1. Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge
Climate Change: The Impact of Sea Level Rise

2. Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge
Refuges set aside as a network of habitats to preserve native wildlife and their habitats
Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge
Part of Chesapeake Marshlands NWR Complex
Established 1933
Approx acres
Tidal marsh
Mixed hardwood and loblolly pine forest
Managed freshwater impoundments
Croplands
Important resting and feeding area for migrating and wintering waterfowl
Atlantic Flyway
Supports one of the highest concentrations of nesting bald eagles on Atlantic coast
Largest endemic population of endangered Delmarva Peninsula fox squirrels
82, 163 visitors in 2011
Hunting and fishing
Non-Consumptive (recreation)
Pedestrian, auto tour, boat trail, bicycle, interpretation, photography
Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge

3. Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge
Established 1933
1/3 marsh, 1/3 forest, 1/3 water
Freshwater impoundments, brackish tidal wetlands, open fields and mixed evergreen and deciduous forests
Salinity
Fresh – near zero
Brackish water – 0.5 to 35 ppt (parts per thousand)
Ocean – average 35 ppt
Fed by Blackwater and Little Blackwater Rivers
Tannins in peat soils
American Bird Conservancy
Over 250 bird species
85 nesting songbird species
34 waterfowl species
52 shorebird species
30 marsh and wading birds
At risk birds – saltmarsh and seaside sparrows, clapper rail and black rail
American bald eagle
Peregrine falcon
Mammals
Whitetail deer, sika deer, foxes, otters, raccoons
Endangered Delmarva Fox Squirrel
Home-interface – marshes, borders of mixed pines and hardwood forests
Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge

4. Sea Level Rise Mid-Atlantic – faces greatest increase in US
Towson University Inundation Model 2006
Dorchester County faces greatest risk
Blackwater – subsidence – 12 inches in last century (global 6 inches), 3 feet by end of 21st century
Groundwater withdrawal for agriculture
Less sediment accretion in marshes
Predicted loss of tidal fresh water marsh, tidal swamp and brackish marsh to saltwater marsh and open water
Brackish marsh – rockfish, white perch, anadromous species – herring and shad (transition from fresh to salt water)
Tidal fresh marsh – minnows, carp, sunfish, crappie, and bass
Habitat for shelter, food and spawning
Sea Level Rise

5. Sea Level Rise Sediment and root growth build elevation
Not keeping up with water level increase
Wetlands – ½ Dorchester County
Diverse types
Two main vegetation zones
Low marsh – flooded twice daily
Smooth cordgrass (Spartina alterniflora)
High march – irregularly flooded less than daily
Salinity dependent – meadow cordgrass (Spartina patens), spike grass (Distichlis spicata), Smooth cordgrass (Spartina alterniflora), black needlerush (Juncus roemerianus), Olney three-square (Scoenoplectus americanus)
habitat for birds that breed only in salt marsh
Sea Level Rise

6. Wetland Loss ≈8000 acres lost “Lake Blackwater”
On average, losing about 1 acre/day
Wetland Loss

13. Wetland Restoration 1980s – 12 acres restored
acres restored at 3 sites
Planted 70,000 marsh grass units
Water depth – needed 1 to 1.5 ft. fill
Reduce salt water intrusion
Remove nutria
Reduce resident Canada Geese
Wetland Restoration

17. Teaching Resources http://www.fws.gov/blackwater/kids.html
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Teaching Resources

18. Birch, Dixie, “Global Climate Change and Wetland Loss at Blackwater NWR”, Presented at Society for Wetlands Scientists, May 28, 2008
“Sea-Level Rise and Coastal Habitats of the
Chesapeake Bay”, a detailed modeling analysis commissioned by the National Wildlife Federation. For the full report, please visit
Carver, E. & Caudill, J “Banking on Nature: The economic benefits to local communities of national wildlife refuge visitation.” Division of Economics, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Washington DC.
Sources