Storm surge in Cambridge, MD. Photo by Logan Bilbrough.

Eastport and Pine Street Adaptation Report Cards

2023-11-15 — 2025-05-31

Community-based planning and action is essential to help Maryland’s coastal communities prepare for and adapt to climate change. However, every community is different, both in terms of the actions needed to adapt to climate change and their capacity to plan and implement those actions.

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oyster shells

Evaluating oyster substrate and hatchery production symposiums

2023-11-01 — 2025-12-31

Chesapeake Bay is home to one of the largest oyster restoration efforts in North America and supports a thriving oyster fishery. However, a shortage of fresh oyster shells threatens these activities. The overall objective of this work is to provide science-based guidance to the Maryland state legislature about the potential to use alternative substrates to oyster shells for oyster habitat and the viability of retrofitting existing structures for oyster restoration and fisheries.

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Chesapeake Bay Plastic Survey

2023-10-20 — 2025-01-01

Plastic pollution is a persistent and widespread feature of nearly all ecosystems today and poses a risk to both human and animal life. The extent of plastic pollution has not yet been quantified nor characterized for the Chesapeake Bay. Ocean Research Project, an Annapolis-based nonprofit, will fill this knowledge gap by spearheading the first-ever plastic survey of the Chesapeake Bay.

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Coastal bay

Maryland Coastal Bays Program CCMP Revision

2023-07-01 — 2025-06-01

The Maryland Coastal Bays Program (MCBP) is a grassroots organization that works to restore and protect Maryland’s five coastal bays. The bays are home to abundant wildlife and aquatic resources, including rare and endangered species, that support numerous commercial and recreational opportunities for the people that live, work, and play in and around these unique ecosystems. The essential work done by the MCBP is guided by their Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan (CCMP).

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Charles County Coastal Adaptation Report Card

2023-06-01 — 2024-12-31

Following the first-ever Maryland Coastal Adaptation Report Card in 2021, IAN is collaborating with Charles County to develop a county-level assessment of coastal adaptation. Through increased funding, planning, regulation, and restoration, Maryland has become a leader in coastal and climate adaptation. There is, however, a need to clarify adaptation goals to measure progress and hold the state accountable.

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Protect Local Waterways Website

2023-02-01 —

Protect Local Waterways supports and informs decision-making by local government leaders across the Chesapeake Bay watershed, showing elected officials how their actions to protect and restore the environment can support education, economic development, public health and safety, and infrastructure. It was developed in coordination with the Local Government Advisory Committee to the Chesapeake Executive Council and the Chesapeake Bay Program’s Local Leadership Workgroup.

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Headshot of Stacy wearing glasses and a blue, floral patterned scarf.

First Executive Director of the First Resilience Authority

2023-01-23 —

By making use of enabling legislation passed into law by the Maryland General Assembly, the Charles County Board of Commissioners introduced a local ordinance to establish a nonprofit organization as a government instrumentality capable of financing and contracting for climate change-related projects, both in the public and private sectors. This is the first such entity of its kind in the state of Maryland, and perhaps the entire country.

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View over the upper Patuxent River from the observation tower at Merkle Wildlife Sanctuary. This stretch was paddled during the last day of the 4-day Patuxent Sojourn paddle.

Advancing the Patuxent River Watershed

2022-07-01 — 2022-12-31

The Patuxent River is a major tributary of the Chesapeake Bay and its watershed is home to protected wetlands, bald eagles, valuable local history, and a growing population of residents. UMCES aims to produce a report card assessing social, economic, and environmental conditions in and around the Patuxent, with the goal of engaging members of the community to preserve and restore this essential Maryland river.

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Development of the Chesapeake Bay TMDL Indicator

2022-01-01 —

To facilitate watershed management, watershed models are often developed and used to assess the expected impact of scenarios of past and future management policies and practices and the impact of watershed conditions. However, the level of load reductions estimated using monitoring data often does not match with model predictions, leading to questions around the level of effort and investment being made in restoration activities and the reliability of the model.

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Rogue River Report Card Facilitation and Training

2021-10-25 — 2023-03-01

The Rogue River region faces challenges that require innovative solutions. Habitat loss, invasive species, stream-side development, and other factors put watershed health at risk. The Rogue River Watershed Council strives to engage people of all ages and levels of education while working with organizations and landowners to conserve and improve streams and the land that surrounds them. Their work is vital to the community, land, and wildlife in the region because we all depend on water.

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