Delaware Bayshores

Horseshoe crab
© Stephen Kirkpatrick

Delaware Bayshores

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View an enlarged enlarged map of the Delaware Bayshores area.

Spanning the States
Shared by portions of Delaware and New Jersey, the 3,420 square-mile Delaware Bayshores harbors some of the most sizeable concentrations of rare species and important natural communities on the American East Coast. More than 100 species of migratory and nesting birds, including waterfowl, raptors, shorebirds, and songbirds, visit portions of the landscape throughout the year. For many neotropical migratory birds, the Bayshores region serves as the only major stop on an annual odyssey from South America to Canada. Some of the birds may double their weight during spring, when horseshoe crabs travel toward the shore from winter habitat along the continental shelf to lay their eggs on the beach during high tide.

Embracing either side of the Delaware Bay, forested wetlands represent the northernmost part of the range for green treefrogs, important since populations located at the limit of a species' range often have distinct genetic characteristics. Numerous species of rare plants also thrive in the Delaware Bayshores, including swamp pink and sensitive joint-vetch. Most of the world's remaining population of seaside alder can be found on the Delmarva Peninsula, making the conservation of this species a high priority in Delaware.

Unlike much of the North Atlantic Coast, the Delaware Bayshores remain relatively intact. However, residential development, climate change, overfishing, and invasive species have been causing increasing amounts of stress to this landscape. Water quality also suffers from increased sedimentation and paving that comes with development.

Protecting What Remains
For many years, The Nature Conservancy has worked at individual places throughout the Delaware Bayshores in hopes of capturing and conserving the landscape’s collective biological diversity. At Great Marsh, near Lewes, the Conservancy worked with three neighboring families to establish and protect a 600-acres preserve providing high quality habitat for a wide variety of species, including black duck, teal, osprey, blue crab and fiddler crab. At the nearby 1,364-acre Pemberton Forest Preserve, the Conservancy safeguards Atlantic white cedar swamp forest near the confluence of the Brittingham and Pemberton branches of the Broadkill River. The 143-acre Edward H. McCabe Preserve contains a variety of important coastal plain habitats and populations of seaside alder, including more than one mile of river frontage on the Broadkill River.

Farther North, in Eastern Kent County, the Milford Neck Preserve represents the portion of undeveloped beaches and dunes, tidal marshlands, swamp and upland forests where more than a million migratory shorebirds arrive each spring to feed on eggs laid by horseshoe crabs converging on Delaware Bay beaches. Also in Kent County, tidal saltmarshes and mudflats contained within the 341-acre Port Mahon Preserve provide a sanctuary for numerous species of geese, duck, fish and amphibians. In the Blackbird Millington Corridor, the Conservancy has worked closely with local landowners, conservation partners and the business community to find common goals that will protect and preserve Delaware’s natural and cultural heritage.

Preparing For the Future
With climate change becoming a reality, and increasing population and development across the region, The Nature Conservancy has realized that conserving the Delaware Bayshores in the long-term will require an approach that reaches beyond the current project area. That’s why the Delaware Chapter, along with our colleagues in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York, has been evaluating the entire Delaware Bay and Basin as part of a multi-state effort dedicated to conserving select “integrated landscapes” – areas having an impact on global conservation and in need of collective attention.

The Delaware Bay and Basin was identified as one of twelve integrated landscapes within The Nature Conservancy’s U.S. Conservation Region. As part of this effort, a team of staff members representing the four state programs meet regularly to identify conservation targets, refine strategies, and discuss research and management tools required to conserve this watershed spanning from the Delaware River’s headwaters near Hancock, New York, to the Delaware Bay. One of the more interesting challenges related to this effort involves tying together conservation work at the Delaware Bay as a key stopover for migratory birds that spend much of their life cycle in other places such as Brazil and Argentina. We also plan to direct more resources towards the Delaware River. As the longest undammed mainstem river east of the Mississippi, the Delaware represents an important migratory pathway and spawning area for several species of diadromous fish such as the American eel, American shad, Atlantic sturgeon and shortnose sturgeon.

Focusing on “integrated landscapes” makes sense. Conserving entire forests, watersheds or marine ecosystems – regardless of their political boundaries – makes the most of limited human and financial resources, and advances strategies to address broader issues such as global warming, bird migration and overfishing.This is an exciting time for the Delaware chapter. We believe that migratory shorebirds and diadromous fish will benefit substantially from collaborating in the Delaware Bay and Basin, especially when it comes to developing strategies to address broader issues such as sea level rise and climate change. Stay tuned as we move forward on these efforts to conserve one of Delaware’s most treasured landscapes!