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ECOLOGICALLY SIGNIFICANT AND IMPORTANT BIOTA AND AREAS 



Many species of plants and animals in the Chesapeake Bay region are 

 presently endangered and will be lost if their few and local habitats are 

 not permanently protected. A number of species are already extinct in 

 this area. 



A survey is in progress to determine the abundance and distribution 

 of rare, indigenous, and endangered species of plants and animals of the 

 region; the representatives occurring that are normally found far to the 

 north, south, or west; and species of practical value. Also important 

 wintering, breeding, or migration concentration grounds are being studied 

 for various species of birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, fish and 

 shellfish. The best representatives of various species and communities 

 of deciduous forest begetation are being determined and mapped. 



Many areas around the Bay and along its tributary rivers and streams 



play host to unique or endangered forms of wildlife and these have been 



plotted on an overlay map. There are over 68 active nesting sites of the 



bald eagle, which represents an unfortunate reduction from a one-time 



high of over two hundred. The last small communities of the endangered 



Delmarva fox squirrel (once common on the Eastern Shore and along the 



Susquehanna River into Pennsylvania) and the indigenous and rare Maryland 



Darter, a fish known from a few specimens in two small streams in Maryland, 



have been mapped. There are a diminishing number of nesting sites of the 



osprey. Throughout the Chesapeake Bay area river estuaries there are 18 



of 

 important rookeries/herons and egrets. Along the western side of the 



Eastern shore in Maryland are. peninsulas in which many species of passerine 



