Along with summer swimming comes ShoreRivers Bacteria Monitoring season. It is advised that people not swim 24-48 hours after a major rain.

Every summer, ShoreRivers deploys a team of community scientists to monitor bacterial levels at popular swimming and boating sites, providing vital information on human health risks to the public. Their samples are then processed, according to standard scientific protocols, in ShoreRivers’ in-house labs. The program follows the Environmental Protection Agency’s standard protocols for collecting and analyzing samples. It makes the results of that testing public, informing people about current bacteria levels as they plan their recreational activities in our waterways. Results are posted every Friday, between Memorial Day and Labor Day, at shorerivers.org/swim and on both the organization’s and its individual Riverkeepers’ social media pages.

A second page, shorerivers.org/swimmable-shorerivers-espanol, was established in 2023 to share this program with the Spanish-speaking community. Additionally, 14 signs can be found at public sites around the Eastern Shore that explain the goals of the Swimmable ShoreRivers program and indicate where users can find weekly results in both English and Spanish. These signs (and the program at large) are made possible thanks to funding from the Cornell Douglas Foundation, and ShoreRivers’ Riverkeepers will continue working with local county officials to install more.

Adkins Arboretum is proud to announce the 2025 Naturally Better Landscaping Speaker Series, a free four-part series designed to help homeowners, HOA boards, land managers, and community members explore practical and inspiring ways to care for the land using native plants and ecology-based practices.

This series is part of the larger Naturally Better Landscaping, a multi-year education and outreach initiative developed initially in partnership with ShoreRivers, and now in an extended collaboration with Eastern Shore Land Conservancy, Pickering Creek Audubon Center, and Phillips Wharf Environmental Center. The project is generously funded by the Chesapeake Bay Trust and Queen Anne’s County. This year’s speaker series expands on the success of earlier events, offering timely guidance from nationally recognized experts in the fields of horticulture, ecology, and design. Attendees will gain insight into how everyday landscaping choices impact pollinators, water quality, and climate resilience, and how to create landscapes that benefit both people and wildlife.

2025 Speaker Schedule:

Specialist Bees with Heather Holm Saturday, August 9, 1–3 p.m. Cadby Theatre, Chesapeake College, Wye Mills, MD. Register here. Discover the vital relationships between native plants and specialist bees, and how to support them on your property.

What Do You Mean I’m Not a Perennial?! Native Shrubs and Small Trees for Perennial Companionship with Bill Cullina Sunday, August 31, 2–3:30 p.m. Oxford Community Center, Oxford, MD. Register here. Learn how to enhance the beauty and structure of your garden using native woody plants that work in harmony with perennials.

Cultivating Change: A Native Landscaping Success Story Saturday, October 25, 2–3:30 p.m. Adkins Arboretum, Ridgely, MD. Register here. A panel of Cove Creek Club residents shares how their HOA shifted to native plantings, what worked, what didn’t, and what’s next.

Reimagining Our Landscapes: A Talk by Rebecca McMackin Sunday, November 9, 2–4 p.m. Avalon Theatre, Easton, MD. Register here. Ecological horticulturist Rebecca McMackin will explore how we can transform gardens and green spaces into thriving, resilient ecosystems that support biodiversity and respond to a changing climate.

All events are free and open to the public. To ensure adequate seating and materials, pre-registration is encouraged. For more information, visit adkinsarboretum.org or call 410-634-2847. A 400-acre native garden and preserve, Adkins Arboretum provides exceptional experiences in nature to promote environmental stewardship.

Ocean City is pursuing every avenue in its ongoing fight to block an offshore wind farm — including one avenue that didn’t appear to exist until a month ago.

That’s when the Environmental Protection Agency told the state that it erred when it said appeals of the air quality permit it granted for the US Wind project could only be challenged in court. The proper venue is the agency’s Environmental Appeals Board (EAB), said the EPA, which ordered the state to rewrite its notice.

State officials refused and have challenged the EPA claim, as has US Wind, the developer behind the Ocean City project. Local environmental attorneys said the move appears to be an attempt by Trump’s EPA to “figure out ways to undercut what the Biden administration did,” by muddying the waters about how an appeal should proceed.

Ocean City’s attorneys “felt that the correct location was the EPA environmental appeals board” and filed its appeal there, said City Manager Terry McGean in a statement. But it filed in Worcester County Circuit Court, too, just in case.

