Washington College has successfully renewed its Bird Campus recognition from the Maryland Bird Conservation Partnership, reaching the prestigious High Flyer level. The Bird Campus program recognizes two or four-year colleges and universities committed to reducing threats to birds and actively participating in avian education and research. This achievement underscores the College’s ongoing dedication to environmental stewardship, having completed over 20 action points across four key areas: Habitat, Threats to Birds, Education and Engagement, and Sustainability.

The program is an initiative of the Maryland Bird Conservation Partnership, an expansion of the Bird City Maryland program that began in 2019 to encourage communities to enhance bird environments and educate the public on their contributions to a healthy community. Maryland stands out as the first state to offer a campus recognition program. Washington College initially earned its Bird Campus certification in May 2023, with significant work led by Chesapeake Conservation Corps member Fana Scott. Renewals are required every two years to ensure continued active participation. The town of Chestertown also recently received Bird City certification in October 2024.

“Getting High Flyer status as a Bird Campus from Bird City Maryland is a gratifying public recognition of the work done by Washington College to protect birds and raise awareness around what is needed for continued conservation,” said Maren Gimpel, associate director of Foreman’s Branch Bird Observatory at Washington.

As part of the College’s Center for Environment & Society (CES), the Observatory’s primary research focuses on monitoring the seasonal movements of migratory birds between their breeding and wintering areas. Located on the Chester River, a few miles north of Chestertown, MD, the Bird Observatory is nestled in a waterfront refuge on Washington College’s River and Field Campus. The land serves as an important stopover habitat for shorebirds and is home to thousands of migrating and wintering ducks and geese each year.

“From installing Feather Friendly collision deterrents on our buildings to the recognition of our River and Field Campus as an Important Bird Area, to buildings and grounds using Integrated Pest Management to reduce their use of pesticides, choices are being made across our whole campus to improve our environment for birds, and the natural world as a whole so that we all can enjoy its beauty and intrinsic value,” said Gimpel.

The College’s renewed certification highlights a range of impactful initiatives:

Reducing Threats to Birds: Washington College installed Feather Friendly collision deterrents on the porch windows at Semans-Griswold Environmental Hall in 2023, with the remainder of the building treated in August 2024. The Washington College bird club is actively surveying other high-risk collision locations on campus and fundraising for additional treatments. The College also serves as the official test site for the American Bird Conservancy’s bird-safe glass testing program.

Education and Engagement: The Foreman’s Branch Bird Observatory and the College’s River and Field Campus have hosted numerous lab classes, local bird club gatherings, and public education events. Faculty members incorporate avian topics into their coursework, and the Center for Environment & Society sponsors a National Audubon Christmas Bird Count each winter as a citizen science initiative.

Habitat Enhancement: The “Flyways Bench,” a functional art piece designed by Artist in Residence Deirdre Murphy, was installed at Semans-Griswold Environmental Hall. It depicts the migration of Least and Caspian Terns, both visible from the bench along the Chester River. The Washington College Campus Garden is a Bay-Wise Certified demonstration site, open to the public to explore best practices in ecological landscaping. Additionally, the entirety of the River and Field Campus was designated a MD-DC Audubon Important Bird Area in 2006, recognized for its large populations of breeding grassland birds like Northern Bobwhite Quail, and wintering/migrating species such as American Woodcock. The campus also earned points for its Tree Campus and Bee Campus certifications.

Sustainability Initiatives: Broader sustainability efforts on campus contributed to the High Flyer status, including a student-led compost team, a Back to Tap program promoting reusable water bottles, a food recovery network, and the campus’s use of integrated pest management by the buildings and grounds department.

“This recognition is a shining example of how the Center for Environment & Society’s  integrated approach to research, experiential learning, and community engagement is making a real impact,” said CES’ Lammot Du Pont Director, Valerie Imbruce. “Our goal has always been to prepare students to become thoughtful stewards of the environment while contributing solutions that improve both ecological health and quality of life. This achievement brings that model to life.”

For a comprehensive list of Washington College’s achievements as a Bird Campus, visit their page on the Bird City Maryland website. You can also learn more about sustainability efforts at Washington.

