Blackwater refuge grows; Tubman park on track

Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge, a stunning expanse of marsh and wildlife on the Eastern Shore, is getting a bit bigger.

Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin, D-MD, announced today that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is buying 766 acres on the eastern portion of the refuge, at a cost of $2.4 million.

The 27,000-acre refuge in Dorchester County holds a third of Maryland's tidal wetlands and provides major habitat for migratory waterfowl, bald eagles and other wildlife. The 766-acre "Spicer tract" expansion was accomplished in cooperaiotn with the Conservation Fund, which bought the land last year and then sold it to the federal government.

In geographically related news, plans are taking shape for the Harriet Tubman State Park Visitor Center near the refuge, the state Department of Natural Resources announced. The center is scheduled to be built by 2013 on the 17.3-acre tract that the state acquired in a swap with the federal wildlife service. The DC-based Conservation Fund played a role in that deal as well.

The center is to feature interpretive exhibits recounting Tubman's life growing up in slavery on the Shore, her work with the Underground Railroad to free other slaves after she'd escaped at age 27 and her civil rights advocacy. The park is to include a walking trail, reflecting pond and pavilion.

Cardin, Sen. Barbara Mikulski and Rep. Frank Kratovil, D-MD, have introduced legislation to create a national historical park honoring Tubman.

(Baltimore Sun photos of Blackwater: aerial view, 2005, by Doug Kapustin; bald eagle, 2002, by Jerry Jackson)

Blackwater refuge grows; Tubman park on track

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