The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service employees at Blackwater Refuge use science-based management to protect the environmental health, biological integrity and biological diversity of Blackwater Refuge, for the benefit of wildlife and for all those people who visit. Read below for several examples of science-based management at the Refuge.

Nutria

Nutria inhabit fresh and brackish marshes, rivers, bayous, farm ponds, freshwater impoundments, drainage canals, swamps and various other types of wetlands. Nutria are native to South America and were first imported into the U.S. between 1899 and 1930 in an attempt to establish a fur farm industry. Many of the fur farms failed in the late 1940s because fur prices fell and nutria did not reproduce well in captivity. Many nutria were then released into the wild. Nutria use their beaver-sized incisors and powerful forefeet to dig under the marsh surface to feed directly on the root mat, leaving the marsh pitted with holes and deep swim canals. Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge has lost about 8,000 acres of Olney three-square bulrush, a preferred food choice of nutria, since 1938. At this point, the Blackwater staff, along with numerous partners, have extirpated the nutria from the Refuge in order to save the marshland. Continued monitoring will be required to ensure that nutria from neighboring areas do not invade the Refuge again.

Visit the Nutria page to learn more about the impact of nutria and the efforts to remove this invasive species from the ecosystem.

Resident Canada Geese

Resident Canada geese refer primarily to local breeding Canada geese that nest and raise their young in Maryland, and specifically in Dorchester County, where Blackwater Refuge is located. Resident Canada geese do not migrate to northern Canada, but remain in southern Dorchester County year-round. The geese became established on Blackwater Refuge from released captive and injured birds.

Resident Canada Geese are rapidly increasing in numbers throughout the Northeast region and are creating significant management problems in the entire area because they reproduce quickly and literally strip areas barren of all plants.

Visit the Canada Geese page to learn more about both resident and migratory geese at the Refuge and the science-based management efforts being used to maintain a proper balance of geese.

Annual Science Meeting

On April 9, 2008, the Chesapeake Marshlands NWR Complex held its 5th Annual Science Meeting. Read the 2008 collection of abstracts (186KB PDF) to learn more about the scientific programs at Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge and within the Complex as a whole.