“In order to make sure our appeal was not thrown out based on a procedural issue, we filed in both places. Apparently the EPA agreed with us,” McGean wrote.

It’s the latest twist in a long-running battle over the project, which calls for construction of 121 wind turbines about 10 miles off the Delmarva coast. When complete, the project could generate 2,200 megawatts of energy, enough to power up to 718,000 homes, according to the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.

The project has the backing of the Moore administration and the administration of former President Joe Biden (D), which granted a key federal permit for it. But it has long been opposed by some leaders in tourism-dependent Ocean City, who fear the distant turbine towers will harm the view from the beach. Wind projects have another opponent in President Donald Trump (R).

The EPA appeals board recently took action against a different offshore wind project. In March, the appeals board revoked a Clean Air Act permit issued for New Jersey’s Atlantic Shores wind project during the Biden administration. The board sent the permit back to EPA for a new decision in light of a Trump executive order  that paused new wind permitting and leasing, and required federal agencies to reevaluate their policies.

But, critically, that permit was issued by EPA’s Region 2 — not a state agency.

Local environmental attorneys called EPA’s arguments about the Maryland permit unconventional. Typically, a challenge to an air pollution permit issued by MDE would be filed in court in the county where the project is proposed, they said.

“I am a bit baffled by EPA’s assertion,” said Jon Mueller, director of the Environmental Law Clinic at the University of Maryland’s Francis King Carey School of Law, who said the administration may simply be looking for a way to block a Biden-era project.

“I’ve never seen it say you’ve got to go through the EAB before — unless there was some clear statutory requirement,” Mueller said.

In a previous statement to Maryland Matters, an EPA spokesperson criticized Maryland for not complying with its directive to reissue the air permit with instructions for appellants to go to the Environmental Appeals Board.

“They don’t seem to care about complying with legal requirements,” an EPA spokesperson said about MDE.

The appeals board is a three-judge panel that reviews permitting disputes involving federal statutes like the Clean Air Act. Members are appointed by the EPA administrator, to consider appeals on their behalf, but the board is “impartial” and “independent from all other agency components” outside the office of the administrator, according to its website.

The EAB is still considering whether it has jurisdiction to review the MDE-issued air permit for the Ocean City project. In an order issued Monday, the board required the EPA’s general counsel to chime in by Aug. 18.

Amy Van Blarcom-Lackey, regional EPA administrator for the mid-Atlantic, told Maryland on July 7 that it needed to defer to the EAB. That same day, Ocean City filed its appeal with the EAB, making arguments similar argument to Trump’s EPA.

The city’s attorney, Nancie Marzulla, wrote that EPA delegated authority to MDE to issue the Clean Air Act permit, but the federal agency “retains oversight” over the permit, in part because it covers a project on the outer continental shelf, a “federal enclave,” Marzulla wrote.

Both of Ocean City’s filings — in court and before the appeals board — challenge MDE’s construction permit on several grounds, arguing that MDE failed to consider alternatives for the offshore wind project, issued the permit late and relied on uncertain emissions estimates for construction vessels, among other faults.

US Wind believes that the town’s appeal is “less about air quality and more about the very existence of the Project,” wrote Toyja E. Kelley, Sr., an attorney for the company, in a filing before the appeals board. “Be that as it may, Petitioners have a right to challenge the MDE Permit, but only in the forum legally authorized to hear them out: a Maryland Circuit Court.”

Liz Burdock, president and CEO of Oceantic Network, a trade group supporting offshore wind development, agreed with US Wind, saying in a statement that she has “full confidence” in Maryland’s permit — and the state’s appeals process.

MDE “issued the permit for US Wind after a lengthy, well-documented, science-based approach that followed years of precedent and included US EPA Region 3 every step of the way,” Burdock wrote.

In its filing with the EPA board, the Baltimore-based wind developer contended that MDE followed the rules when it issued the air permit. It also argued that the air emissions tied to the project will occur “almost exclusively” during the construction and commissioning phase, thanks to engines aboard construction vessels and diesel generators on the offshore substations before they are connected to the electrical grid.

The turbines themselves “will generate no air emissions,” US Wind wrote, “and in fact will displace electricity that would otherwise be generated by fossil fuel powered sources that have historically created significantly more air emissions.”

