Watershed restoration in Talbot County, MD

by Jennifer Dindinger, Watershed Restoration Specialist with University of Maryland Extension Program

On July 8, I hosted the BWET Bay to Bay Project participants for an afternoon of touring stormwater management project sites in Talbot County, Maryland. We visited projects in the north fork of the Tanyard Branch of the Tred Avon River watershed. These projects were selected because they each have a unique value to the area where they’re located.

The first stop was Environmental Concern, Inc. in St. Michaels. We met with Katelin Mielke, the education director, to learn about living shorelines, rain gardens, and wetland restoration.  Kate shared a lot of useful information that the participants could use in their classrooms to build hands-on, informative, science-based lessons.

Next we traveled to a site off of the Oxford Road, just outside of Easton. This site was chosen to demonstrate how public and community spaces could be utilized as stormwater management opportunities. Two green spaces in the community have been retrofitted to provide enhanced stormwater management – a central traffic circle and a roadside ditch. Both projects now help to clean the stormwater runoff that before would just travel directly into the creek. We learned the lesson of making sure to engage the community from the very beginning so that the project has support and long term maintenance and buy-in.

Next up was a stormwater outfall on Glenwood Road in Easton. Attached to the outfall, hidden from the cars traveling by every day, are two trash bag filters that collect large pieces of trash and woody debris that get swept into storm drains during heavy rainstorms. The bags have a unique mechanism where they cinch themselves off and float a few feet from the outfall once they are full. The Town empties the bags periodically and reattaches them to the outfall. These bag filters can help remove a significant amount of trash and leaves/branches from the river.

Finally, we visited a bioretention pond at the Talbot County office building on Bay Street. The project was installed to manage a large amount of parking lot runoff that was previously flooding some downstream homes. The plants are growing in nicely and the downstream homeowners are happy!

A three-log canoe?

by Tami

A three log canoe? What is that? Certainly not what I thought!

After our visit to the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum, I get it! These canoes were built by the Native Americans who would take a log and then burn and scrape the inside. The settlers adopted their idea and added a sail for speed. The watermen constructed their “canoes” with three smaller logs.

Now, it looks more like a boat than a canoe!

 

Thoughts on the Poplar Island restoration project

by Tami

For me, visiting Poplar Island was born exhilarating and yet sad at the same time. Many species of birds, insects, butterflies, and terrapins call Poplar Island home.

Dredging is a reality and the use of dredged material to form island habitats is ingenious. But, at a cost of $1.2 billion, one has to wonder.

The ebb and flow of tides, erosion, disappearing islands and new islands forming is part of the natural process.

If I want to turn the world upside down, I would be a possum.

Getting ready!

The field gear has been ordered and [mostly] received, the participants have applied and been accepted, the agenda and packing list have been sent, lodging and program reservations have been made; it’s almost “go” time for the 2014 Bay to Bay teacher professional development academy!

This year’s academy includes seven teachers from Sussex County (and just over the line in Kent County!):

1. Teri – Seaford House Residential and Day Treatment, 4-12^th grade science
2. Mike – Eagle’s Nest Christian Academy, 6-8^th grade science
3. Tami– Laurel Intermediate Middle School, 6^th grade science
4. Kristina – Georgetown Middle School, 8^th grade science
5. Nick – Seaford High School, 9^th grade integrated science and 12^th grade environmental science
6. John – Shields Elementary School, 4^th grade science and social studies
7. Cary – Stevenson House Detention Center, 6-12^th grade science

And we have as a co-instructor, Jennifer Holmes, from the Delaware National Estuarine Research Reserve.

We’re all looking forward to working together and seeing this “Delmarvalous Land” while we learn from education professionals across the peninsula.

Stay tuned for academy updates from the participants, the instructors, and maybe a special guest or two!