Coming soon! DIPP is getting down to business on ditch maintenance |
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Flooding and challenges associated with ditch maintenance have come up often as major issues for residents and visitors to the Deal Island peninsula. In 2019 DIPP partnered with Somerset County Planning and Zoning to conduct a drainage assessment which was completed in January 2020 and recently developed a ditch maintenance fact sheet for property owners. The purpose of drainage assessment was to assess and digitally map the open ditch drainage system of roadside and non‐roadside ditches, assess tidal impacts on the drainage system, and create an implementation plan, system maintenance improvements and potential mitigation measures. Using the assessment as a building block, the Chesapeake Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve applied for Inflation Reduction Act funding to partner with Somerset County Planning and Zoning as well as the Center for Watershed protection as a technical expert to advance the recommendations of the drainage assessment. Representatives from DIPP presented this project in August to the Somerset County Commissioners who approved the agreement and we will have more to share when this project kicks off later this fall. |
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Next Week: Join the Marshes for Tomorrow Community Meeting |
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In January, Audubon Mid-Atlantic hosted a meeting in Princess Anne to discuss the Marshes for Tomorrow project that aims to identify, protect, and restore at least 25,000 acres of the most important tidal salt marsh habitat in Maryland for the threatened Saltmarsh Sparrow. Since then, they’ve been working to incorporate the comments they received into draft conservation and restoration plans for birds and people. They are going to be hosting another round of community meetings to share their work so far and build on the previous discussions. The first of these meetings will be held at the Rock Creek Church Community Hall on Deal Island next week on Tuesday August 20th. To register ahead of time, visit www.delmarvarcn.org/marshesfortomorrow. You can also provide comments via their marsh-use survey for your chance to win a gift basket. For more information about, please contact marshes4tomorrow@gmail.com. |
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Did you notice? The marsh is looking cleaner! |
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Cleaning up after ourselves! Alongside Chesapeake Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve Staff, researchers and students from the University of Maryland were in the marshes of Deal Island at the end of June removing the remains of the research project from the Deal Island Peninsula Project. This research project investigated the process of ditch plugging as a way to restore ditched and |
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drained marshes on the Eastern Shore. The removal of the plot markers and monitoring wells has resulted in a much cleaner viewshed of the marshes on Deal Island. A few poles remain, which mark the locations of elevation benchmarks installed by the project, which are still of interest to Reserve research partners, but there certainly is a lot less plastic out there than previously! |
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Updates: Maryland Department of Natural Resources upgrades Dames Quarter boat ramp |
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This summer, you may have seen some new additions at the Dames Quarter Boat Ramp! Supported by the Department of Natural Resources’ Waterway Improvement & Infrastructure Program, the facility received new throw rings, fire extinguishers, and other minor upgrades to improve the safety and accessibility of this important public access point. |
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Make your voice heard: Somerset County is looking for your feedback. |
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Somerset County is in the process of updating its Comprehensive plan, sometimes referred to as a Master Plan. Comprehensive plans set a vision for how a county will develop. You can learn more about Somerset County’s process on their comprehensive plan website: https://www.plansomersetmd.org/. Public comment and feedback is an important part of the comprehensive planning process. Currently, Chapters 2 through 8 as well as the Vision Statement are up on the website and available for public comment. |
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Questions/Comments/Observations Email us: dealislandpeninsulapartners@gmail.com |
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