In its filing with the appeals board, MDE wrote that EAB lacks jurisdiction based on past precedent, and Ocean City’s petition misconstrues federal law. It warned that an “improvident grant of jurisdiction could result in conflicting judicial rulings given the Petitioners concurrent filing currently proceeding in the Maryland courts.”

Phil Federico, a Maryland environmental attorney who handles class action suits related to groundwater and air pollution, said he also found it strange that EPA was arguing the wind permit should go to its appeals board.

“It’s a novel argument,” Federico said. “And I think they’re relying heavily on the fact that the Clean Air Act permits the EPA to delegate authority to the state to issue Clean Air Act permits.”

Federico said it seems as though the federal agency, having already delegated authority to Maryland to enact Clean Air Act permits on the outer continental shelf, is now moving the goalposts.

“If you’re going to delegate this authority to MDE, and they do issue a Clean Air Act permit consistent with the EPA standards, then I don’t see the problem,” Federico said. “My guess is this is probably — to some degree — being impacted by political preference.”

In its filing, MDE also argued that many of Ocean City’s contentions were not brought forward during the public comment period, making them ineligible subjects for an appeal.

The state still countered each deficiency cited by Ocean City, arguing that it was allowed to rely on previous alternative analyses conducted by the U.S. Department of the Interior, that its vessel emissions estimates were sound and that the permit underwent ample public comment.

Responding to the contention that the appeals board should overturn the permit because it was issued after a statutory deadline, MDE argued that would be an “absurd” remedy, since the deadline was set to protect permit applicants from a never-ending review process.

“A contrary ruling would allow an agency to avoid ever having to make a decision,” reads MDE’s filing.

 

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by Christine Condon, Maryland Matters
August 8, 2025

Maryland Matters is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Maryland Matters maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Steve Crane for questions: [email protected].

Along with summer swimming comes ShoreRivers Bacteria Monitoring season. It is advised that people not swim 24-48 hours after a major rain.

Every summer, ShoreRivers deploys a team of community scientists to monitor bacterial levels at popular swimming and boating sites, providing vital information on human health risks to the public. Their samples are then processed, according to standard scientific protocols, in ShoreRivers’ in-house labs. The program follows the Environmental Protection Agency’s standard protocols for collecting and analyzing samples. It makes the results of that testing public, informing people about current bacteria levels as they plan their recreational activities in our waterways. Results are posted every Friday, between Memorial Day and Labor Day, at shorerivers.org/swim and on both the organization’s and its individual Riverkeepers’ social media pages.

A second page, shorerivers.org/swimmable-shorerivers-espanol, was established in 2023 to share this program with the Spanish-speaking community. Additionally, 14 signs can be found at public sites around the Eastern Shore that explain the goals of the Swimmable ShoreRivers program and indicate where users can find weekly results in both English and Spanish. These signs (and the program at large) are made possible thanks to funding from the Cornell Douglas Foundation, and ShoreRivers’ Riverkeepers will continue working with local county officials to install more.

On December 31, 2025, Isabel Hardesty will bid a bittersweet farewell to ShoreRivers which, along with its predecessor organizations, she has served faithfully for 14 years. Following the merger of local Riverkeeper organizations into ShoreRivers in 2018, Isabel served as the Deputy Director, then as the very effective Executive Director of ShoreRivers since 2021. Watch shorerivers.org/jobs for an upcoming job announcement.

In 2018 ShoreRivers had 21 employees and operated with a $3.5 million budget. Under Hardesty’s leadership, ShoreRivers has grown to 33 employees, six paid interns, and a $7.5 million budget, reflecting the growth of the range and scope of its programs and impact on the Eastern Shore. She has fostered an organizational culture of respect, transparency, collaboration, optimism, and hard work among the staff, helping ShoreRivers gain region-wide recognition as a responsible and impactful advocate for our rivers and become a trusted voice in Annapolis.

“After 14 years of working for our rivers, I am ready for a change and for another chapter in my professional life,” says Hardesty. “I am excited and happy and nostalgic and sad all at once, but mostly energized by the prospect of change and feeling strong in my belief that this is the right step for me, for my family, and for ShoreRivers. Rivers remain my heart, but I am ready to branch out and contribute to other environmental and social nonprofit work.”

