the people who care deeply about the region’s unique natural and cultural heritage, and depend upon its rich and abundant resources.

The video supports DNREC’s partner program, “Bayshore Forever – A 21st Century Land Conservation and Restoration Strategy for Delaware’s Bayshore Region.” This program establishes goals to protect and restore Bayshore habitats that will increase resiliency and adaptation, reduce erosion and flooding, and protect wildlife through projects including habitat protection with interested landowners, enhancement of coastal impoundments and water control structures, restoration of forest buffers and tidal marshes, and managing invasive species.

In addition to DNREC, program partners include The Nature Conservancy, Delaware Wild Lands, The Conservation Fund, Delaware Nature Society, Ducks Unlimited, Delmarva Ornithological Society, Delaware Greenways, Kent County Conservancy, Partnership for the Delaware Estuary, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

To view “Delaware Bayshore Forever,” visit DNREC YouTube.

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

Vol. 47, No. 171

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DOVER – DNREC’s Wetland Monitoring and Assessment Program announced that its final report on the health of wetlands located in Kent County’s Leipsic River Watershed and Little Creek area – the eighth in a series of watershed-specific wetland health reports – has been given a C+ grade for their current condition, with opportunity for improvement. Tidal wetlands in the watersheds were in the best health of the four types evaluated, and received a B- grade overall, mostly as a result of a lack of grid ditching and undeveloped buffers.

In the summer of 2013, teams of wetland scientists from the program visited a total of 128 randomly-selected sites within the Leipsic River Watershed. Using condition assessment checklists and biological metrics, they found wetlands in the watershed were in fair condition, and that the most common stressors to them were invasive plants; digging, filling, and/or ditching of wetlands; and agriculture or development in the wetlands’ surrounding buffer area.

DNREC’s data was used to create a technical report on the Leipsic River Watershed that summarized not only the health of these wetlands, but also examined how wetland acreage has changed in recent decades, what value wetlands provide, and discussed how trends in land use have and will impact wetlands across the watershed. Land use in the watershed is dominated by agriculture and wetlands, nearly three-quarters of which are saltwater wetlands that act as beneficial resources for both people and wildlife. Impacts to wetland health can diminish a wetland’s ability to perform at full capacity to minimize flooding, control erosion, improve water quality, and provide a biologically rich habitat for plants and animals.

“Unfortunately, approximately 21 percent of this watershed’s wetlands have already been lost due to human conversion into development and agriculture, and more recently natural conversion to open water along the coastline,” said Alison Rogerson, DNREC environmental scientist and program lead for the Wetland Monitoring and Assessment Program. “But this opens an opportunity for citizens and landowners to benefit from restoring and protecting local wetlands by taking small steps.”

Based on assessment results, DNREC made 12 specific management recommendations targeted at scientists, decision makers, and landowners. These included increasing citizen education and involvement through outreach, encouraging vegetated buffers around streams and wetlands, promoting protection and restoration of wetlands, updating decades old tidal wetland maps, and exploring innovative restoration techniques such as living shorelines.

The Leipsic River Watershed is composed of two sub-watersheds that flow into the Delaware Bay: the Leipsic River, which originates in Kenton and flows approximately 19 miles eastward through Bombay Hook National Wildlife National Wildlife Refuge; and Little Creek (also known as Little River), which flows for approximately eight miles through the town of Little Creek.

The wetland reports and the work of the Wetland Monitoring and Assessment Program are made possible by EPA Region 3 Wetland Program Development funding. To view the full report on Leipsic and Little Creek, the wetlands report card, and more information on assessment methods, please visit http://de.gov/leipsicwetlands.

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

Vol. 47, No. 144

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Wetlands Celebration and Get in Gear Family Bike Rally to be held May 6

DOVER – Join DNREC in celebrating American Wetlands Month in May with a spectrum of events and activities honoring an important natural resource that plays key roles in cleaning our drinking water and protecting all Delawareans from storms by buffering our coastal areas. To kick off the month, the 14th Annual Get in Gear Family Bike Rally and inaugural Wetlands Celebration will be held from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, May 6 at Trap Pond State Park in Laurel.

“The Wetlands Celebration and family bike rally offer fun and engaging entertainment for the whole family while promoting awareness of Delaware’s vital wetlands and the wildlife habitat they provide,” said DNREC Secretary Shawn M. Garvin. “We also invite everyone to participate in our other wetlands events all month long – and to learn about, appreciate and care for our wetlands all year round.”

