450 acres of coastal lands will be conserved and restored on Maryland’s Eastern Shore by Audubon Maryland-DC, Maryland Department of Natural Resources, Natural Resources Conservation Service, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar recently announced that a grant totaling $986,604, will be used to protect the Dorchester County site. The property is next to Fishing Bay Wildlife Management Area and just four miles west of Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge. Here, Audubon, in partnership with The Conservation Fund and the Refuge are developing a plan for these ecologically significant marshes to adapt to sea level rise by identifying migration corridors where marshes might successfully persist in the future. Restoration aspects of the work will improve water quality in the neighboring Chicamacomico River, nestled in the heart of one of the most pristine and ecological significant watersheds in the mid-Atlantic region, the 725,000-acre Nanticoke-Blackwater River watershed, which includes one projected pathway for future marsh migration as identified by Audubon. Matched by $514,259 in non-federal funds, the grant will be used to plant trees, enhance wetlands and restore former farmlands to benefit a variety of wildlife like black rails, bald eagles, American black ducks, saltmarsh sparrows, American eels, striped bass and Delmarva fox squirrels Read more at: http://www.fws.gov/chesapeakebay/CoastalGrants.html