Assateague Island is a 37-mile (60 km) long barrier island located off the eastern coast of the Delmarva Peninsula facing the Atlantic Ocean. The northern two-thirds of the island is in Maryland while the southern third is in Virginia. The Maryland section contains the majority of Assateague Island National Seashore and Assateague State Park. The Virginia section contains Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge and a one-mile stretch of land containing the lifeguarded recreational beach and interpretive facilities managed by the National Park Service. It is best known for its herds of feral horses, pristine beaches and the Assateague Lighthouse. The island also contains numerous marshes, bays, and coves, including Toms Cove. Bridge access for cars is possible from both Maryland and Virginia, though no road runs the full north/south length of the island.
Taylors Island is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Dorchester County, Maryland, United States, in the state's Eastern Shore region. The population was 173 at the 2010 census. It is known for hunting, crabbing and fishing. Ridgeton Farm was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977. Bethlehem Methodist Episcopal Church and Grace Episcopal Church Complex were listed in 1979.
The Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is a government agency in the state of Maryland charged with maintaining natural resources including state parks, public lands, state forests, state waterways, wildlife and recreation areas. Its headquarters are in Annapolis.
Fishing Bay is a large saltwater bay, located in Dorchester County, Maryland. From tributaries to its north in the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge and Fishing Bay Wildlife Management Area, it flows south into the Chesapeake Bay. Its borders are formed by Elliot's Island, to the east, and the greater bulk of Dorchester County to the west.
Chincoteague Bay is a lagoon between the Atlantic barrier islands of Assateague and Chincoteague and the mainland of Worcester County, Maryland and northern Accomack County, Virginia. At the bay's northern end, where it narrows between Assateague and Sinepuxent Neck, it becomes Sinepuxent Bay; Chincoteague Bay's southern end drains into the Atlantic Ocean via Queen Sound and Chincoteague Inlet. No major river flows into Chincoteague Bay—its largest tributaries are Newport Creek in Worcester County and Swans Gut Creek in Accomack County.
Sinepuxent Bay Wildlife Management Area is a state wildlife management area (WMA) of Maryland that consists of several islands in Sinepuxent Bay, Isle of Wight Bay, and Chincoteague Bay in Worcester County.
E.A. Vaughn Wildlife Management Area is a state wildlife management area (WMA) of Maryland that consists of two separate parcels of land on Chincoteague Bay in Worcester County, between the villages of Girdletree and Stockton.
Isle of Wight Wildlife Management Area is a state wildlife management area (WMA) of Maryland located on the Isle of Wight, a small peninsula between the St. Martin's River and Isle of Wight Bay in Worcester County. Although called Isle of Wight, a small strip of marsh and road connects it with the mainland.
Princess Anne Wildlife Management Area is a 1,546-acre (6.26 km2) Wildlife Management Area (WMA) in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The area comprises four tracts; the Beasely, Trojan, and Whitehurst tracts are located on the western shore of Back Bay, separated from the Atlantic Ocean by False Cape, while the Pocahontas Tract, consisting of a number of marshy islands, is at the south end of the bay. A variety of natural communities may be found on all tracts, and water levels are manipulated to help promote the growth of food for waterfowl that migrate and overwinter in the area.
Saxis Wildlife Management Area is a 5,578-acre (22.57 km2) Wildlife Management Area (WMA) in Accomack County, Virginia. Predominantly tidal marshland, it is divided into three tracts, all located on peninsulas bordering on brackish waters such as Beasley Bay, Pocomoke Sound, and Messongo Creek. Several smaller freshwater creeks are also found on the property. Portions of the area farthest inland are occupied by hummocks. The property is maintained by the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries mostly in its natural state, with little in the way of human management or development.
New York State Wildlife Management Areas (WMAs) are conservation areas managed by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) primarily for the benefit of wildlife, and used extensively by the public for hunting, fishing, and trapping. As of 2016, the NYSDEC owns and maintains 113 WMAs, with a total area of approximately 197,000 acres. The Wildlife Management Areas program is administered by the Division of Fish, Wildlife and Marine Resources of the NYSDEC.
Cedar Island Wildlife Management Area is a Wildlife Management Area in Somerset County, Maryland near Crisfield. The area is almost 3,000 acres (1,200 ha) in extent on Tangier Sound in Chesapeake Bay. The area was primarily established to protect black duck habitat and is notable for its concentration of the species.
Deal Island Wildlife Management Area protects 13,565 acres (54.90 km2) in western Somerset County, Maryland near the community of Deal Island. As a wildlife management area, the area is managed by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources' Wildlife and Heritage Service to conserve wildlife populations and their habitats, while providing public recreational use of wildlife resources.
Ellis Bay Wildlife Management Area is a Wildlife Management Area in Wicomico County, Maryland. The area borders Chesapeake Bay and is mainly wetland, both open and forested.
Fairmount Wildlife Management Area is a Wildlife Management Area in Somerset County, Maryland. The wildlife management area comprises more than 4,000 acres (1,600 ha) of mostly marshland. It is located on the Eastern Shore of Maryland along the Chesapeake Bay between the Manokin and Annemessex Rivers in Somerset County. American black duck, northern pintail, gadwall, American wigeon, blue and green-winged teal, and many other species of waterfowl can be found in the area.
Purse State Park is a former Maryland state park located on the Potomac River in Charles County that has been subsumed into the 1,365-acre (552 ha) Nanjemoy Wildlife Management Area. As the Purse Area, the former park is known for fossil hunting on the beaches of Wades Bay at the southern end of the Nanjemoy WMA. Fossil discoveries have included shark teeth and Cibicides.
Tangier Sound is a sound of the Chesapeake Bay bounded on the west by Tangier Island in Virginia, and Smith Island and South Marsh Island in Maryland, by Deal Island in Maryland on the north, and the mainland of the Eastern Shore of Maryland and Pocomoke Sound on the east. It stretches into Virginia as far south as Watts Island.
Pocomoke Sound is a bay of the Chesapeake Bay that forms part of the boundary between the Eastern Shores of Maryland and Virginia. The Pocomoke River is the largest stream feeding into the Sound, which is bounded by Somerset County, Maryland on the north, Worcester County, Maryland, Accomack County, Virginia, and Beasley Bay on the east, the Chesapeake Bay on the south, and Tangier Sound on the west. Its southwesternmost point may be considered to be Watts Island, Virginia.
Manokin River is a river in Somerset County, Maryland, that flows into Tangier Sound, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. The Manokin rises east of Princess Anne, Maryland, flows through the town, then widens into a tidal estuary. Tributaries along the river's 17-mile (27 km) length are Kings Creek, Back Creek, St. Peters Creek, Broad Creek, and Fishing Creek. During the colonial period, the Manokin was navigable as far as Princess Anne.
