ShoreRivers and Washington College Center for Environment and Society (CES) will co-host the Upper Shore Youth Environmental Action Summit on Saturday, March 19, 2022, at the Gibson Center for the Arts on Washington College’s campus in Chestertown. The Upper Shore Youth Environmental Action Summit is a student-centric, conference-style experience celebrating environmental action led by local youth in middle and high school. Students interested in leadership, problem solving, and environmental activism are encouraged to apply now to become a Summit Student Leader.  This event is inspired by the annual LowerShore Youth Environmental Action Summit co-hosted by the Ward Museum and Wicomico Environmental Trust.

Summit highlights will include networking with professionals across environmental fields, access to volunteer and internship opportunities, and engaging sessions and resources to inspire youth to take environmental action into their own hands. Student registration to attend the summit will open this winter at uppershoresummit.weebly.com.

The Upper Shore Summit is seeking middle and high school students to serve as Student Leaders and play a direct role in planning the interactive, inspiring event. A few key roles available for student leaders include identifying summit themes, keynote, and session speakers, and designing press and social media campaigns. Student leaders will meet virtually throughout the winter with ShoreRivers and Washington College CES staff. This experience is an excellent addition to college resumes or job applications.

Student leaders must apply by October 31, 2021, by visiting uppershoresummit.weebly.com/students and clicking apply to become a student leader. Applications are open to middle and high school students in public, private, and home school in Talbot, Queen Anne’s, Caroline, Kent, and Cecil Counties.

The Upper Shore Youth Environmental Action Summit is also seeking event sponsors who want to support local youth in environmental action. Please contact ShoreRivers Director of Education Suzanne Sullivan at ssullivan@shorerivers.org to learn more about sponsorship. Students participating in the summit will be expected to follow COVID protocols and CDC guidelines as directed by Washington College.

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

shorerivers.org

This summer, ShoreRivers monitored bacteria levels at 32 sites around the region, providing a critical public health service for communities and identifying pollution hotspots for future restoration efforts. A team of citizen scientists called “SwimTesters” volunteered their time to test these sites weekly from Memorial Day through Labor Day, and generous site sponsors covered a portion of the sampling costs.

SwimTesters monitor for enterococci bacteria at popular public access locations, marinas, yacht clubs, and town piers. The program follows EPA’s standard protocols for collecting and analyzing samples and uses a pass/fail system to determine if bacteria levels are safe or unsafe for swimming. View the results at theswimguide.org and get updates during swim season by following #SwimmableShoreRivers or your local Riverkeeper’s page on social media. By collecting, analyzing, and distributing data on bacteria levels in a river, ShoreRivers aims to provide the public with the information needed to make educated decisions about contact with the water.

The results from the 2021 SwimTester season show that bacteria levels vary based on location, land use, and weather; making systematic, scientific analysis vital. Major rain events are almost always connected to spikes in bacteria levels. Of the 32 sites monitored by ShoreRiversSwimTesters this year, seven sites failed to meet EPA’s threshold for safe water contact more than 50% of the time. These sites are located on the Choptank River: Crouse Park in Denton and Willis Street Beach in Cambridge; in Eastern Bay: Broad Cove near Claiborne; and on the Chester River: Millington Waterfront Park, Morgan Creek Landing, and Centreville Wharf.

Multiple years of consistent bacteria monitoring have highlighted those sites that frequently show elevated levels of bacteria, potentially indicating a chronic source of bacteria pollution. Potential chronic sources of bacteria include failing septic systems, overflows or leaks from wastewater treatment plants, waste from animal farms, or manure fertilizer. Acute sources of bacteria pollution include overflows from wastewater treatment plants and pet or wild animal waste.

ShoreRivers will next focus on discovering the source of bacteria pollution at sites that fail more than 50% of their tests in a season. Riverkeepers are currently exploring partnerships and innovative technologies to help identify specific sources of bacteria pollution, including DNA tracking, which would identify a specific animal group(human, bovine, avian, canine, etc.).

For the 2022 bacteria monitoring season, ShoreRivers still needs sponsors for 15 sites. Site sponsorship allows ShoreRivers to redirect general funds toward source tracking programs for impaired areas and to activate new sites from the waitlist. The cost to sponsor a site is $40 per week or $640 for an entire season is $640. Anyone can be a sponsor—individuals, families, organizations, or communities. The more bacterial data gathered on the Sassafras, Chester, Miles, Wye, and Choptank Rivers, the Bayside Creeks, and Eastern Bay, the clearer ShoreRivers’ path will be to targeted restoration efforts in our local watersheds.

