Chesapeake Bay Nutria Eradication Project

A collaborative effort from USFWS, USDA, and Maryland DNR has worked over 20 years to eliminate the exotic, invasive nutria, which, combined with sea level rise and land subsidence, have caused over 5,000 acres loss of wetlands. Working closely with public and private landowners, the project managed to remove 14,000 nutria and protect over 250,000 acres of marshes on the Delmarva Peninsula. Eradication was conducted by highly trained detector dogs. Eradication efforts were assisted by highly trained detector dogs. The last known nutria in Maryland was captured in May 2015, and by 2022, monitoring results suggested complete eradication.