ICCB 2013 Program - Society for Conservation Biology

Field Trips
Field Excursions
The field excursions are designed to allow delegates time to experience the nature and culture of the Chesapeake Bay
area. Below is a listing of scheduled field excursions taking place before and after the Congress. Trips are designed to be
cost neutral for the Meeting budget to allow you a low cost, tailored trip to enhance your visit to the Chesapeake Bay!
Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge
Sunday, July 21, 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Includes: transportation, box lunch
Cost: $115.00
Maximum: 25 Participants
In the morning, we will take a wildlife and marsh ecology tour through marsh restoration sites and Delmarva fox squirrel
woods. We will observe a dramatic example of tidal marsh erosion where several thousand acres of Schoenoplectus
americanus marsh have eroded since the 1930s to create a lake four miles long and over a mile wide. Small scale marsh
restoration plots in this lake can be viewed from the tour as well as a recent area of natural sediment deposition where
new marsh is becoming established. In the afternoon, we will tour marsh migration sites and traverse a large expanse of
eroding Spartina/Schoenoplectus marsh where salt marsh birds, including saltmarsh sparrow, seaside sparrow, and black
rails, as well as diamondback terrapins can often be seen and heard. We’ll also traverse a tidal marsh-loblolly pine forest
ecotone that is actively migrating due to sea level rise.
Inner Harbor Floating Wetland
Sunday, July 21, 12:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Includes: transportation, box lunch, kayaking
Cost: $35.00
Maximum: 25 Participants
Biohabitats staff will lead a tour and an interactive examination of a mature floating wetland. Currently, ~2000 ft2 of
floating wetlands are deployed in front of Baltimore’s World Trade Center in the Inner Harbor. This is an expansion
of the original pilot project, which consisted of ~200 ft2. The floating wetlands are constructed on a float of bundled
plastic water bottles collected from the Harbor. Local students and business volunteers helped assemble and place the
wetlands, stimulating a lot of stewardship buzz among the local community and visitors to the Inner Harbor. This
was an effort with strong local community involvement and support, including the Baltimore Harbor Waterkeeper,
Living Classrooms Foundation, National Aquarium of Baltimore, Maryland Port Administration, Maryland Sea Grant,
Baltimore City, and Biohabitats.
The tour will include a detailed discussion of the merits of floating wetlands and the retrieval and dissection of one of the
floating wetlands. Previous efforts documented a large and diverse community using the floating wetlands, including
wetland vegetation, waterfowl (nesting and feeding), wading birds, fish, eels, mussels, bryozoans, etc.
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