[caption id="attachment_21018" align="alignright" width="300" caption="The Russell W. Peterson Urban Wildlife Refuge, located along the Wilmington Riverfront, is part of an extensive marsh restoration process begun in 1998 that has already enabled beneficial vegetation to flourish in the marsh and provide habitat for wetland wildlife."]
At the Russell W. Peterson Urban Wildlife Refuge, visitors hear the constant honk of Canada geese—and the occasional honk of a truck barreling down Interstate-95.
The 212-acre swath of wetlands between the highway and the Christina River is one of a handful of preserves inside U.S. cities, a place where ospreys nest a few hundred yards from a billboard.
Named for the former Delaware governor and environmental champion, the refuge in Wilmington is home to more than 200 species of fauna and flora, including otters, frogs, cattails and bulrushes.
Peterson, who died in February at 94, was a frequent visitor to the marsh, where he exulted in the change of seasons with his wife June. Peterson enjoyed bringing guests, usually friends and family members. But with minimal signage and limited access, the unique preserve on Wilmington’s riverfront has yet to be discovered by many nature lovers.
“The governor always wanted to know how we were doing with schoolchildren and what the students were interested in,” says Lesley Bensinger, education director at the DuPont Environmental Education Center (DEEC), the contemporary structure that is the point of entry to the preserve and is staffed by the Delaware Nature Society. “We’re working hard to find ways to let more people know we are here.”
Learn More
The Russell W. Peterson Urban Wildlife Refuge and
The DuPont Environmental Education Center
1400 Delmarva Lane, Wilmington
Education Center Hours:
March 16 - November 15:
Tuesday - Saturday: 11am to 5pm
Sunday: Noon to 4 pm
November 16 - March 15:
Tuesday - Saturday: 10am to 3pm
Sunday: Noon to 4 pm
Closed Monday
Free nature walks are offered Tuesday through Sunday at 1pm.
(302) 656-1490 or www.duponteec.org.
In its first year of operation, 30,000 people visited the center, says Megan McGlinchey, director of operations at the Riverfront Development Corporation (RDC), the agency that owns DEEC. That’s an average of 82 a day.
By comparison, the nearby Delaware Children’s Museum, which debuted in April 2010, is on track to host 135,000 visitors in its first year on the riverfront. That’s an average of 370 visitors a day.
The preserve is at the southern end of the Wilmington riverfront. It sits past the Shipyard Shops complex, at the end of a narrow blacktop road just beyond the chain-link fence of a Delmarva Power station.
Chris Kemple, general manager of the Blue Rocks, works nearby at Daniel S. Frawley Stadium. Last summer, he and thousands of other runners dashed past the entrance to the refuge during the Tour de Lance 5K race. But he has never visited.
“My wife and I have talked about it and have been meaning to come,” he says. “We think it would be a wonderful experience for our daughter.”
On a recent morning, Mollie Gallo of Brandywine Hundred pushed her grandson in a stroller along the paver walkway near the river, past the statue of Peterson, standing hat in hand. The center has been open for an hour but it’s a cold day and so far Gallo is the sole visitor.
“It’s spectacular, beautiful and peaceful and I come here as often as I can,” she says. “I am trying to get my neighbors to come visit because I think it’s a shame so few people know about this place.”
In 1998, the RDC purchased the land for the refuge from New Castle County, the chemical company CIBA, and Norfolk Southern. That same year, work to restore polluted marshes began. Plans called for stabilizing the shoreline, re-excavating water channels to their historic patterns, blazing a system of trails and installing structures to encourage birds to build nests.
The Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control restored fresh-water tidal pools by removing dredge spoils dumped there during a variety of development projects, including the construction of I-95 in 1968. Phragmites, a highly invasive non-native grass that had taken over 90 percent of the acreage, was beaten back to allow native plants such as cattails to become established.
Gregory Pettinaro, president of Pettinaro Enterprises of Newport, has watched the modern evolution of Wilmington’s riverfront. His family bought up hundreds of acres there in 1982 when an abandoned shipyard occupied much of the property. Pettinaro Enterprises has played a role in developing much of that land.
“It was land that people would look at and walk away from,” he recalls. “We saw potential because people enjoy being near water.”
When the $11.2-million DEEC debuted in 2009, Pettinaro says Peterson was upbeat about the preserve’s potential to educate and inspire visitors.
“He was very proud of it, that this land that was once considered worthless would now benefit the community,” he says.
Michael Purzycki, executive director of the RDC, recalls Peterson’s address in October 2009 at the center opening. The former governor, who had celebrated his 93rd birthday only four days before, was physically frail, but his ardor for the natural world remained robust.
“He was so thrilled by what he saw down here,” Purzycki says. “He stood up, and in as strong a voice as I’ve ever heard him, talked about how important our environment is.”
[caption id="attachment_8782" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Visitors the the DEEC can venture into the refuge on a quarter-mile boardwalk that surrounds a tidal pond. The boardwalk also features seating areas and observation decks overlooking the Christina River."]
Wildlife has been steadily creeping back and the center maintains a handwritten list of sightings on a whiteboard, as well as online. In January, a piebald white-tailed deer was spied gamboling through tall grass. Piebald animals are unusual because they have large patches of white hair in their coats. (In this case, the deer has a white rump.)
Interactive exhibits include a digital map of the marsh. Visitors push buttons to identify plants and animals and the locations where they have been spotted. Photos document the progress of reclaiming blighted acreage.
In 2011, the Delaware Nature Society is offering 10 hands-on programs targeted at school field trips, including four new modules. Topics include fish of the Christina River, an up-close look at insects and the history of the river, starting with Swedish settlers.
Learning about nature is an essential part of a well-rounded education, Bensinger says. It’s especially important for children growing up in cities, as well as suburban kids who often spend most of their time indoors.
“When they first get here, kids are afraid that a dragonfly nymph, a harmless insect in the water, will bite them,” she says. “By the end of two hours, they are no longer frightened by nature. They are excited.”
There also are opportunities for grownups to learn about the environment by walking the quarter-mile boardwalk that wends through the marsh. Visitors can spot animals through binoculars in the center. Bensinger recalls the summer evening hundreds of leopard frogs congregated in the marsh, crying out for mates.
“The frogs sound like two balloons rubbing together and can get quite loud,” she says. “One guy asked if we could turn down the ‘nature music’ because he assumed it must be a recording.”
To promote the venue, the center has joined In Kids, a coalition of child-friendly organization that offer joint programming and activities, as well as discounts for kids and parents. Other members include: Delaware Children's Museum; the Blue Rocks, the Brandywine Zoo; the Delaware Museum of Natural History; and the Kalmar Nyckel.
On Friday nights, the DEEC invites parents headed to riverfront restaurants to drop their kids off for a supervised evening of games, hiking and a scavenger hunt. The fee: $20.
“Kids can learn about snapping turtles and rat snakes and raccoons,” Bensinger says. “Before you know it, they are grabbing nets and heading out to the marsh—with big smiles on their faces.”