Imagine a landscape where shaded streams meander through forested lands and a cloud of dust slowly follows a tractor across a newly harvested field. Listen to a chorus of frogs singing from a stream buffer and the whir of a fishing line cast from a small boat. Colorful dragonflies flash above a coastal plain pond. Out in the marsh, a heron stands motionless, its thin reedy legs blending perfectly with the waving grass. Overhead, a family of pintail ducks zig-zag down through the air, landing with a splash. These are the sights and sounds of the Blackbird-Millington Corridor.

The Blackbird-Millington Corridor is a landscape of forests, farm fields, streams and tidal marshes that spans the Delmarva Peninsula. Over the years, the beauty and vitality of this region has been maintained by the good stewardship of local landowners and through the creation of public lands such as Blackbird State Forest and the Millington Wildlife Management Area. However, as land values continue to soar and encroaching development threatens to further fragment the remaining rural countryside, the future of the Corridor’s natural heritage hangs in the balance.

In response to a pivotal opportunity that, once gone, will never be available again, the Conservancy engaged in a year-long process – together with a coalition of non-profits, government agencies and community members – to develop a community conservation plan centered around land protection, habitat restoration, compatible economic uses, education and research. We invited local residents and others who care about the area – farmers, families, hunters, loggers, hikers and scientists – to bring their knowledge and perspective as part of an in-depth look at the Blackbird-Millington Corridor. Using a methodology developed by the Conservancy, we worked collaboratively to identify what makes the area so special, and developed an action plan that would keep those unique qualities intact.

Size
52,000-acre band of undeveloped lands and waters embraces farms, fields and diverse habitats.

Location
From the Delaware Bay to the Cypress Branch headwaters of the Chester River in Maryland. South of Middletown and north of Smyrna.

What’s At Stake
The corridor hosts some of the best quality forest cover on the Delmarva Peninsula. It’s open spaces support migratory songbirds, salamanders, freshwater mussels, herons, dragonflies and rare plants like featherfoil. As a whole, this pastoral setting purifies the air and water, moderates local climate, and preserves a portion of the region’s rural history. 

Threats
Due to its central location, the Blackbird-Millington Corridor has become increasingly threatened by rapid development taking place across the eastern seaboard, including in Delaware’s New Castle County.

Milestones
In 2004, the Conservancy convened more than 60 experts from 30 organizations, and 150 local residents, to develop  the Blackbird-Millington Corridor Conservation Area Plan – a five-year-plan to conserve the region’s natural and rural heritage. In 2005, the Conservancy hosted a Conservation Options Workshop for landowners in the Blackbird Millington Corridor area.

Delaware’s Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) acquired the 163-acre Sheats tract in 2006, and closed on the 359-acre Eagle Nest Farm tract in 2007, to preserve what has been referred to as one of the state’s most important areas of “green infrastructure.” In 2007, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration dedicated approximately $5.7 million from the Coastal and Estuarine Land Conservation Program towards the acquisition of the Eagles Nest Tract and a second property located near the Delaware National Estuarine Research Reserve.

Action
The Delaware Chapter continues to work with partners to implement strategies outlined in the Blackbird-Millington Corridor Conservation Area Plan, which includes acquiring additional land from willing sellers, helping to implement the Forestlands Protection Act that is modeled the successful Delaware Agricultural Lands Preservation program.

Partners
Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Delaware Open Space Council, local residents, including farmers, families, hunters and hikers.

Nature picture credits (top to bottom, left to right): Photo © Rich Neumann; © Maria Trabka