She continues: “I am so proud of this organization; we are in an incredible period of stability and impact, which is why I feel confident in stepping away at this time. ShoreRivers is coming from a place of significant strength for conducting this kind of search; we confidently and optimistically look forward to selecting a fantastic new leader.”

Hardesty leaves behind a financially strong, stable organization with an experienced staff. While there remains plenty of environmental work to be done, ShoreRivers has never been the work of one individual, but is the collective work of a dedicated, multi-talented, and resourceful team. ShoreRivers’ Governing Board has formed a search committee that will work with Hardesty and the staff to ensure an orderly transition from one capable leader to the next. ShoreRivers is deeply grateful for Hardesty’s leadership and wishes her well.

Meanwhile, continue to look for ShoreRivers in your communities and on your waterways.  Following our Strategic Plan, we continue to engage our many volunteers and community partners as we advance well-defined goals through water quality testing, restoring beds of submerged aquatic vegetation, installing pollution-reducing projects on farm fields and in towns, educating the next generation of environmental stewards, planting trees, and advocating for the health of our rivers locally and at state and federal levels. We have a great lineup of programs and invite you to join us in celebrating, cherishing, and protecting the beautiful waterways of the Eastern Shore.

 

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Along with summer swimming comes ShoreRivers Bacteria Monitoring season. It is advised that people not swim 24-48 hours after a major rain.

Every summer, ShoreRivers deploys a team of community scientists to monitor bacterial levels at popular swimming and boating sites, providing vital information on human health risks to the public. Their samples are then processed, according to standard scientific protocols, in ShoreRivers’ in-house labs. The program follows the Environmental Protection Agency’s standard protocols for collecting and analyzing samples. It makes the results of that testing public, informing people about current bacteria levels as they plan their recreational activities in our waterways. Results are posted every Friday, between Memorial Day and Labor Day, at shorerivers.org/swim and on both the organization’s and its individual Riverkeepers’ social media pages.

A second page, shorerivers.org/swimmable-shorerivers-espanol, was established in 2023 to share this program with the Spanish-speaking community. Additionally, 14 signs can be found at public sites around the Eastern Shore that explain the goals of the Swimmable ShoreRivers program and indicate where users can find weekly results in both English and Spanish. These signs (and the program at large) are made possible thanks to funding from the Cornell Douglas Foundation, and ShoreRivers’ Riverkeepers will continue working with local county officials to install more.

 

Along with summer swimming comes ShoreRivers Bacteria Monitoring season. It is advised that people not swim 24-48 hours after a major rain.

Every summer, ShoreRivers deploys a team of community scientists to monitor bacterial levels at popular swimming and boating sites, providing vital information on human health risks to the public. Their samples are then processed, according to standard scientific protocols, in ShoreRivers’ in-house labs. The program follows the Environmental Protection Agency’s standard protocols for collecting and analyzing samples. It makes the results of that testing public, informing people about current bacteria levels as they plan their recreational activities in our waterways. Results are posted every Friday, between Memorial Day and Labor Day, at shorerivers.org/swim and on both the organization’s and its individual Riverkeepers’ social media pages.

A second page, shorerivers.org/swimmable-shorerivers-espanol, was established in 2023 to share this program with the Spanish-speaking community. Additionally, 14 signs can be found at public sites around the Eastern Shore that explain the goals of the Swimmable ShoreRivers program and indicate where users can find weekly results in both English and Spanish. These signs (and the program at large) are made possible thanks to funding from the Cornell Douglas Foundation, and ShoreRivers’ Riverkeepers will continue working with local county officials to install more.

A lot has changed in Queen Anne’s County since Bets Sener Durham hooked a wagon to her Cub Cadet tractor at the age of twelve and drove herself and a friend three miles from her family’s farm the whole way to Church Hill and back. MD-213 might have a little too much traffic for that type of travel these days, but the Seners’ Southeast Creek Farm, located on a beautiful forest-fringed property between Southeast and Syberrys Creeks, will now remain just as beautiful and natural as it was in Bets’s childhood—forever.

Last week, Eastern Shore Land Conservancy finalized the permanent protection of Southeast Creek Farm, through a donated easement co-held by Maryland Environmental Trust (MET) and made possible by Durham and her two brothers Tenny Sener and Ward Sener. This new easement, covering nearly 100 acres, marks an exciting conservation win for Queen Anne’s County, which has now exceeded state goals by preserving more than 43% of its agricultural zoned land. “We want to thank the Seners and Durhams for their dedication to the conservation of their spectacular property,” said David Satterfield, ESLC Director of Land Conservation. “Their love for their land is clearly shown through their actions; both through the restoration of the land for wildlife and now its protection in perpetuity. We look forward to continuing to work with them to pursue their passion for conserving this great resource for generations to come.”

