BERLIN – Town officials approved a 10-year agreement with The Nature Conservancy this week to restore wetlands near the Pocomoke River.
At the request of The Nature Conservancy, Berlin officials approved a cooperative agreement to provide the organization with access to nearly 200 acres of land at its spray irrigation facility on Purnell Crossing Road. The Nature Conservancy will work to remove levees and restore wetlands in the area.
“I think we’re very pleased that this is possible,” said Berlin Mayor Gee Williams.
According to Mike Dryden, project manager and outreach coordinator for The Nature Conservancy, he first approached town leaders more than a year ago to seek their cooperation in a project to recreate area wetlands. Regionally, the organization has plans to use 4,000 acres of land near the Pocomoke River to reconnect flood plains. Over the years, Dryden said levees or berms were created near the river. When a storm occurs, water sits in the pockets created by them. What The Nature Conservancy wants to do is break up those levees so that water can bypass them and settle in the surrounding areas during a storm event.
Dryden said restoring the wetlands would reduce flooding, provide natural filters and create habitat.
Dryden said 19 levees would be breached on Berlin’s property to restore 182 acres of wetlands. Ideally, the work will take place this summer and be complete by fall.
Though the agreement providing The Nature Conservancy access to the land is for 10 years, Dryden said once the levees were breached they would stay that way indefinitely.
“Even after the 10-year agreement is up that restoration is there for a lifetime,” he said.
According to Jane Kreiter, the town’s director of public works, the project will have no impact on the town’s operations at the Purnell Crossing Road spray site. She expects the project to reduce erosion and ease the flow of water in the area.
“By breaking up the levees the water won’t have the same force,” she said.
According to Dryden, the Berlin project is part of the larger project aimed at restoring 4,000 acres of floodplain in the area of Porter’s Crossing. He said the effort was made possible through a partnership between The Nature Conservancy, U.S. Fish and Wildlife, Natural Resource Conservation Services and the Department of Natural Resources.
“The Nature Conservancy is using this project along with our other work to demonstrate that placing the right practices in the right place will result in greater water quality and habitat benefits, and cost less to achieve these results,” Dryden said.