Hello DIPP Stakeholders,

It’s been a while! We are long overdue in providing you with a few updates on Deal Island Peninsula Project activities. See below for the latest on the Deal Island shoreline work and the ditch assessments and improvement work in Dames Quarter and Oriole. You’ll also find below a summary of recent activities hosted through the “Engaging Faith Communities for Coastal Resilience” project, which some of you have been involved with over the last year. In addition, there are a few links to other items that may be of interest.

While we haven’t been able to maintain the monthly newsletters over the last year, we want to reassure you that we are still here keeping tabs on DIPP related projects and activities and looking for opportunities to keep DIPP moving forward. The project leadership team is currently in discussions about how to sustain DIPP in order to continue supporting the Deal Island Peninsula area in addressing ongoing and future challenges. We’re looking forward to discussing our ideas with you in the near future. In the meantime, if you have ideas you’d like to share with us or questions, please don’t hesitate to get in touch!

Thanks,
The DIPP Team

Construction is expected to begin this fall following permit approval. We hope to host a community meeting this summer to share more details of the construction plans. Staff from the MD-DNR and the Chesapeake Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (CBNERR) initiated monitoring work last September 2018 to capture existing elevation and vegetation conditions. CBNERR and MD-DNR staff will continue monitoring in April to capture baseline conditions prior to project construction.

Additionally, George Mason University and The Nature Conservancy conducted wave attenuation and water level monitoring at the site from May to December 2018. They are currently analyzing the results. The findings from their work will also help MD-DNR better understand the pre- and post-conditions of the shoreline project. You can learn more about their work through the following video produced by The Nature Conservancy. If you have additional questions or concerns about the shoreline project, please get in touch with Nicole Carlozo, MD-DNR (nicole.carlozo@maryland.gov).

Update on Ditch Assessment and Improvement Activities

Since that discussion, SHA has agreed to clean out a section of the ditch between Hodson White Road and the Dames Quarter Bridge. Somerset County agreed to submit the required MDE permit needed in order to conduct the work. As of today, the County has completed the permit application and are waiting on signatures from SHA before submitting it to MDE.

We continue to stay in regular contact with the County for updates and will share status reports as they become available.

Last fall, Somerset County was awarded $75,000 from MD-DNR to conduct an assessment of the ditch networks. The study will be used to locate problem spots and identify solutions to address ditch drainage issues with the hope that findings will be useful for pursuing future funding for project implementation.

In March, Somerset County selected the AMT Engineering firm in Rockville, MD to carry out the study; the County is currently working with them to secure necessary contracts. Once the contracts are in place, the County will be organizing a kick-off meeting with the engineers and some local residents to discuss the next steps of the study.

Update on the Engaging Faith-Based Communities for Coastal Resilience Project

In our many years of working on the Deal Island Peninsula -- and more broadly across the Eastern Shore – we’ve come to recognize and appreciate the important role that churches play in supporting rural communities. We also know that rural residents have a lot of first-hand knowledge about coastal environmental changes that would be valuable for County and State governments to understand. Similarly, County and State government agencies have information and resources that could help rural residents prepare for and respond to these changes. However, linking the assets of rural residents and government together to support rural areas can be challenging.

Since March 2018, we’ve engaged with a total of 12 churches in three areas on the Lower Eastern Shore: the Deal Island Peninsula, the West Side area in Wicomico County, and southern Dorchester County. We’ve hosted a number of collaborative workshops, where we brought congregation members together with County and State government staff, landscape architects, and representatives from non-governmental organizations (including Wicomico Interfaith Partners, The Nature Conservancy, and the Union of Concerned Scientists) to discuss key issues and explore collaborative adaptation opportunities going forward. On the Deal Island Peninsula, our collaborative discussions have been largely focused on better understanding faith-based perspectives on climate change and exploring ways that faith-based communities, scientists, and government can better work together to improve rural coastal resilience. We hosted a total of three community conversations at local churches, where we had some insightful conversations about the roles of faith and science in understanding climate change and discussed future collaborative opportunities and needs.

On March 2nd, 37 project participants from all three counties attended our final project workshop where we shared what we have learned about collaborative work with churches. The workshop included three sessions: 1) Capacities of Churches, Government, and Other Key Partners; 2) Bridging Different Perspectives; and 3) Collaboratively Addressing Environmental Challenges. The sessions provided opportunities for participants to reflect on our findings, share their own collaborative experiences, and discuss ways to sustain partnerships after the project ends in August 2019.

We will be summarizing the project findings for broader dissemination in the near future. In the meantime, visit the project's webpages on the DIPP website to learn more!

News from Monie Bay NERRS

The National Estuarine Research Reserve staff have put together a beautiful story map highlighting their ongoing and future work at the Monie Bay Reserve. Check it out! You can also read more about opportunities to get involved with the Reserve here. 

Deal Island Elementary Students Video Featured at the Youth Environmental Action Summit

Fourth and fifth graders from Deal Island Elementary, with help from their teachers Ms. Christy South and Ms. Michele Messick, produced a video for the Youth Environmental Action Summit to highlight their concerns about erosion on the Deal Island shoreline and to share their ideas for how to protect the shoreline for the future. The Youth Environmental Action Summit was hosted on April 5th at the Ward Museum in Salisbury, and brought together students from across the Somerset, Wicomico, and Worcester Counties to talk about how they can support their communities through environmental action. The students’ video was one of the featured videos at the Summit. Watch it below!

New Links on the Website 

New summaries are available on the NOAA Science Collaborative Project's marsh research. Click the links below to read more about the findings from environmental studies of local marsh dynamics.

• How Marsh Restoration Affects Mosquito Populations
• Measuring Marsh Elevation Change
• Measuring Methane Emissions from Deal Island area Tidal Marshes