Pickering Creek Audubon Center and Chesapeake Wildlife Heritage (CWH) will present a Wetland and Meadow Habitat Restoration on Tuesday, April 21, from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM at Pickering Creek. The half-day, in-depth training is designed for landowners and habitat managers interested in restoring cropland or enhancing existing natural areas to benefit birdlife, wildlife, and improve water quality.
Participants will tour Pickering Creek’s restored habitat wetlands, meadows, and woodland plantings at different stages of their lifecycle. Instructors will share results of habitat management techniques that have been successfully implemented and discuss the wildlife species these habitats attract. Attendees will receive practical guidance on how to optimize the effectiveness of their restoration projects.
The program will be led by Ned Gerber, Wildlife Habitat Ecologist and Executive Director of CWH, and Mark Scallion, Director of Pickering Creek Audubon Center. Together, the two organizations have partnered to restore 90 acres of non-tidal wetlands, planted 11 acres of woodlands, and created 48 acres of warm-season grass meadows at Pickering Creek – projects that now showcase successful habitat restoration and land management activities.
The workshop will cover methods for restoring cropland to warm-season grass buffers, meadows, and freshwater wetlands, with an emphasis on the value of these habitats to birds along the Atlantic Flyway. Larger field-scale restoration projects, in particular, can deliver meaningful landscape-scale improvement to local ecosystems and declining species.
Maryland has lost 70% of its wetlands, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). Wildlife populations have suffered from that loss. Audubon’s State of the Birds reports population losses for 77% of Northern Pintail, 72% for Eastern Meadowlark, 65% for Grasshopper Sparrow, and 82% for Northern Bobwhite. The USGS Circular 1228 notes that 95% of nutrients in the Chesapeake Bay drainage of the Delmarva Peninsula come from agriculture, underscoring the importance of landowner‑led conservation.
On Maryland’s Eastern Shore, 20- to 500-acre properties remain common. Landowners have a great opportunity to learn about, implement, and spread the word about land management and restoration practices that improve the health of the Bay and wildlife habitat.
Register for the training at https://pickeringcreek.org/programs/upcoming-programs/
About Pickering Creek
Pickering Creek Audubon Center has been educating citizens on the Eastern Shore of Maryland about the environment for twenty-five years. A strong relationship with local school programs and community groups helps facilitate more than 12,000 program contacts with individuals each year. The Center’s 450 acres of forest, wetland, tidal marsh, and agricultural fields exhibit the broad diversity of habitats that represent Maryland’s Eastern Shore.
About Chesapeake Wildlife Heritage
Chesapeake Wildlife Heritage designs, restores, and manages habitat to benefit wildlife and improve water quality across the Chesapeake Bay region. CWH partners with hundreds of public and private landowners to restore non-tidal wetlands, warm-season grass meadows, and riparian buffers. They have restored more than 2,000 acres of wetlands, created 5,000 acres of warm-season grass meadows, planted over 1,000 acres of trees, and permanently protected more than 2,600 acres of wildlife habitat.
About Ned Gerber
John E. “Ned” Gerber III, Executive Director and Wildlife Habitat Ecologist of Chesapeake Wildlife Heritage, earned a B.S. in ecology from Cornell University and a Sc. M. in ecology from Johns Hopkins University with thesis work involving wintering ecology of the black duck. A member of the CWH staff since 1983, Mr. Gerber specializes in habitat restoration and management for both wetland and upland wildlife. He directs CWH’s habitat restoration and management programs for wetlands, warm-season grass meadows, and woodlands. He holds certifications for herbicide application and conducts controlled burns.
About Mark Scallion
Mark Scallion grew up bush whacking around the woods of Pootatuck State Forest in Western Connecticut. There he developed his connection with trees, plants, birds and the wild world. He served as a dendrology teaching assistant at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry before coming to the Eastern Shore for an internship at Pickering Creek Audubon Center in 1995. Today he is the Director of Pickering Creek Audubon Center and has resided at the Center for over thirty years. He has the luxury of stepping off his porch daily and seeing and hearing his many avian neighbors daily. He is a past President of the Talbot Bird Club.
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