In 2013, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced the first Urban Wildlife Refuge Partnership in the country: Masonville Cove, a reclaimed 54-acre site on the southern edge of the Patapsco River near the city neighborhood of Brooklyn.
Today, as part of a White House-organized, daylong environmental roundtable at the People and Parks Foundation in West Baltimore, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced it is expanding that partnership to include the Middle Branch watershed throughout South and West Baltimore. The goal is to bring the city, environmental organizations, and neighborhood groups together with the Fish and Wildlife Service to rebuild community green spaces, improve water quality, and create wildlife habitats while encouraging local environmental stewardship.