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Maryland wildlife is in danger.
Your tax donation can help!

Conservation of Maryland’s biodiversity is vital to sustaining our natural communities. A simple tax donation on line 35 of your MD state tax form can help save Maryland’s endangered and threatened species in immediate need of protection.

Donations to the tax check off program are split evenly between the Chesapeake Bay Trust and the Maryland Department of Natural Resources Wildlife and Heritage Service to sustain extensive local conservation and restoration projects statewide.

Learn more about Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops Truncatus)

Dolphin sightings are common in the Chesapeake Bay. Every summer, Maryland’s Fish and Wildlife Health Program receives reports of bottlenose dolphins in the bay and its tributaries. They are typically seen from April-November in groups called pods.

Dolphins stick around as long as food sources are abundant and water temperatures remain warm. Sightings have been reported as far north as Kent County. Occasionally, they appear in the Severn River, as well as around Kent Island. Sightings north of the Bay Bridge do occur but are less common than those occurring farther south in Calvert, Dorchester, Somerset, St. Mary’s and Talbot counties. Sightings are the most common along the Atlantic Coast at Ocean City and Assateague Island National Seashore.

• Bottlenose dolphins are found in most warm and temperate oceans worldwide.
• They travel in pods of 2-15 animals, typically appearing in Maryland waters April-November. These dolphins are among the most commonly stranded marine mammals in our area.
• They are often seen at Assateague Island and Ocean City and commonly hunt in the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries.
• Protection under the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 identifies humans as their greatest threat and prevents any resulting future depletion.
• Bottlenose dolphins range in color from light gray to near-black with lighter coloration on their bellies.
• Adults range from 6-12.5 feet long and weigh up to 1,400 pounds.
• They can swim up to 22 miles per hour using their flukes.
• Prominent dorsal fins help researchers identify individuals.
• Distinct inshore and offshore populations exist—those inshore tend to be smaller and lighter. They use echolocation to find and capture their prey, which typically includes fish, invertebrates and squid.
• Dolphins are social animals and often forage cooperatively.
• Males generally live 40‐45 years, while females can surpass 50.
• Their only natural predators are orcas and sharks.
• Females give birth every 3‐6 years after 12 months of gestation.
• Calves feed on their mothers’ milk for 3‐5 years and can start eating small fish when they are about six months old.
• Proof that all mammals have hair, calves are born with whisker-like vibrissae on their snout that fall off shortly after birth.

Learn more about Short-eared Owls (Asio flammeus)

  • They require large open areas of over 100 acres of undisturbed grassland or wetland habitat where prey is abundant to nest successfully and for wintering
  • Short-Eared Owls are now only seen in Maryland during fall migration and occasionally in larger marshes of the Lower Eastern Shore, though historic records show they once bred in Maryland
  • The North American population has declined by 65% since 1970
  • Habitat loss due to development, changes in farming practices, and loss of wetland habitat have led to further recent declines
  • Fluctuations in the abundance of small mammal prey has significant effects on local short-eared owl population

Learn more about Monarch Butterflies (Danaus Plexippus)

• With its distinct orange and black coloration and its long-distance flight, the monarch is an iconic butterfly species native to most of North America.
• Weighing less than a paperclip, a single butterfly can travel up to 3000 miles.
• In Maryland, monarchs feed on the milkweed plant to prepare for migration south in early fall (September and October). Many of these will fly all the way to Mexico where they overwinter in a single mountain forest in central Mexico. During this time, the monarchs will gather in oyamel fir trees.
• In February and March, the monarchs will begin their journey back north and east, laying eggs on milkweed as they go. The eggs that hatch into larvae are the next generation. The young caterpillars feed upon milkweed, becoming distasteful to predators in the process.
• Milkweed sap contains cardiac glycosides which both the caterpillars and adults sequester in their bodies as a defense against hungry predators.
• The bright orange coloring of monarchs makes them distinctive, both to people and to potential predators, as it serves as a warning to predators that they are toxic.
• Male monarch butterflies have a black spot on their hind wings.
• Milkweed is the only type of plant that the caterpillars feed on. So it is important that we wait to mow these areas until after Monarchs have left Maryland in the fall.
• To help fuel the Monarch butterfly’s amazing journey south it is important to have late season blooming native plants for the adult butterflies to feed on such as asters, New York Ironweed, and goldenrod.

