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On the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay, about 30 miles outside of Washington, D.C., a new wildlife refuge has been in the works for over a decade. The proposed Southern Maryland Woodlands National Wildlife Refuge would protect four separate watershed areas covering up to 40,000 acres. These protected areas would span a total boundary of over 577,000 acres within Maryland’s Anne Arundel, Calvert, Charles, Prince George’s, and St. Mary’s counties.
The latest Westwise blog post from the Center for Western Priorities explores the history and ecological importance of the Southern Maryland Woodlands National Wildlife Refuge proposal. The post is part of the Road to 30: Postcards campaign to share the stories of the people behind efforts to protect special places across the country.
Hear from Dan Murphy, Chief of the Division of Habitat Restoration and Conservation at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Chesapeake Bay Field Office, and Joseph McCauley, a senior advisor to the Chesapeake Conservancy. Together, Murphy and McCauley have been collaborating on the Southern Maryland Woodlands proposal for over 14 years. President Joe Biden’s America the Beautiful Initiative to protect 30 percent of America’s lands and waters by 2030 is what finally allowed the proposal the opportunity to move forward, and it is now awaiting final approval from the USFWS.
BLM announces steps to improve engagement with Tribes, public on mineral development
The Bureau of Land Management issued a new policy to ensure Tribal nations will be notified early when mineral exploration work is proposed on BLM lands, providing improved transparency and engagement. “I want to thank the Biden-Harris administration for their continued commitment to honoring Tribal sovereignty and helping to ensure that our transition to a clean energy future is a just one,” said U.S. House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva. The policy responds directly to feedback from Tribes collected by the Interagency Working Group (IWG) on Mining Laws, Regulation, and Permitting.
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