Dear Deal Island Peninsula Partners,

Hope you're enjoying a great start to fall! We have a number of updates to share with you to wrap up our September activities. Please see below for the latest on the Deal Island Shoreline project, ditch maintenance activities, as well as some details (and great photos!) from the recent Wetlands and Wildlife Field Day, hosted by our CB-NERR partners. There will be additional groups of students from across Somerset County visiting the Deal Island Peninsula area this week as part of the new SURE Program, which you can also read about below. We have also included some FYIs about upcoming activities and developing opportunities that may be of interest. As always, please feel free to get in touch to share your thoughts, concerns, questions, or ideas. We look forward to your input in helping to move DIPP forward. 

Sincerely,
Liz Van Dolah

DIPP Coordinator

Updates on Ongoing DIPP Projects

Ditch Drainage Assessment in Oriole and Dames Quarter

AMT Engineeers have completed the majority of the field surveys, and at this point, are working on developing maps and their recommendations, which will be provided in a final report later this fall. The County anticipates receiving a first draft of this report within the next month, and a final draft soon thereafter. 

County Ditch Maintenance Updates

With the permit in hand, the County will now obtain property owner easements and hire a contractor to carry out the work. They are also securing assistance from Maryland State Highways for a safety crew on the project. 

The Haines Point Road permit application to maintain 1,620 feet of off-road ditches has been submitted and a tracking number has been assigned, though the County expects that permit approvals will take a while. The County also submitted a permit application to MDE in July to clean out 5,485 feet of off-road ditches on the northwest side of Champ Road, and plan to submit a second permit application to clean out numerous ditches on the southwest side of Champ Road. No details are available yet on the linear feet that this latter project will cover.

Chesapeake Bay-National Estuarine Research Reserve (CBNERR-MD) at Monie Bay Update

For 26 years, Wetlands and Wildlife Field Day has been immersing every fourth-grade student of Somerset County in the wonders of the local marshes, both for their valuable contributions to the cultural heritage of local watermen and the local communities, and as important ecosystems that support the wildlife and places we love. Designed to coincide with National Estuaries Week which, since 1988, celebrates the many ways we benefit from healthy, thriving, coastal ecosystems, the event included living classroom demonstrations about fish, waterfowl, mammals, reptiles and amphibians, wetland plants, and stewardship. Combined, these stations explore the richness and value of our coastal communities, and provide meaningful opportunities for outdoor learning and environmental education for Somerset County's fourth graders.

In addition to Wetlands and Wildlife Field Day, CBNERR has also initiated a new educational program called Shoring Up Resiliency through Education (SURE), a program that will be hosted each year on the Deal Island Peninsula to give more than 600 fifth, seventh, and ninth graders from around Somerset County a chance to better understand how flooding, erosion, and other intensifying hazards could impact their cultural heritage, coastal economies, and places important to them. Through storytelling, students learn about these impacts directly from local farmers, watermen, and scientists. They also learn about techniques that could be used to "shore up" their communities. These include strategies like the living shoreline project that will be constructed at the end of Crowell Rd. on Deal Island. You can read more about Wetlands and Wildlife Field Day and SURE here. 

Photo: Students who participated in Wetlands and Wildlife Field Day in 2017 and SURE in 2018 raised money to support the Deal Island Shoreline Project at this year's Skipjack Races. (Courtesy of Dawn Whitelock)

Introducing the Lower Eastern Shore

Climate Action Network

As part of their Resilient Coasts Program, The Nature Conservancy's Maryland-DC Chapter has initiated the Lower Eastern Shore Climate Adaptation Network (LESCAN) in an effort to improve adaptation support for addressing sea-level rise and other coastal challenges on the Lower Eastern Shore. The goal of LESCAN is to build partnerships between local and regional actors working in Wicomico, Somerset, and Worcester Counties in order to identify shared needs and develop feasible solutions to address local climate change concerns. 

LESCAN hosted its second meeting on September 18th at the Tri-County Council Offices in Salisbury. Several members from DIPP's leadership team attended to help represent the Deal Island Peninsula area and other rural coastal areas where DIPP has engaged. The meeting also included representatives from a number of Lower Eastern Shore county and municipal governments, Maryland state agencies, Maryland Sea Grant, the Nature Conservancy and other land trusts, and university researchers. Discussions were geared towards beginning to identify some shared needs and goals and next steps.

DIPP plans to stay engaged with LESCAN and will share relevant information with DIPP partners as it becomes available. 

Upcoming Activities of Interest 

Somerset County Comprehensive Plan Update to Begin Soon

The County will begin the process of updating their Comprehensive Plan next year, which will be guided by a hired consultant (to be determined). Once a consultant is in place, the County plans to host numerous public input sessions to guide the updating process. DIPP will have an opportunity to contribute to public input during that time, and the County is looking forward to engaging with partners for their feedback. More information will be available soon! 

DIPP Strategic Planning Initiatives

The DIPP Leadership Team will be meeting on October 17th to begin developing an initial draft strategic plan to guide DIPP's future activities. This meeting is a rescheduled meeting of one originally planned for mid-September that was delayed. We will share our initial strategic planning ideas and seek broader input from the partnership on the draft planning document in the near future. 

View over Little Deal Island, photo credit: Emily Nauman, Integration and Application Network, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (ian.umces.edu/imagelibrary/)