Clean water is an essential right for everyone, and everyone deserves to know if the water is safe for them and their families to access. For more information, visit shorerivers.org/swim or email your local Riverkeeper to become a site sponsor today!

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

shorerivers.org

The Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) announced it would take significant steps to hold Valley Proteins accountable for its water pollution, thanks in large part to the work of ShoreRivers and partners. The industrial poultry rendering plant in Linkwood, on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, has been illegally discharging polluted water into the Transquaking River and operating on an outdated permit for 15 years.

In April, ShoreRivers and Dorchester Citizens for Planned Growth (jointly represented by Chesapeake Legal Alliance) and Chesapeake Bay Foundation filed a notice of intent to bring a lawsuit against Valley Proteins for violating its wastewater discharge permit. This action, along with years of advocacy by local environmental groups, spurred MDE to take significant steps this month to hold the plant accountable.

MDE recently announced it would take action to update the plant’s discharge permit, impose penalties for pollution violations, and deny state funding for upgraded technology. Specifically, these actions have been instituted: MDEissued a new draft wastewater discharge permit, which will replace the outdated permit and hold the plant to higher and more modern standards; following the non-profits’ notice of intent to sue, MDE has agreed to impose penalties and remedial actions on Valley Proteins for its pollution violations; and MDE has denied funding previously granted from the taxpayer-funded Bay Restoration Fund to pay for technology upgrades and expanded capacity.

Updated Discharge Permit

Valley Proteins uses a chemical process to render chicken carcasses into protein for animal feed, which it then sells. The plant’s National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit expired in 2006, but the state has enabled the company to continue to operate by administratively extending the permit for 15 years. These “zombie permits” endanger the health of waterways by allowing industrial sources to continue to operate on outdated technology and under outdated pollution limits.

On September 15, MDE issued a new draft permit. “We will be working diligently through the public process to ensure the new discharge permit adequately protects water quality and that checks are in place to prevent future violations from occurring,” says ShoreRiversChoptankRiverkeeper Matt Pluta. “We can do better. We fully expect the State to address their backlog of ‘zombie permits’ and will work this legislative session to prohibit administratively extending permits.”

Penalties for Illegal Discharges

MDE has committed to imposing penalties for the discharge violations Valley Proteins incurred over the years. ShoreRivers will continue to work with MDE to ensure the penalties and remedial actions match the magnitude of the impacts to local water quality. ShoreRivers will also advocate for technical upgrades to the plant and restoration solutions in order to reduce pollution entering local waterways.

In years when records have been available, Valley Proteins has exceeded pollution limits when releasing wastewater into the Transquaking River. Reported violations show the plant discharging above the legal, or “safe,” limit for nitrogen, phosphorus, ammonia, chlorine, and fecal coliform. These nutrients, chemicals, and bacteria cause harmful algal blooms, degrade habitat, and threaten the safety of people swimming or fishing in the river. Valley Proteins must be held accountable for its degradation of this public resource.

Denying Bay Restoration Funds

In the 2021 Legislative Session, the State authorized $7.6 million to Valley Proteins from the Bay Restoration Fund to cover a portion of the cost of a $15-million-dollar upgrade to reduce pollution.

The Bay Restoration Fund is comprised of tax-payer money and is intended to solve wastewater issues that have a direct impact to the local communities who pay into the fund. Every year, the State makes funding awards by reviewing a long list of applicants; it has previously prioritized funding upgrades to public wastewater treatment plants. Many applicants are small, rural towns that don’t have the means to fund their own technology upgrades.

“To reward a facility that has violated its permit for years, by giving them tax-payer money to solve the problem sets a bad precedent for other polluting industries,” says Pluta. In a statement from MDE Secretary Ben Grumbles earlier this month, the State announced it would no longer grant Valley Proteins the funding they requested.

These three issues mark significant achievements in ShoreRivers’ advocacy work to safeguard local rivers from industrial polluters. Working closely with Chesapeake Legal Alliance, ShoreRiversand their partners will work through the public process for Valley Proteins’ new discharge permit to ensure it’s as protective of water quality as possible. ShoreRivers will also continue to push the State to eliminate the backlog of expired permits and end the practice of administratively extending outdated permits in the state of Maryland.

