Pathways To Nature Conservation Fund

The Wild Birds Unlimited Pathways To Nature® Conservation Fund will soon have two great new sites with the recent announcement of funding for projects at both Chincoteague and Blackwater National Wildlife Refuges. Both sites are located within two hours driving distance of Baltimore, Maryland and Washington D.C.

Chincoteague NWR, located on Assateague Island in Virginia, consists of more than 14,000 acres of Atlantic coastal beaches, dunes, marsh and maritime forest. The refuge receives 1.5 million visitors per year.

Pathways To Nature funds will be used to create new educational kiosks and to refurbish existing wayside exhibits along a new bicycle trail that will run parallel with the main road and Wildlife Drive.

Blackwater NWR, located 12 miles south of Cambridge, Maryland, includes more than 26,000 acres of rich tidal marsh, freshwater ponds, deciduous forests, and managed impoundments for waterfowl use. It is the home to the Delmarva fox squirrel, a federally listed endangered species. The refuge receives 500,000 visitors per year.

Pathways To Nature funds will be used to construct and display a new second story addition to the Blackwater NWR Visitor Center. This area, to be named the “Wild Birds Unlimited Observatory,” will include an outdoor observation deck, an indoor exhibit room with interpretive displays, and a wildlife observation window with optics and identification information.

In addition to these two projects, a project at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge was also selected for funding earlier this year.

Merritt Island NWF is a 140,000-acre refuge that shares a common boundary with NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The refuge manages habitat for over 500 species of wildlife, including 21 endangered or threatened species.

Pathways To Nature funding will help with the construction of a handicapped accessible observation tower and trail, the installation of interpretive signage, and the addition of observation blinds and spotting scopes.

Since 1999, the Pathways To Nature Conservation Fund has supported projects at 26 wildlife refuges, parks and sanctuaries throughout North America. Wild Birds Unlimited, in partnership with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and each of the sites’ local supporting organization, has generated over $1.5 million in support of these education, conservation and wildlife viewing projects.