Ah, the sound of silence. No wind, no rustling leaves, no birds. It may not look like much now, but this is Maryland's newest national preserve in 60 years.
"We transferred a 30-acre tract of our Nanjamoy Creek Preserve to Fish and Wildlife Service to help them establish the newest national wildlife system," said Deborah Barber, director of land conservation at the nature conservancy.
It's expected to grow from 30 acres to 40,000 acres over the next 30 years.
"And the way we will do that is to buy land from willing sellers or buy conservation easements from willing sellers," said Dan Murphy from Fish and Wildlife.
And while the area is quiet, now come spring.
There will be sounds that greet you, a wood thrush.
"It's got a gorgeous song. When you walk into the woods, and you hear its beautiful flute-like tones, it's just magical. You feel like you're in a fairyland," Barber said.
And the songbird will represent Southern Maryland Woodlands National Wildlife Refuge.
"The National Wildlife Refuge adopted the beautiful wood thrush as its ambassador animal. That's on the sign we installed on the tract that we gave to them," said Barber.
Barber says that the birds are how everything started, specifically a great blue heron rookery, which, at its peak, housed 11,000 nests.
"And we said 'That is so cool, we need to protect that,'" said Barber.
And it didn't end with the herons.
"As we were protecting all that land for the herons, we were also protecting land and water for more and more rare species that were being discovered in the area," Barber said.
And while the herons eventually left, it didn't stop the conservancy from protecting the land.
Which you can now enjoy.
"Birds brought us to the area, and even though the original rookery is not there anymore, that wonderful diversity of songbirds continues to thrive there. And it's something you can experience by walking or driving around that area," said Barber.
Fish and Wildlife told WMAR that it will take time to get staff and infrastructure set up for the preserve.
But the Nature Conservancy has a guided audio tour you can enjoy.
