SNOW HILL — Worcester County officials are encouraging interested watershed residents and stakeholders to attend a Watershed Implementation Plan meeting on Oct. 5, from 7-8:30 p.m. in the third floor training room in the Worcester County Government Center in Snow Hill.
The Worcester County Government, in cooperation with the Maryland Department of Environment (MDE), Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR), Worcester County Soil Conservation District, The Nature Conservancy, the towns of Snow Hill, and Pocomoke, is developing a watershed implementation plan (WIP) for the Chesapeake Bay Watershed portion of Worcester County. The purpose of this study is to identify best management practices that will reduce the amount of nutrients and sediment entering the Chesapeake Bay.
Participants will have an opportunity to learn more about the WIP process currently underway.
Berlin Stormwater Meetings Announced
BERLIN — The University of Maryland Environmental Finance Center is holding a series of public outreach meetings in Berlin to discuss stormwater management and the pilot stormwater study being conducted for the town by the university.
The purpose of the meetings include allowing residents to talk with the University of Maryland project team about the stormwater feasibility study and allow them to learn more about the water quality impacts of stormwater runoff. Berlin residents will also be able to share with the university team how stormwater impacts their neighborhoods.
The meetings are scheduled according to voter districts within the town of Berlin. The first meeting is scheduled for next Monday, Oct. 5 for residents of Berlin Election District 1 from 6-7:30 p.m. in the Mayor and Council Chambers in Town Hall. Additional announcements will be made and notices will be hand-delivered to residents of each other district prior to future meetings.
Museum To Celebrate
SALISBURY — When the American Association of Museums (AAM) celebrates the accreditation of the Ward Museum with a ceremony next week, Salisbury will become the only community of its size in the country with a fully accredited zoo and museum.
Accreditation signifies these institutions have met and exceeded the highest standards of their fields and are among the best institutions in the country. Salisbury University’s Ward Museum was awarded its accreditation by the American Association of Museums in August and is celebrating with free admission through Sunday, October 9. An accreditation celebration will be held Friday, October 7 during the 14th annual Chesapeake Wildfowl Expo.
The Salisbury Zoological Park has been a proud member of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) and accredited since 1976. AZA accreditation ensures that the animals you see at accredited zoos and aquariums receive excellent care every day.
“What an incredible achievement for our city,” said Mayor Jim Ireton, Jr. this week. “These important milestones for two very vital community assets clearly set Salisbury apart. The Salisbury Zoo and the Ward Museum are two of the many reasons people come to live, work and play in our city.”
Oyster Recovery Project Slated
SALISBURY — Perdue associates and their families are teaming up with residents along the Nanticoke River, the Oyster Recovery Partnership (ORP), the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and the Nanticoke Watershed Alliance this weekend on the third annual Marylanders Grow Oysters program.
Tomorrow, Oct. 1, volunteers will fill and deploy over 200 cages of spats, or roughly 175,000 young oysters, which the Nanticoke families will foster for the next nine months. The cages will be suspended from privately owned piers along the lower portion of the Nanticoke River until next summer, when they will be planted in a local Nanticoke River sanctuary.
The Oyster Recovery Partnership will also transport truckloads of oyster shells to Nanticoke where volunteers will fill more than 400 nylon bags with empty shells. The bags are needed for oyster hatchery production and will help provide a home for about one million oysters. Young larvae will attach themselves to the clean recycled shells at the hatchery where they are produced.
Perdue has been working hand-in-hand with the Oyster Recovery Partnership since 2009. The Oyster Recovery Partnership has a 15-year history of successfully bringing together state and federal government agencies, scientists, watermen and conservation organizations toward the common goal of oyster restoration. Since 2000, the Oyster Recovery Partnership has planted over 3 billion oysters on 1,500 acres and rehabilitated more than 70 oyster reefs throughout Maryland’s portion of the Chesapeake Bay.
