In December 2024, US Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland traveled to Nanjemoy MD to announce the creation of Southern Maryland Woodlands National Wildlife Refuge. The first donation of 31 acres from The Nature Conservancy is one of several planned over the coming months of more than 300 acres. US Fish and Wildlife Service officials will continue to work with partners and willing sellers to secure voluntary conservation of up to 40,000 acres of important wildlife habitat within four watershed-based focus areas in Anne Arundel, Prince George’s, Calvert, Charles, and St. Mary’s counties. Although the refuge’s final acreage will consist of numerous non-contiguous parcels, it will permanently protect and conserve interior forest and riparian wetlands habitat, supporting northern long-eared bats, forest-interior songbirds, box turtles and several species of salamanders that are of conservation concern.
Read more from the USFWS media release here, and local coverage from Bay Journal and Chesapeake Bay Magazine.