ShoreRivers educator Rebecca Murphy (left), teachers and students investigate critters pulled from a seine net on the Choptank River.

ShoreRivers supporters are now able to donate to the organization’s education program and receive state tax credits in addition to their typical deduction. ShoreRivers has been awarded Community Investment Tax Credits (CITC) through the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development to incentivize donations that support environmental education programs in Eastern Shore public schools.

ShoreRivers is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that restores and protects Eastern Shore waterways through science-based restoration, education, and advocacy. With regional offices in Galena, Chestertown, and Easton, the ShoreRivers education department has partnered with public schools for over seven years to provide grant-funded science and environmental programs that support students and schools in meeting graduation requirements, cultivate the next generation of river stewards, and introduce students to environmental career opportunities.

ShoreRivers’ education programs include elementary and high school environmental and science curriculum, cost-free field experiences, and funds that support student-driven projects that reduce pollution and increase environmental awareness at their schools.

ShoreRivers Director of Education Suzanne Sullivan explains why the CITC program is so important, especially this year. “Our schools are facing immense challenges in facilitating at-home, remote learning. ShoreRivers is creating solutions to those challenges while supporting annual science and environmental learning. The CITC program comes at a critical time to allow ShoreRivers to focus on the programs, teachers, and students when they need it most.”

Since 1997, the CITC program has awarded Maryland tax credits through a competitive application process. The program provides benefits that include allowing nonprofits to enhance revenue, offer creative tax relief for business and individual donors, target impacts in communities, and increase visibility and support for nonprofit programs. The tremendous impact of the CITC program speaks for itself with over $3.1 million donated to various Maryland nonprofits in 2018 alone.

In order to qualify, gifts must be a minimum of $500 and the individual or business donor must file taxes in the state of Maryland. To make a donation today, visit ShoreRivers.org/donate and indicate “Education Tax Credits” in the comments box under gift preferences. Tax credits are limited and will be awarded on a first come, first served basis. If you’d like to learn more about the program, contact Rebekah Hock at rhock@shorerivers.org.

ShoreRivers protects and restores Eastern Shore waterways through science-based advocacy, restoration, and education.

shorerivers.org

In early September, ShoreRivers virtually hosted the Chesapeake Bay Commission’s quarterly meeting, which explored successes and challenges to meeting agricultural pollution reduction goals as outlined in the federally mandated Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL). The 21-member commission, comprised of state legislators from Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia as well as natural resource cabinet secretaries, acts as a catalyst for the coordination and leadership of state legislative and policy action to restore the Bay watershed.

As we near TMDL’s 2025 deadline,most jurisdictions in the Chesapeake Bay watershed are relying heavily on the agricultural sector to achieve the pollution reductions needed. Other sectors include urban stormwater, wastewater treatment plants, and septic systems. The commission heard from local experts about successful practices, the policies that support them and suggestions for policy changes in order to complete the final push.

In the state of Maryland, the Eastern Shore’s agriculture sector will produce approximately a third of the total nitrogen reductions required of the state;17% will come from the Western Shore’s agricultural sector; and the remaining half will come from the urban, septic, and wastewater sectors across the state.

The agriculture sector on the Eastern Shore will account for a third of the total nitrogen reductions required of the state.

This presents an opportunity for the Eastern Shore to benefit from substantial conservation funding, increased technical expertise, and innovative ideas and technologies to reduce pollution in order to meet the 2025 deadline. State and federal funding for conservation projects including wetland and stream restorations, drainage practices, and floodplain reconnections boost the local economy by investing in local businesses and farms, contractors, engineers, construction workers, nurseries, and horticulturalists.

The meeting’s first panel, representing perspectives from the science, conservation, and agribusiness fields, was comprised of Isabel Hardesty, deputy director for ShoreRivers; Jeff Sweeney from the Environmental Protection Agency; and Lindsay Thompson, director of Maryland Association of Soil Conservation Districts and Maryland Grain Producers Association.

“In order to meet our 2025 pollution reduction goals, we need to provide funding to fully staff Soil Conservation Districts,” said Hardesty. “We need more technical service and expertise to implement conservation practices. These county districts are understaffed and it is actively inhibiting our ability to reach Watershed Implementation Plan goals.” Thompson highlighted this need as well.