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

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In early September, ShoreRivers hosted field visits for the Chesapeake Bay Commission’s quarterly meeting, showcasing recent projects implemented on the upper Eastern Shore that reduce pollution from urban and agricultural runoff.

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. This was a vital opportunity to show elected officials and cabinet secretaries how ShoreRivers works with Eastern Shore communities for clean and healthy rivers, and how representatives from other states can implement these innovative and proven strategies in their regions.

Commission members met with Easton representatives to discuss how the rural town is meeting its municipal stormwater permit requirements and addressing flooding in the town through stream restoration projects. They discussed the town’s successful effort to increase urban tree canopy to improve water quality, mitigate flooding, provide cooling to counteract the urban “heat island effect,” and increase property values.

The Commission then visited Hutchison Brothers Farm to view conservation drainage practices that are helping build a resilient farming future by treating farm runoff and reducing flooding in their fields to mutually benefit the Choptank River and the farming operation.

And finally, Commission members toured Fair Hill Farm in Chestertown, a modern organic dairy farm owned and operated by the Fry family, that exemplifies high quality agricultural products, land and water stewardship, and civic engagement.

The projects chosen highlighted cost-effective strategies to reduce pollution—strategies with important additional benefits such as mitigating flooding, improving towns, engaging community members, and increasing agricultural productivity.

These are just a few examples of the many ways ShoreRivers works to improve the health of local waterways by proactively addressing pressing issues such as climate change, agricultural productivity, and community health.

ShoreRivers’ restoration projects are possible because of state and federal funding entities, including Maryland Department of Natural Resources Chesapeake and Atlantic Coastal Bays Trust Fund, Chesapeake Bay Trust, United States Department of Agriculture, and National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Chesapeake Bay Stewardship Fund. ShoreRivers encourages constituents to ensure that representatives know to prioritize a clean Chesapeake Bay by supporting these funds in the future.

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

shorerivers.org

ShoreRivers is a leader in designing, funding, and managing major agricultural restoration projects to reduce the sediments and nutrients that pollute our waterways. The Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) recently awarded ShoreRivers $1.95 million to implement three such projects, all in the Chester River watershed.

Targeting high nutrient-export agricultural subwatersheds in areas prioritized for funding through the DNR Chesapeake and Atlantic Coastal Bays Trust Fund has proven a winning strategy for making rapid and significant progress toward meeting pollution reduction goals and habitat creation goals. ShoreRivers has continued to promote a balance between a prosperous agricultural industry on the Delmarva Peninsula and healthy, thriving waterways and wetlands. Through strong outreach, involvement in science-based agronomy and ecology research efforts, and an emphasis on innovation, ShoreRiversstrives to maintain an excellent reputation with landowners and farmers throughout the region.

The first farm project will address a severe gully erosion and degraded stream draining predominantly agricultural land in the Southeast Creek watershed in Queen Anne’s County. The project includes installing a step pool system and series of earthen berms in the farm field to allow rainwater to slowly infiltrate before reaching the incised gully, and restoring 250 linear feet of eroding stream bank to a more natural habitat.

The second farm project, also in the Southeast Creek watershed, will convert 6.9 acres of farm field and 1,325 linear feet of an active, incised agricultural drainage ditch to a large, natural wetland complex that features a series of berms and ponding areas and addresses a failed, eroded grassed waterway.

For the third farm project, ShoreRivers will construct a stream and wetland complex stretching nearly 6,000 linear feet and encompassing over 15 acres in the headwaters of Morgan Creek in Kent County. This restoration complex will receive and treat runoff from 482 acres of surrounding row crop agriculture. The project will add ecological uplift to the stream segment; add retention, storage, and resiliency to protect downstream forested stream habitat; provide opportunity for nutrient processing through natural stream and wetland systems; and include a 6.5-acre buffer strip of warm season grass and shrub habitat to connect two existing quail habitat areas.

In the past decade, ShoreRivers has installed 186 restoration projects in the mid to upper Eastern Shore, reducing more than 144,000 pounds of nitrogen, 17,000 pounds of phosphorus, and 5,400 tons of sediments from polluting the waterways each year.