Our advocacy efforts to protect Eastern Neck National Wildlife Refuge in the face of ongoing staffing and budget cuts have brought a strong and unified response from local government officials, business associations and grassroots groups. The Friends of Eastern Neck thanks each and every one of you who have written letters, made calls, and spread the word about preserving this priceless environmental, recreational and economic asset for our community and our region.

Be assured that Friends groups and other champions of public lands throughout the country are working overtime, doing everything in our power to ensure the future of the National Wildlife Refuge system as a whole. In recent weeks, FOEN has made in-person presentations to the Kent County Board of Commissioners, the Rock Hall Mayor and Town Council, the Chestertown Mayor and Town Council, the Greater Rock Hall Business Association, the Kent County Tourism and Economic Development Office, State Delegate Jay Jacobs, and the Rock Hall- based Women for Democracy. Our contact with these groups and individuals has generated momentum to make a compelling case against further federal cutbacks.

We especially appreciate the unconditional support from Kent County, a crucial stakeholder in the Refuge for multiple reasons, including its public facilities on the Refuge at Bogles Wharf and Ingleside; and from Rock Hall officials, who posted a letter on the town website for residents to sign and send to our federal representatives.

FOEN has worked closely with Friends of Blackwater NWR to connect with the staff for Maryland’s two U.S. Senators, Chris Van Hollen and Angela Alsobrooks; and U.S. Congressman Andy Harris. Meetings are being planned for the near future.

As of now, U.S. Fish & Wildlife staffing at the Chesapeake Marshlands Complex headquarters at Blackwater NWR remains at a historic low of 11, down from 14 at the start of 2025. According to numbers obtained by Politico through a Freedom of Information Act request, USFWS ranks have dwindled by 1,316 full-time positions, or 14 percent of the workforce, since January. Numerous senior administrators, including several in our own USFWS Northeast Region, opted to take buyouts or early retirement offers in a concerted attempt to save positions in the field.

Some 3,500 of those employees are now responsible for managing more than 570 Refuges. Eastern Neck is one of many with no on-site staff, and is reliant on Blackwater-based biologists, maintenance specialists and their supervisors to make four-hour round trips to continue managing critical conservation and infrastructure needs. Further attrition and/or layoffs could result in serious harm to habitat and jeopardize public access to the Refuge. Nearly 7,500 positions have been lost to buyouts and early retirements across the Department of the Interior, part of a government-wide push to slash the federal workforce. There is currently a hiring freeze across the entire department, and further reductions in force are paused awaiting the outcome of legal action. Budget numbers for the remainder of this federal fiscal year and the next are still in flux as of this writing, but units across the DOI are bracing for significant rollbacks with potentially damaging impact.

We wish we had better news. The only way to make future messages more hopeful is for you, our members, to keep pushing back as pressures on the Refuge system continue to mount.

Please keep writing and calling your local, state and federal officials, and urge your friends and neighbors to do the same. Be specific about what Eastern Neck means to you, your family, your community, and the health of the Chesapeake Bay.

As always, we’re grateful for your hands-on volunteer work, memberships and donations that allow us to continue our partnership with US Fish & Wildlife and support Eastern Neck NWR through youth and adult educational programs, conservation efforts and the often unseen efforts required to ensure the island remains a haven for native flora and fauna and the human visitors who treasure them

For more about Friends of Eastern Neck Wildlife Refuge, go here.

The Eastern Neck National Wildlife Refuge, one of Kent County’s most prized natural and recreational resources, is facing an uncertain future due to potential federal funding cuts that could severely impact staffing and operations.

Bill Burton, President of the Friends of Eastern Neck National Wildlife Refuge, spoke to the town council on Monday May 19, warning that while no closure is imminent, the threat of significant budget reductions to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service could curtail access, compromise conservation efforts, and place the island’s delicate ecosystem at risk.

Situated at the southern tip of Kent County, the 2,285-acre refuge is a sanctuary for migratory birds and a hub for outdoor recreation including kayaking, birdwatching, fishing, hunting, and photography. The island also draws steady year-round tourism, benefiting local businesses in Rock Hall and beyond.

But behind the refuge’s serene façade is a growing strain on infrastructure and staffing. “We used to have five on-site federal employees,” said Burton. “Now there are none.”