Learn about Appalachian Cottontails (Sylvilagus obscurus)

  • Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Kentucky, and West Virginia listed the Appalachian Cottontail as a ‘Species of Greatest Conservation Need’ as of 2015
  • Appalachian cottontails have acute senses of smell, hearing, and sight
  • Their diet consists of leaves, blackberry, greenbriar, mountain laurel; bark and twigs of trees such as red maple, aspen, and black cherry. They also consume fruits in their diet and act as seed dispersers
  • The main threats to Appalachian cottontails are habitat destruction and fragmentation due to development; the lack of cover exposes the cottontail to predators, increasing the strain on the species
  • Currently, this species is classified as Near Threatened (NT) on the IUCN Red List and its numbers today are decreasing

Contribute at Tax Time

The Chesapeake Bay Trust relies on the generosity of residents all across Maryland to ensure we can continue our efforts to keep the Bay and our local waterways clean. From the mountains to the coast, every Marylander is affected by air and water quality.

No matter how you file your Maryland State Tax Return, it’s easy to make a 100% deductible donation to support the Chesapeake and protect Maryland’s endangered species. The proceeds from the tax donation program are split evenly between the Chesapeake Bay Trust and the Wildlife and Heritage Division of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. Any voluntary contribution amount to the Chesapeake Bay and Endangered Species Fund will make a difference:

  • $20 can fund a life-changing outdoor experience for 2 students
  • $40 can plant 4 native trees to improve air and water quality
  • $75 can buy 150 wetland plants that protect precious habitats and prevent erosion
  • $100 can remove 500 pounds of trash from local streams and rivers

Help protect the Bay and at-risk species through the Chesapeake Bay and Endangered Species Fund. Donations go to the Chesapeake Bay Trust, a 501C3 Non-profit, and the Wildlife and Heritage Service to improve the health of the Chesapeake Bay, its rivers and streams, and to protect at-risk species. The Trust has been given a 4-star charity rating, the highest rating, by Charity Navigator, the leader in the nation’s leading independent evaluator of non-profit organizations. As a result, you can rest assured that your donation is going toward exactly what you want to support: improving the Chesapeake Bay, endangered species, and our local communities, and cannot be diverted anywhere else.

Funds raised from the tax check-off program are split evenly between the Chesapeake Bay Trust and the Maryland Department of Natural Resources: 50% goes to the Wildlife and Heritage Service at the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. To learn more, visit their website.

Chesapeake Endangered Species Fund

519 Maryland Species are
Endangered, Rare, or Threatened

The following list comprises 519 native Maryland animals that are among the least understood, the rarest, and the most in need of conservation efforts. It includes species occurring in Maryland that are on the federal list of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), species currently on the State’s Threatened and Endangered Species list, and additional species that are considered rare or under assessment by the Wildlife and Heritage Service.

Compiled by Wildlife and Heritage Service staff and conservation partners, this list of rare species is a result of more than 40 years of effort to gather, research, and analyze data from numerous sources, such as museums, scientific literature, unpublished documents, reports from zoologists and amateur naturalists, and extensive field work conducted by scientists from the Department of Natural Resources (DNR).

Learn more about how your tax donation
can clean up the Chesapeake region

CPAs for a
Healthy Bay

If you are an Certified Public Accountant, you can sign up for our CPAs for a Healthy Bay Program to receive free marketing from the Trust in exchange for telling your clients about our tax donation program.

For sources and additional information:

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