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

shorerivers.org

Celebrate the end of summer with the Miles-Wye Riverkeeper and the Wye River Band at the Shaw Bay Raft-Up Concerton Saturday, September 11from 4:00-6:00 p.m. Begun decades ago by the Eastport Oyster Boys to raise awareness for clean water efforts, this annual on-the-water party will feature music by the Wye River Band this year while the “Boys” take a break. Kevin Brooks of the Eastport Oyster Boys thanks the Wye River Bandfor “stepping up to the mic to entertain and keep the party rockin’ on!”

This annual benefit concert is a must for cruisers of all persuasions. Bring your dinghy, paddle board, kayak, sailboat, or power boat, and join the floating raft party behind the Wye River Band concert pontoon. This free concert will be held in Shaw Bay, near the mouth of the Wye River. See shorerivers.org/events for a map of nearby locations to launch your vessel.

Donations are kindly accepted, as all proceeds help promote the clean water initiatives of ShoreRivers on the Miles and Wye rivers. Please use our pumpout boat services while on the river to help with these efforts.

Since May 2016, the ShoreRiverspumpout boat has pumped over 85,000 gallons of waste from boaters on the Miles and Wye Rivers. The pumpout boat is funded by the Department of Natural Resources and operates in partnership with the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St. Michaels, MD. The vesseloperates Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, as well as holidays through late October. Pumpouts may be scheduled on VHF Channel 9 or by calling Captain Jim at 410.829.4352 or emailing POBcaptainjim@gmail.com.

ShoreRivers is a nonprofit organization dedicated to restoring Eastern Shore waterways through science-based advocacy, restoration, and education. Our local waterways are polluted by excess nutrients and sediment that run off of urban, suburban, agricultural, and commercial land. ShoreRivers is dedicated to implementing real solutions through programs and projects to improve the health of these waterways. To learn more, please visit shorerivers.org.

For updates about the Shaw Bay Concert, visit the ShoreRivers and Miles-Wye Riverkeeper Facebook pages. Or contact Rebekah Hock at rhock@shorerivers.org or 443.385.0511 ext. 206.

Farmers in the Choptank River watershed can receive incentive payments to implement conservation practices on their property through the Envision the Choptank program with support from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. Envision the Choptank is a partnership that works to find collaborative solutions to restore fishable, swimmable waters to the Choptank River while working to meet the needs of local communities.

So far, Envision the Choptank has worked with farmers and landowners to install 51 acres of grass buffer, 20 acres of forest buffer, and 7 acres of wetland. These projects make up 34% the program’s goal for total practice installation, meaning there is still funding available for farmers and landowners who are interested in conservation work.

One participating farmer, Fred Pomeroy, tried for three years to install a combination wetland and field buffer project on his farm. “Envision the Choptank’s supplemental financing made the difference. The project is now complete and represents an environmental and aesthetic improvement to my family farm.” The wetland restoration program offers $3,000 per acre to offset landowner costs.

Ben Tull, a farmer in Dorchester County, was able to use the Envision the Choptank grass buffer program to easily enroll over 20 acres on his farm. “The application was very simple with a lot of flexibility. It was very accommodating to my vision of how buffers would work into our farming practices and benefit the health of the farm and the environment. Envision the Choptank afforded us the opportunity to take some less productive acres out of grain production and put them to other use without any long-term commitment on our part.” The grass buffer program offers $900-$1300 per acre depending on the grass mix planted.

In addition to a wetland and grass buffer program, Envision the Choptank offers a tree buffer program that covers full implementation cost plus a bonus of $1,000 per acre installed. Trees can be planted near streams, along ditches, or in otherwise inoperable areas of an agricultural field. Caroline County farmer Adam Chaffinch credits the program with helping him to realize his farm’s overall objectives. “We were excited to learn of the tree buffer program as the area in question didn’t meet all the requirements for other programs. Envision the Choptank helped us recognize our vision to control erosion and protect wildlife on our farm while also contributing to the important effort of protecting our local waterways.”

If you have a resource concern on your property, an unproductive area, or are just interested in farm-friendly conservation practices, consider participating in Envision the Choptank’s programs. To be eligible, the farm property must be located in the Choptank River watershed; areas within the Choptank River watershed include portions of Dorchester, Caroline, Talbot, and Queen Anne’s Counties, Maryland, and Kent County, Delaware. For more information, contact Whitley Gray at wgray@shorerivers.org or 443.385.0511 ext. 202.

