Contractors install a water control structure to manage the water table in a Caroline County farm field as part of a recently completed conservation drainage project. ShoreRivers is grateful to have been awarded funding through the State of Maryland’s Clean Water Commerce Account Program to implement six high-impact restoration projects across the Eastern Shore.
ShoreRivers is proud to announce that it has received the largest award in the organization’s history —more than $9 million in grant funding for six high-impact restoration projects across the Eastern Shore — through the State of Maryland’s Clean Water Commerce Account Program, administered by the Maryland Department of the Environment.
Each of the projects selected was designed to add more best management practices to our landscape and to generate large reductions in the amount of nitrogen pollution entering our waterways every year. One of these clean water projects will restore 4,143 feet of stream and 9 acres of associated floodplain wetlands in Queen Anne’s County on an active farm that drains directly into the tidal waters of the Wye River/Eastern Bay. The other five projects focused on drainage water management — the process of managing and treating water discharges from subsurface agricultural drainage systems to achieve water quality and agronomic goals — across the Eastern Shore.
“ShoreRivers works hard to bring in grant funding that is then directly applied to the benefit of our communities,” said Tim Rosen, ShoreRivers’ Director of Agriculture & Restoration. “With projects like these we can help our local farmers achieve production and conservation goals while also accelerating our efforts to clean up our waterways.”
ShoreRivers’ Director of Agriculture & Restoration, Tim Rosen, makes adjustments to a water control structure installed as part of a conservation drainage project on a Talbot County farm field. ShoreRivers is grateful to have been awarded funding through the State of Maryland’s Clean Water Commerce Account Program to implement six high-impact restoration projects across the Eastern Shore.
The process of securing this funding actually began two years ago, when ShoreRivers first applied for project funding made available by the passage of the Clean Water Commerce Act of 2021. This act was passed with the intention of accelerating the Chesapeake Bay cleanup effort by purchasing nitrogen outcomes — at the lowest possible price point — with a focus on projects from the agricultural sector and in communities disproportionately burdened by environmental harm and risks. Two of ShoreRivers’ projects were the only ones that scored a perfect 100 when the applications were reviewed. However, a discrepancy in the act’s implementation at the agency level led to the need for additional legislation during the most recent session of the Maryland General Assembly. As one of the organization’s leadership bills earlier this year, ShoreRivers’ Riverkeepers worked collaboratively with members of its Agriculture & Restoration department, plus other environmental advocates and partners, to ensure the act — a critical funding mechanism to help the state achieve its clean water goals — is executed in ways that support its original intent.
“It was a true cross-departmental, cross-sector, and cross-industry effort to pass new legislation earlier this year,” said Matt Pluta, ShoreRivers’ Choptank Riverkeeper and the Director of its Riverkeeper Programs. “We’re proud of that success and the impacts that these projects can now have, and we’re grateful to have had bipartisan support from our local delegation to make it happen. When we all work together, it’s our land and waterways that win.”
ShoreRivers has an excellent track record of completing restoration projects, from wetlands and streams on agricultural land to smaller-scale projects for homeowners and neighborhoods. Clear, strong partnerships and dedicated staff help ensure that projects are completed with integrity and that the impact of these projects is communicated and amplified through programming. To learn more about our work to support thriving rivers cherished by all Eastern Shore communities, please visit shorerivers.org.