Tim Rosen, director of agriculture & restoration for ShoreRivers, led the Commission on a virtual tour of the history of conservation drainage practices around the Bay watershed, ending with a tour of projects completed with local farmers Kyle and Bobby Hutchison. Conservation drainage practices allow for better control of water in a farm field, resulting in less nutrient loss, erosion, and flooding, and greater crop yields.

“There is ample opportunity to implement conservation drainage practices across the Bay watershed and retain significant amounts of nutrients and sediments on farm fields instead of losing them to surface waters,” said Rosen.

To adequately meet pollution reduction goals, the Chesapeake Bay TMDL requires that all conservation practices be in place by 2025. In the remaining four years, both funding and implementation of practices must be prioritized in order to meet the deadline and achieve cleaner rivers and a healthier Bay.

ShoreRivers protects and restores Eastern Shore waterways through science-based advocacy, restoration, and education.

shorerivers.org

ShoreRivers partnered with University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science’s (UMCES) Horn Point Laboratory (HPL) to create a five-day professional development summer workshop for 14 teachers, ranging from third grade through high school, from across the Eastern Shore, the start of a yearlong experience aimed at growing environmental education.

Teachers and trainers met virtually for a five-day professional development summer workshop, the start of a yearlong experience aimed at growing environmental education.

Teachers and trainers met virtually during July and August. The Meaningful Watershed Environmental Experience (MWEE) Academy, developed by Horn Point Laboratory faculty, graduate students, and Outdoor Education Specialist, was supported by a grant from Chesapeake Bay Trust and funding from the Fullwood Foundation. This initial week-long teacher engagement experience was designed to lay the foundation for a year-long MWEE Academy supporting teachers integrating Chesapeake Bay-focused issue investigations within existing curriculum following the MWEE framework: outdoor learning where students learn to ask questions, discover the answers, and create solutions to local environmental issues.

Originally scheduled to be a hands-on-experiential, week-long event, Point Laboratory’s Environmental Education Specialist Bryan Gomes and faculty member Judy O’Neil collaborated with ShoreRiver’s Director of Education Suzanne Sullivan and ShoreRivers staff member Rebecca Murphy to produce a virtual workshop.  To foster familiarity and cohesiveness between the 14 participating teachers and the program’s leaders, a MWEE Academy Yearbook was created in which each participant shared the best piece of advice, favorite place to travel, and what “environmentalism” means to them.

Teachers participated in three days of introduction to the MWEE process to develop skills associated with Environmental Literacy and to learn how to use the Environmental Literacy Model (ELM) to develop inquiry-based investigative learning modules.

The final two days involved a more in depth-dive into current research on the Chesapeake Bay being carried out by UMCES’ Horn Point Laboratory researchers, starting with an overview of research and environmental science education and a virtual introduction to campus. Science presentations were shared by faculty and graduate students included: Microplastic pollution in the environment;sustainability in the Bay: the role of oyster aquaculture; using oysters for engineering breakwaters for erosion control,harmful algal blooms and water quality,investigating effects of low-oxygen zones on plankton, and the use of drone technology for assessing water quality. Presentations included pre-recorded demonstrations by researchers in the field, following CoVID-19 safety protocols, combined with live virtual presentations.

Christine Knauss, PhD candidate at HPL, shares with teachers the prevalence, challenges, and dangers of plastic pollution to marine animals, the environment, and humans.

The next step in this year-long MWEE Academy experience involves teachers working in collaboration with ShoreRivers and UMCES’ Horn Point Laboratory to construct their own environmental education modules designed specifically for their class grade level and school community environmental issues. The development of Meaningful Watershed Environmental Experiences for the Chesapeake Bay region will help schools satisfy the state of Maryland mandate for environmental literacy and compliance with environmental literacy (e-lit) standards. The Chesapeake Bay Trust grant also includes funding for the teachers to visit Horn Point Laboratory’s Environmental Education Center for hand-on experience and funds for the teachers to initiate an environmental community action activity at their school, to help share their newly gained knowledge on pressing environmental issues in the Chesapeake Bay that would be of concern for their local region.