The Anne Arundel County Watershed Protection and Restoration Program and the Chesapeake Bay Trust announced more than $1 million in funding Monday for local watershed groups and nonprofits, to help contribute to the county’s water quality goals.
The Capital Gazette reports,
Five projects will receive funding. The county provided the money for the projects, while the trust distributes and manages the grants.
Abbi Huntzinger, a senior program officer for the Chesapeake Bay Trust, said for the most part the projects included in the funding will be visible to large audiences of people, something that will help the community learn about environmental protection and restoration techniques.
“Sometimes people don’t understand what they can’t see,” Huntzinger said.
The South River Federation was awarded money for four projects, according to a media release from the trust.
A grant for $169,900 will help restore piped outfalls, reduce stream bank erosion and protect downstream habitat in the Bacon Ridge area of the South River watershed.
A grant for $377,100 will help implement a living shoreline project, and capture and filter stormwater runoff, in Twin Harbors community in Arnold, inside the Magothy River watershed, the release said. A similar project is planned for Turnbull Estates in the Edgewater area, inside the South River watershed, using a $86,665 grant.
A grant for $30,000 will help restore and enhance an existing stormwater pond at United Church of Christ in the South River Watershed.
The trust and county have also awarded a $355,549 grant to the Anne Arundel County Watershed Stewards Academy to help reduce stream bank erosion and capture and filter water in the Berrywood Community inside the Magothy River watershed.
According to the release, officials hope the new projects will build on the success of a recently-constructed rain garden at St. Anne’s School of Annapolis. The garden will help reduce runoff, create habitat, and teachers at the school can use it as a tool to teach environmental stewardship.
“This time of year, especially for Anne Arundel residents, many of us are thinking about getting on or in or near the water,” County Executive Steven Schuh said in a statement in the trust’s media release. “We are working hard at the county level, with our nonprofit partners and so many committed community leaders like these grantees, to meet our goals to restore our rivers and streams.”
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