| Fast Facts |
location
150 miles from Baltimore and Washington, D.C.
ecoregion
Chesapeake Bay Lowlands
project size
44,000 acres
preserves
Nassawango Creek
public lands
Pocomoke River State Forest
partners
Maryland Department of Natural Resources, Furnace Town Living History Museum
natural events
purple martin and Baltimore oriole migration, spring; butterflies congregate, summer | |
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Nassawango Creek is a hidden treasure tucked away on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, a state working with its mid-Atlantic neighbors to control burgeoning growth and protect the Chesapeake Bay watershed. |
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Bald cypress line Nassawango Creek.
© Larry Ulrich |
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A piece of the tropics is tucked away in the heart of Maryland’s Eastern Shore, where Nassawango Creek winds its 18-mile course south to the Pocomoke River. A sanctuary within the crowded mid-Atlantic, the creek resembles a Latin American forest of giant trees and the brilliant flash of songbirds. Neotropical migrants such as the prothonotory warbler and the indigo bunting nest and raise their young among the planet’s northernmost stands of massive bald cypress, whose emergent knees rise above the swampy waters.
During his pioneering voyages in 1608, Captain John Smith observed single cypress trees at the headwaters of the Nassawango large enough to be fashioned by the Indians into canoes that held 40 men. This and other elaborate descriptions of the area’s abundance attracted European settlers. In the early 19th century, the Nassawango Iron Furnace harnessed both the creek’s flow and natural resources like charcoal and oyster shells to produce "pig iron." |
Indigo bunting.
© Joe McDonald/Corbis |
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Captain John Smith would have trouble today recognizing the Chesapeake watershed, transformed as it is by sprawling development and streams clouded by agricultural runoff. But he would find familiar territory along Nassa-wango Creek. Much of the shoreline mirrors what Smith saw almost 400 years ago. It is a rare place that maintains the delicate yet dynamic rhythms of nature. | |
To preserve the heart of the Nassawango, The Nature Conservancy recently purchased 3,520 acres along the creek as part of a larger collaborative effort in Maryland and Virginia to address the environmental threats to the Chesapeake Bay watershed. This purchase makes Nassawango Creek the largest private nature preserve in Maryland, and contributes to the goal identified in the Chesapeake Bay 2000 Compact of having 20 percent of the watershed under conservation management by 2010. The compact, agreed to by the primary bay watershed states, recognizes the participation of land trusts in helping to restore and protect the bay.
Learn more about The Nature Conservancy's work in Maryland. |
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| Conservation Profile |
targets
bald cypress, Atlantic white cedar, prothonotory warbler, wild lupine, Delmarva fox squirrel, seaside alder, black-banded sunfish
stresses
nutrient runoff and sedimentation from agriculture, wetland destruction from increased residential development
strategies
acquire land, secure conservation easements, promote compatible development, influence land-use planning, restore ecosystems, create conservation corridors
results
3,520 acres purchased in May 2002; all told, one-quarter of 44,000-acre watershed in conservation management | | | | |
