In 2012 Midshore Riverkeeper Conservancy (MRC) undertook the first ever Assessment of the Wye River Watershed. The final report was published in June 2014, identifying three priority areas where restoration projects could benefit the water quality in the Wye River: 1) the Kudner property; 2) Wye Ferry Landing; and 3) the Chesapeake College campus.
In April 2016 MRC completed its management of the design, construction, and grant funding of the Kudner Property Restoration Initiative. The Kudner property is part of the Queen Anne’s County Parks system. The parcel comprises approximately 250 acres. More than 80 acres is in active farmland adjacent to Bennett Point Road and it drains directly into the Wye River. MRC’s collaborative partners included Queen Anne’s County, the Chesapeake Bay Trust (CBT)), which funded the design, and the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR), which funded the construction.
The final project included the restoration of a 1.65-acre wetland and the construction of a 2.40-acre wetland along with the creation of a two-stage gabion outlet weir,
a series of grade control weirs to allow non-erosive passage of runoff and to reduce groundwater drawdown within the existing wetland, three berms, a shrub scrub habitat area, and a forested upland habitat area. The project will filter nearly all of the farmland runoff.
The project is expected to reduce approximately 47 pounds of total nitrogen, 4-5 pounds of total phosphorus, and 584 pounds of sediment annually from entering the Wye River. Environmental Concern was hired to design and construct the project.
MRC has also completed projects at Wye Ferry Landing and Chesapeake College, and is currently working with the college on the design and completion of a major multi-component “step pool” stream restoration project being funded through the Chesapeake & Atlantic Coastal Bays Trust Fund. Over the past few years, MRC has obtained significant outside funding to install restoration projects in four Midshore counties.
For more information, contact MRC Executive Director and Miles-Wye Riverkeeper Jeff Horstman at 443.385.0511 or [email protected].
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