With Fish and Wildlife operations consolidated under the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge Complex, staff now make a four-hour round-trip from Cambridge to Eastern Neck for maintenance, habitat restoration, and oversight. “Blackwater had 23 full-time staff in 2007,” Burton noted. “Now they have 11, stretched across multiple refuges.”

Volunteers from Friends of Eastern Neck have stepped in to maintain critical features like the popular butterfly garden, visitor center, and even building repairs—most recently raising $25,000 in matching funds to restore rotting windows in a 100-year-old hunting lodge. Still, Burton cautioned: “We can’t replace Fish and Wildlife biologists, rangers, or maintenance crews.”

The island’s significance extends beyond aesthetics. About 350 acres are managed through a cooperative farming agreement where 25% of crops are left standing to support wintering waterfowl. Managed ponds serve migratory birds by optimizing water levels for food availability. Programs like deer and turkey hunts, shoreline protection, invasive species control, and pollinator habitat restoration rely on consistent federal oversight.

The implications of defunding are stark. Without on-site staff, Burton warned, Eastern Neck could face temporary closure or worse—be sold, fall into disrepair, or become overrun by invasive species. “Chronic flooding, litter, and vandalism would devastate the refuge’s ecological and cultural value,” he said.

In response, Friends of Eastern Neck is mobilizing a preemptive advocacy campaign. “We’re not waiting for a crisis,” Burton said. “We’re asking Kent County leaders and residents to help now, before it’s too late.”

So far, the Friends have spoken with many local organizations and officials and met with the Greater Rock Hall Business Association, the Kent County Board of Commissioners, the Rock Hall Town Council, Delegate Jay Jacobs and the Kent County Department of Economic and Tourism Development.

“We’re asking that letters of support be sent, at a minimum, to Rep. Andy Harris, Senator Chris Van Hollen, and Senator Angela Alsobrooks. These letters can make a real difference in showing that Eastern Neck matters to the people it serves.”

For more about Eastern Neck Wildlife refuge go here, or see their Facebook page.

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Over the past 50 years, the pursuit of renewable energy has been driven by advocates who see large solar arrays as a crucial step toward reducing dependence on fossil fuels..

Critics, however, argue that the land available for solar arrays is limited, and the large-scale expansion of solar farms could compete with agricultural use, potentially reducing the amount of land available for crops and livestock. This concern is especially pressing for small farms, which may struggle to retain their land amid increasing demand for solar installations.

Judy Gifford, a small farm owner near Kennedyville has been watching the proliferation of solar on the Eastern Shore for a decade.

“Several years ago, the American Farmland Trust estimated that we were losing about 2,000 acres of farmland a day nationwide. I’m sure that number is even higher now. The problem is, people just assume we have endless land—it’s this attitude of, “Oh, we can build here, we can build there.” But the cumulative effect is reaching a tipping point,” she says.

Gifford and other small farmers on the Eastern Shore feel the pressure of allowing solar fields on farmland. The State’s renewable portfolio standard requires that 14% of its energy —whether consumed or purchased—must come from solar.

“14% is an arbitrary number, not based on science, and the consultants they’ve relied on have had some questionable figures. But regardless, the state is pushing ahead, even though our energy policy is a mess and this won’t solve it.”

Gifford sees a broader impact on the Easter Shore with the proliferation of solar fields: Less farmland means less grain production, and the Shore already imports grain for the $5 billion poultry industry. If rising costs drive chicken farms out of Maryland, it could devastate the Eastern Shore economy.

“Here in Kent County, we’ve worked hard to preserve our farmland. We respect and protect it. But now, developers are circling because they see open space as an opportunity to make money. Solar companies are offering outrageous sums for leases, which makes it harder for local farmers to compete,” Gifford says.

The Spy recently interviewed Judy Gifford to talk about how solar arrays imapct rural land use on the Eastern Shore.

Judy Gifford owns and operates St. Brigid’s Farm in Kennedyville and is a board member of Kent Conservation and Preservation alliance, treasurer and board member Colchester Farm CSA, and former member Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Administrative Council.

This video is approximately nine minutes in length.