Council Briefed On Success Of Montego Bay Community Pond

OCEAN CITY – Friends of Walkers Pond and the Montego Bay Civic Association came before the City Council last Monday night to thank them for its success and to provide an update on the status of the pond that has been undergoing a facelift of sorts for the past couple years.

Vera McCullough represented Friends of Walkers Pond and the Montego Bay Civic Association last week as she explained the success story of the pond that she and many others have been fighting to save.

“What we have here is a success story and it wouldn’t have happened without you,” she said to the City Council.

The eight-acre, non-tidal pond, connected to the Assawoman Bay through a pipe is located in Montego Bay. McCullough presented a variety of pictures, comparing the pond that is home to a variety of wildlife today and to the pond that housed virtually no wildlife several years ago.

According to McCullough, Walkers Pond, which is bordered by 85 homes, was dying, leading many members of Montego Bay to band together and form Friends of Walkers Pond.

After hearing from Woody Francis of the Army Corps of Engineers on what needed to be done to save the fledgling pond, Friends of Walkers Pond came to the City Council, requesting an outfall pipe to connect the pond to the Assawoman Bay and to hopefully save the pond and revitalize life within it. The town agreed to the request and an outfall pipe was put in.

McCullough explained that the community banded together with numerous volunteers coming out to replant the shoreline of the pond and to clean up the entire area. McCullough recruited the aid of Goody-Hill to bring in mass amounts of sand for the shoreline.

According to McCullough, the hard work paid off, resulting in the current Walkers Pond that is now home to a variety of wildlife ranging from crabs to monarch butterflies to wood ducks and mallards.

McCullough insisted that the Friends of Walkers Pond’s dream could not have been realized without the help of many town employees and all those who volunteered there time, effort, and money.

“It really is a beautiful place,” said Councilwoman Mary Knight, who worked alongside McCullough this spring to replant the shoreline.