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

shorerivers.org

Round one of oyster reef ball builds is on the books for ShoreRivers and the Coastal Conservation Association (CCA) Maryland. Volunteers of all ages came out in July to spend the morning constructing concrete reef balls and then helped unveil them the next day. These reef balls provide essential habitat for oysters and other animals in our waterways. The reef balls will be placed in the Choptank River beneath the Bill Burton Fishing Pier.

Photo: Volunteers of all ages are welcome to help on reef ball build days. Oysters attach themselves to the concrete and form oyster reefs that provide underwater habitat. Photo credit: Coastal Conservation Association of Maryland

If you missed the first build, don’t worry—there’s another one just around the corner. The next build will be August 7 and August 8 at Easton Point Marina (975 Port Street, Easton) from 9am-12 noon. Each build is a two-morning event. Volunteers are welcome to come for one or both days of the build, but we need lots of volunteers for the first morning. Morning one is spent constructing the reef ball mold and filling it with concrete while morning two is when the balls are unmolded and unveiled (about an hour needed).

There is a job for all ages! If you’d like to contribute to this effort to improve oyster habitat, sign up to volunteer or get more information from ShoreRivers’ Community Engagement Coordinator Amy Narimatsu, at anarimatsu@shorerivers.org or call 410.810.7556 ext 253.

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

shorerivers.org

Two powerful voices in the environmental movement received acclaim in May.

On May 7, W. R. “Nick” Carter, III became the second recipient of the ShoreRivers Award for Environmental Stewardship during the organization’s State of the Rivers presentation. The award recognizes an individual or entity in the Chesapeake Bay watershed for their transformational accomplishments as a steward of the environment.

On May 11, Jeff Horstman, a Wye River resident and former executive director of ShoreRivers, was named an Ambassador of the Chesapeake Bay by Governor Hogan. Maryland Secretary of Natural Resources Jeannie Haddaway-Riccio and Maryland Secretary of the Environment Ben Grumbles presented the award.

Ann Swanson, executive director of the Chesapeake Bay Commission for the last 33 years, was tapped to speak on both occasions. Swanson was the first recipient of the ShoreRivers Award for Environmental Stewardship and considers it “one of the greatest recognitions of my life.” She went on to say that it was a special honor for her to present the award to her friend Nick and to sing his praises. “Nick is brilliant. He is a synthesizer—a complex thinker. His friends and colleagues liken him to E.O. Wilson; some even refer to him as the David Attenborough of the Chesapeake.”

After 35 years of service to Maryland Department of Natural Resources, Carter retired in 2000, but it can hardly be said his work came to an end. From his beloved “natural wonderland” on the Choptank River or his peerless jonboat, Swanson says, “Nick can take disparate pieces of information—biology, ecology, hydrology, sociology, history, and even politics—and weave them together into an understanding that becomes new knowledge, not just regurgitated facts.” In his distinctive Norfolk, Virginia drawl, “Nick can talk to anyone—including any age, education level, or political persuasion. He believes that everyone has an entry point [to environmentalism], you just need to find it.”

Jeff Horstman’s entry point to Eastern Shore conservation work at a professional level appeared nearly a decade ago when Tim Junkin invited him to join the Midshore Riverkeeper Conservancy’s board. Horstman went on to serve as the organization’s Miles-Wye Riverkeeper, deputy director, and eventually succeeded Junkin as executive director. His vision expanded beyond the Wye River he had cherished since youth. Swanson remembers first working with Horstman around 2014 and seeing how well he “understood that each river of the Eastern Shore had its own cultural and ecological identity that should never be erased or ignored.”

When ShoreRivers was formed in 2017 by merging Midshore Riverkeeper Conservancy, Chester River Association, and Sassafras River Association, it was Horstman’s leadership as executive director that established the organization as a strong, united voice for the region’s rivers. “He simply was the right person at the right time,” Swanson reiterates. “He had the right disposition; he never commanded, he just listened.  And his deep connection to place—both the people and the resource—was apparent.”

In a surprise ceremony via Zoom, Horstman was presented the title Ambassador of the Chesapeake by Secretaries Haddaway-Riccio and Grumbles on behalf of Governor Larry Hogan and the State of Maryland. His award recognized “leadership within many environmental organizations including ShoreRivers, mentorship of the next generation of stewards, and inspiration to others to further the health of the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries.”

ShoreRivers is extremely grateful for the leadership and vision of these two local champions. To watch the presentation of Carter’s award and to learn more about the mission of ShoreRivers, visit www.shorerivers.org/2021-sotr-qa.

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

shorerivers.org