NASA has formally handed over Area 400, a 103-acre parcel of woodland near its Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, to the US Fish and Wildlife Service. The land is now part of the Patuxent Research Refuge, a move welcomed as a rare conservation success and one that removes the risk of the site being sold to a developer.

The parcel had previously been used by NASA for propellant research, but with that work moving to other facilities it had been earmarked for sale. Because the land borders the refuge, the Fish and Wildlife Service opened transfer talks with NASA in 2021, following concerns raised from 2022 about the harm a private sale could cause. Established by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1936, the 13,000-acre Patuxent Research Refuge is the only US wildlife refuge created specifically for scientific study, and also offers recreational activities.