Once primarily agricultural, Southeast Creek farm has transformed into a lush and thriving grassland habitat through Washington College’s Natural Lands Project (NLP). Extensive meadows will now reduce nutrient and sediment pollution in local waterways, provide beautiful scenery, serve as a model of restoration for people driving down Southeast Creek Road, and help to support the property’s waterfowl, grassland birds, beavers, wild turkeys, raccoons, and the bobwhite quail that have been heard distantly following recent meadow enhancements.

The farm’s 4,724 feet of water frontage on Southeast Creek protects ecological and scenic value for watermen, sailors, and kayakers alike. Of its 100 acres, approximately 70 acres are former grain fields now under ecological restoration, 24.5 acres are woodlands that will be managed through a forest stewardship plan to support Forest Interior Dwelling Species, and 56 acres are enrolled in a CREP buffer planting program. The easement also falls within a state-designated Targeted Ecological Area and lies within one mile of other protected lands, building valuable landscape-level connectivity.

Reflecting on his family’s move from Baltimore in the 1960s, Tenny Sener said the relocation was “expansive in terms of our level of experience,” providing both laidback recreation and contemplative corners where he and his siblings were forced to bear witness to nature, where “nothing’s going on and everything’s going on.” Tenny and Bets remain on the Eastern Shore to this day, choosing to donate a conservation easement to protect their home, simply because, as Bets said, “I love the land so much that I wanted to protect it forever.”

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Established in 1990, Eastern Shore Land Conservancy’s mission is to conserve, steward, and advocate for the unique rural landscape of Maryland’s Eastern Shore, forever a special place of diverse and abundant natural resources and thriving rural communities.

Along with summer swimming comes ShoreRivers Bacteria Monitoring season. It is advised that people not swim 24-48 hours after a major rain.

Every summer, ShoreRivers deploys a team of community scientists to monitor bacterial levels at popular swimming and boating sites, providing vital information on human health risks to the public. Their samples are then processed, according to standard scientific protocols, in ShoreRivers’ in-house labs. The program follows the Environmental Protection Agency’s standard protocols for collecting and analyzing samples. It makes the results of that testing public, informing people about current bacteria levels as they plan their recreational activities in our waterways. Results are posted every Friday, between Memorial Day and Labor Day, at shorerivers.org/swim and on both the organization’s and its individual Riverkeepers’ social media pages.

A second page, shorerivers.org/swimmable-shorerivers-espanol, was established in 2023 to share this program with the Spanish-speaking community. Additionally, 14 signs can be found at public sites around the Eastern Shore that explain the goals of the Swimmable ShoreRivers program and indicate where users can find weekly results in both English and Spanish. These signs (and the program at large) are made possible thanks to funding from the Cornell Douglas Foundation, and ShoreRivers’ Riverkeepers will continue working with local county officials to install more.

Along with summer swimming comes ShoreRivers Bacteria Monitoring season. It is advised that people not swim 24-48 hours after a major rain.

Every summer, ShoreRivers deploys a team of community scientists to monitor bacterial levels at popular swimming and boating sites, providing vital information on human health risks to the public. Their samples are then processed, according to standard scientific protocols, in ShoreRivers’ in-house labs. The program follows the Environmental Protection Agency’s standard protocols for collecting and analyzing samples. It makes the results of that testing public, informing people about current bacteria levels as they plan their recreational activities in our waterways. Results are posted every Friday, between Memorial Day and Labor Day, at shorerivers.org/swim and on both the organization’s and its individual Riverkeepers’ social media pages.

A second page, shorerivers.org/swimmable-shorerivers-espanol, was established in 2023 to share this program with the Spanish-speaking community. Additionally, 14 signs can be found at public sites around the Eastern Shore that explain the goals of the Swimmable ShoreRivers program and indicate where users can find weekly results in both English and Spanish. These signs (and the program at large) are made possible thanks to funding from the Cornell Douglas Foundation, and ShoreRivers’ Riverkeepers will continue working with local county officials to install more.