Beginning at 9 a.m., the Wetlands Celebration features interactive stations, exhibitors, demos, live music and live animals including horseshoe crabs, macroinvertebrates, geese and even an opossum. Families are invited to take a wetland Storybook Walk, learn how wetland health is assessed, become a wetland scientist in the Volunteer Olympic Games and more.

Exhibitors will include: DNREC’s Aquatic Resources Education Center, 3 Palms Zoo and Education Center, Ward Museum, Salisbury Zoo, Delaware Wild Lands, DNREC’s Wetland Monitoring and Assessment Program, Delaware National Estuarine Research Reserve, Delaware Division of Public Health, Nanticoke Watershed Alliance, The Archaeological Society of Delaware and Trap Pond State Park.

In addition, free pontoon boat tours of the pond will be offered every hour, with the last tour at 3 p.m. Tours include a brief history of the pond and offer a look at some of the plants and animals that call the pond home. The park’s canoes and kayaks will also be available to rent, and the Bald Cypress Nature Center will be open, along with the park’s trails.

Breakfast, lunch and dessert will be available for purchase from Backyard Louie’s, Abbott’s Grille, Hotdogs from the Beach and Rita’s Italian Ice.

The Get in Gear Family Bike Rally, which is run by Trap Pond Partners, begins at 10:30 a.m. and will circle the perimeter of Trap Pond. Registration for the Bike Rally is $10 per person or $25 per family, and it is requested that you bring your own bike. All funds go to support Trap Pond State Park. Visit the website to register or for more information about the event.

Park admission will be covered by the Bike Rally admission fee, or mention the Wetlands Celebration at the fee booth; the first 150 cars will receive free park admission. This outdoor event is rain or shine, but some activities are weather permitting.

Other Delaware American Wetlands Month activities include:

• Wetland Warrior Award Nominations
  The Delaware Wetland Warrior Award, now in its 10th year, is presented to students, teachers, classrooms, citizens or organizations that have demonstrated exemplary efforts to benefit Delaware wetlands. The award has two categories, education and professional.
• Conference Program Cover Art Contest
  The winner of the new Delaware Wetlands Art Contest will be featured on the cover of the 2018 Delaware Wetlands Conference program, and will be the sole art vendor at the Conference. Any medium is acceptable, but the format must be 8.5”x11” portrait and content must be wetland-related.
• Social Media Campaign
  Each week during the month of May, the Delaware Wetlands social media accounts will focus on a different aspect of wetlands, including working in wetlands, invasive plants, how to identify wetlands and wetland migration.

DNREC’s American Wetlands Month activities are organized by the Wetland Monitoring and Assessment Program. For more information about wetlands, visit Delaware Wetlands.

DOVER – DNREC’s Wetland Monitoring & Assessment Program today announced the launch of the Delaware Freshwater Wetland Toolbox, a new online tool that aids Delaware landowners in locating wetlands that may exist on their property.

“Delaware is rich in wetlands – no matter where you stand in the state you’re probably no more than a mile away from a wetland,” said DNREC Secretary Shawn M. Garvin. “Identifying and conserving these natural wetland resources is key to protecting the important functions wetlands provide, and technology such as the new online tool can make such information more readily available to us.”

The Freshwater Wetland Toolbox allows landowners to scroll through six wetland “hot topics” including: Wetland Mapping Viewer, Identify Wetlands, Benefits, Tidal vs. Non-Tidal, Help Wetlands, Get Your Free Gift and Contacts. The first stop on the site, Mapped Wetlands, allows users to input an address into a map viewer and zoom into the specified location to see if wetlands may be present.

In addition to the interactive map, landowners can find key identifying features of wetlands using the checklist Discovering Wetlands. The checklist can be carried outdoors to help find signs of wetlands in a landscape. Meanwhile, landowners are reminded that the map and checklist only summarize wetlands, as DNREC encourages the hiring of a professional to perform actual wetland delineations.

Landowners also can sign up on the website to make the Wetland Protection Promise and receive a free Delaware Wetlands gift by pledging to do three simple tasks in their daily lives. Tasks listed include choosing to landscape with native plants, disposing of trash in the proper locations, avoiding building on wetland areas, and volunteering for an annual cleanup or planting event.

Also available to landowners with a wetland area on their property is a free wetland health check by DNREC’s Wetland Monitoring & Assessment Program staff, who will point out what might be stressing to wetlands on your property and how to make them healthier.

To use the new online tool, please click on Delaware Freshwater Wetland Toolbox. For more information, contact DNREC’s Wetland Monitoring & Assessment Program within the Division of Watershed Stewardship at 302-739-9939.

Media contact: Michael Globetti, DNREC Public Affairs, 302-739-9902

Vol. 47, No. 83

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