ShoreRivers Receives $10,000 Perdue Foundation Grant for Conservation Drainage Program

ShoreRivers received a $10,000 grant from the Franklin P. and Arthur W. Perdue Foundation. Along with funding from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and Bailey Wildlife Foundation, this grant supports work to accelerate agricultural conservation drainage best management practices that improve water quality while sustaining or increasing crop production.

“This project represents the first partnership between ShoreRivers and the Perdue Foundation,” said Tim Rosen, director of agriculture and restoration for Shore Rivers. “New and diverse partnerships such as this help achieve water quality and agricultural goals aimed at creating a sustainable future for Delmarva.”

“At Perdue, we’re proud to join ShoreRivers in this new partnership that will help improve the Delmarva community and make local farms, including some of those farmers who raise poultry for Perdue and sell us their grain, more economically viable and environmentally sustainable,” said Steve Levitsky, vice president of environmental stewardship for Perdue Farms.

From L-R: Somerset County poultry and grain farmer Rantz Purcell, ShoreRivers Director of Agriculture and Restoration Tim Rosen, and Perdue Vice President of Sustainability Steve Levitsky. Photo by Bill See, Perdue

The Perdue Foundation was established by company founder Arthur W. Perdue in 1957 as the charitable giving arm of Perdue Farms. It is funded through the estates of Arthur W. Perdue and Frank Perdue and provides grants on behalf of Perdue Farms in communities where large numbers of their associates live and work.

Conservation drainage is a selection of best management practices that allows for traditional agricultural drainage needed for production while also reducing nutrient and sediment pollution. ShoreRivers works with farmers on Delmarva to implement conservation drainage projects with the objective of installing demonstration projects that showcase how environmental and agricultural goals can be mutually met to maintain a healthy environment.

“The implications of this work have far-reaching, positive effects by allowing Delmarva farms to be more economically sustainable while addressing uncertain future weather conditions and improving water quality, thus creating a landscape that can be cherished for generations,” said Rosen.

Using the funding from Perdue Foundation, ShoreRivers has installed two projects in Dorchester and Somerset counties. In total, ShoreRivers will install seven conservation drainage projects on the Eastern Shore of Maryland and Delaware. Specific practices being installed are blind inlets, saturated buffers, water control structures, and new drainage tile designs for use with a drainage water management plan.

For more information about ShoreRivers’ conservation drainage programs, contact Tim Rosen at ShoreRivers at trosen@shorerivers.org or 443.385.0511 ext. 209.

ShoreRivers protects and restores Eastern Shore waterways through science-based advocacy, restoration, and education. We work collaboratively with our community yet maintain an uncompromising and independent voice for clean rivers and the living resources they support.

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