The health of the water is a direct condition of the way that the land draining to it has been used. In the case of the South River, and other rivers throughout the region, land clearing, wetland destruction, and hardening the surface of the landscape has created a situation in which high volumes and velocities of water runoff the land and carry pollutants to the River each time that it rains. As result, most of our stream systems are broken, shedding soil from their eroding banks with every rain event, and delivering it to tidewater. Their associated wetlands have been left high and dry, having been ditched or drained as local water tables have dropped. New restoration methods attempt to re-integrate these streams to their wetlands, store water on the landscape, and heal the wellsprings of our creeks.

Current Projects:

• Church Creek Headwaters Restoration - There are four primary tributaries feeding Church Creek, one of the most highly degraded sub-watersheds on the South River.  One of them, the Wilelinor Stream Valley (aka “Keith’s Branch”) was restored in early 2005 by Anne Arundel County and the Maryland State Highway Administration using sand seepage stream and wetland restoration techniques (approximate cost $850,000).  The goal of this larger restoration effort is to take the necessary steps to repair the other tributaries to Church Creek, using similar restoration methods, to create a model sub-watershed restoration, and begin addressing major stormwater inputs into the South River. The Church Creek Headwaters Restoration Project is located just north of Route 665 (Aris T. Allen Boulevard) in Annapolis on a parcel that includes several acres of floodplain and steep slopes. The site represents the confluence of two major non-tidal tributaries to Church Creek, the most highly urbanized subwatershed of the South River. Currently, these tributaries are incised into a floodplain composed of three to four feet of legacy sediments that are exported to tidewater under storm flows. This purpose of this project is to create several acres of emergent wetland by raising the invert of the existing channel in multiple locations and inundating the floodplain with up to 36” of water.

• Davidsonville Wildlife Sanctuary Restoration - Currently, the site consists largely of a hyper-eutrophic, denuded farm pond where any vegetative growth is either quickly trampled or consumed by the rehabilitating animals in the area.   The goal of this project is to both enhance the area that will continue to be used by the Sanctuary to house the animals as well as create a series of post-treatment wetlands to clean up the water leaving the site before it gets to Beard’s Creek.
  
  The goal is to slow the movement of storm flows through the pond (and restore baseflow) by setting a series of grade controls through its length, re-hydrate the soils around the existing pond by raising the invert of its outfall, and create a series of terraced wetlands that will trap sediment and process nutrients before water leaves the property.  These final terraced wetlands will be fenced off from the rest of the enclosure to allow vegetative growth and to minimize the fouling of water quality by wildlife.
  
  In addition, our hope is that, working with the landowner, we can convert what is a very public and obvious source of pollution to the river into a beautiful, functional best management practice that will contribute cool, clean baseflow to Beard’s Creek.

Past Projects:

• Wilelinor Stream Valley Restoration
• Edgewater Elementary Sand Seepage Stream & Wetland Project