New Year's resolutions have many on staff talking about cinching in their belts and loosing some weight. But at the Eastern Shore of Virginia NWR we are expanding and happy of it!! On January 30, 2007, we put on another 210 acres!! Thanks in large measure to the support of Senator John Warner, The Nature Conservancy and other partners. The property is located on the seaside near the refuge headquarters and has been identified as important habitat for migratory birds.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service purchased the lands using a combination of funds from the North American Wetlands Conservation Act, the Migratory Bird Conservation Commission and the Land and Water Conservation Fund.

A great partnership evolved from the efforts to protect this land including The Nature Conservancy, Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, Virginia Department of Environmental Quality's Coastal Zone Management program, Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation and the Eastern Shore of Virginia Land Trust — oh, yeah, and the US Fish and Wildlife Service. This acquisition and other recent transfers represent 10% of the lands identified for protection in the Refuge's Land Protection Plan, approved in 2004.

We're growing and happy of it!