Middleford North Preserve

Barred owl
© Stephen Kirkpatrick

Just upstream from Seaford, the main stem of the Nanticoke River meanders through riparian forest and lush freshwater wetlands. The Nature Conservancy's Middleford North Preserve is found here, protecting a wild and scenic corridor in the heart of the upper Nanticoke River watershed.

Size
440 acres

Location
Sussex County, Delaware (Due to the fragile nature of this area, there is no public access.)

Plants
Middleford North's deciduous swamps and upland forests provide refuge for a wide range of tree species, including red maple, blackgum, loblolly pine, sweetgum and Atlantic white cedar. This area of the Nanticoke watershed is also home to a number of globally and locally imperiled rare plant species such as seaside alder, Parker's piperwort and Long's bittercress.

Invertebrates
Groves of Atlantic white cedar trees provide the sole caterpillar-stage food source for a population of the globally imperiled Hessel's hairstreak butterfly.

Animals
The Middleford North preserve provides feeding, staging, and nesting habitat for more than eighty species of migratory birds, including Eastern wood-peewee, American redstart, black-and-white warbler, Blackburnian warbler, Louisiana waterthrush and worm-eating warbler. Undisturbed stretches of the Nanticoke River like those at Middleford North also provide important spawning and nursery grounds for several species of fish, such as striped bass, hickory shad and river herring, as well as resident fish such as largemouth bass, redbreast sunfish, pumpkinseed sunfish and golden shiners.

Why the Conservancy Selected This Site

Containing the sole remaining unchannelized and undredged stretch of the Nanticoke, the Middleford region has retained a wild and scenic character in the face of burgeoning development. High quality floodplain and upland forests, riverine wetlands and Atlantic white cedar swamps harbor tremendous biological diversity within this area. Biologists with the Delaware Natural Heritage Program have identified more than a dozen species at Middleford North considered to be globally or locally imperiled.

What the Conservancy Has Done/Is Doing
The Conservancy has worked to preserve the biological value of the Middleford North corridor since 1992. Encompassing 440 acres, including 2.5 miles of river frontage along the Nanticoke River and the Gravelly Branch tributary, the Middleford North preserve has become a haven for a wide range of rare and imperiled species.