Once upon a time, there were three islands slowly eroding into the Chesapeake Bay, to the east of Baltimore. Looking like tiny scraps of land to most, the Army Corps of Engineers and Maryland Department of Natural Resources saw potential. Thirty years and 1,100 acres later, Hart-Miller Island State Park was ‘born’ of a need to dispose of dredging material safely and build diminishing habitat for the bay.
Join us for a morning boat and bus tour of the island, offered through Maryland Environmental Service (MES). As important habitat for migrating shorebirds, nesting terns and grassland-nesting songbirds, the site was developed with upland grassland and wetlands grading into an extensive pool and a 1-acre nesting island after surveying done with the Maryland Ornithological Society. We will finish with a picnic on the beach. Please bring a lunch/drink. We will meet in Essex at the MES land base at 9:15 am. Spaces are extremely limited. If you land a spot, please be considerate of those on the waiting list and communicate with us if you availability changes.
To participate, please note that the ability to board a boat, climb stairs and hike .5 miles on a gravel road will be required. Complete information will be provided with registration and donation. Please note that while this tour is offered for free from MES, please consider donating to cover our costs in offering this program. For questions, please email Jayne at JAsh@Marylandnature.org. Here’s a link to an article from 2004 describing the park’s history: https://web.archive.org/web/20080323102414/http://www.dnr.state.md.us/naturalresource/summer2004/hartmiller.html