October 10, 2009 marked the public opening of the 212 acre Russell W. Peterson Urban Wildlife Refuge on the Christina River in Wilmington. It is located at the end of Justison St., past Frawley Stadium and the Riverfront Restaurants. Seen as a chance to get city residents and other urban dwellers interested in the natural world around them and a chance to re-establish species that once thrived along the Christina River, the center is named for former Delaware Governor Russell W. Peterson, author of the Coastal Zone Act, which stopped further industrial development along the Delaware coast.
The Delaware Nature Society operates Environmental Education Center here where the city, river, and marsh meet. On opening day, the public had a chance to check out the site's features.
The Wilmington Fire Department Fireboat greeted visitors with a salute, and farther down the path to the refuge, landscape features lead to the bridge to the center.
The Russell W. Peterson Urban Wildlife Refuge is open to the public year-round and features indoor and outdoor exhibits on water related natural and cultural history topics and a boardwalk that extends into the marsh. Delaware Nature Society programs are offered for all ages, as well as courses for teachers.
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Thanks for the introduction to this wonderful center. Projects like this are important to keeping the public involved with preservation issues.
Thanks, Dave. Governor Peterson is quite a guy. I had the privilege of hearing him speak recently about the tough stand he took against the development of the coast of Delaware when the U.S. government was against his environmentalist actions and he stood up to them. BRAVO!