The Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC), West and Rhode Riverkeepr, and Ogburn Consulting are coordinating a novel, community focused, watershed restoration program for the Rhode River in Maryland. The project, entitled Rhode to Restoration, has just been awarded funding through a National Fish & Wildlife Foundation Chesapeake Bay Stewardship Fund Small Watershed grant.
The effort is inspired by the larger scale “Envision the Choptank” project and will be centered around 4 pillars –
- Stakeholder collaboration;
- Landowner Stewardship activities;
- A demonstration oyster reef; and
- Engage citizens in data collection.
Stakeholder collaboration will involve developing a plan to improve water quality in the Rhode River by working with landowners, businesses, high schools, home owners associations, the Riverkeeper, and others to identify perceived problems as well as their solutions. For the Landowner Stewardship component, homeowners will use the Habitat Network’s Yard Map tool to identify areas for improvement on their own properties.
Perhaps the highest profile component will be the construction of a two acre demonstration oyster reef in the Rhode River. The reef will be used to educate watershed residents on the importance of water quality and watershed efforts to improve it as well as provide a home to oysters grown through the Marylanders Grow Oysters (MGO) program. The project will coordinate with the West and Rhode Riverkeeper to collect additional data from MGO as well as water quality data within the river.
You can read more about the project in an article in the Annapolis Capitol Gazette. More information on this project will be provided as it becomes available.