Photo by The Severn River Association Inc.
Annapolis, MD - On June 7, 8 and 9, local environmental groups collaborate in the annual GreenGive–an online fundraising campaign to elevate The Severn River Association's work and spread awareness of the community of people working everyday to improve our environment. This year, SRA is placing oyster programs in the spotlight for the GreenGive. We are grateful to the Hannon Armstrong Foundation for providing a 1:1 match of all donations up to $10,000.
Oyster Restoration is a key component of SRA’s plan to achieve A Thriving Severn River by 2050. In addition to their legendary ability to improve river water quality by filtering algae from the water, their reefs also provide critical habitat for fish, crabs, and other filter feeders. The good news is that in the past 5 years, with help from our partners at the Maryland Department of Natural Resources and Oyster Recovery Partnership’s Build a Reef program, SRA has planted over 70 million oysters across 4 sites in the Severn. Oyster dives on the restored reefs found that our oysters are doing well, noting populations above 50 oysters per square meter at 3 of the 4 sites – the metric used by the State and Federal governments to deem a reef successfully restored. But we have a long way to go to reach our goal of at least 1.2 billion oysters that a thriving Severn requires.
The Severn River Association's restoration strategy includes the following 4 components:
- Planting - We are fortunate to have a terrific relationship with the Oyster Recovery Partnership that is based right here in Annapolis. Since 2018 we have engaged with ORP to plant over 70 million spat (baby oysters) on shell at four restoration reefs as a part of the Build a Reef program. They have done exemplary work and we intend to continue working with them for this critical service.
- Planning - Selecting the best locations for oyster planting is obviously a critical part of the program. Oysters require water with a minimum of 5 parts per thousand salinity, 2-3 mg/L dissolved oxygen, and a hard bottom (shell, rock, etc.) to survive, and higher levels of salinity and oxygen to thrive. The SRA’s robust Water Quality Monitoring program has proven invaluable in this regard. For example, Maryland DNR, which has only a single monitoring station on the Severn near the Rt 50 bridge, believed that Eagle Nest Point on Round Bay was not suitable for oyster planting. But SRA’s data has so far shown otherwise.
- Marylanders Grow Oysters (MGO) - SRA administers this program on the Severn River for locals to grow baby oysters in cages suspended from their own or community piers. The goal is to protect the young oysters during their vulnerable first year of life so they may be planted on local sanctuary reefs where the oysters can enrich the ecosystem and the oyster population. If you already participate, thank you very much! If not, you can email oysters@severnriver.org to sign up. This valuable program is managed by the Oyster Recovery Partnership in conjunction with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, and local organizations like ours.
- Monitoring - We are working with Black Girls Dive Foundation to monitor the health of our restored oyster reefs. Serious restoration work requires real accountability of its effectiveness. Black Girls Dive Foundation trains young women to become leaders in marine sciences via scuba diving missions around the Bay. Here in the Severn, the divers survey our oyster reefs through visual observations, physical samples, and underwater drone photography. We use these data to assess our oyster restoration efforts and identify new areas for targeted plantings.
Spring is the time to plant new oysters in the Severn. In fact, over 460,000 oysters from our MGO growers will be planted on our Traces Hollow reef in June. But we need many more oysters than that to achieve a thriving river. Your donation will allow The Severn River Association to purchase those oysters.
Just look at how far your donation can go thanks to the Hannon Armstrong Foundation match!
- $100 could plant 10,000 oysters in the Severn
- $250 could plant 25,000 oysters in the Severn
- $500 could plant 50,000 oysters in the Severn
- $1000 could plant 100,000 oysters in the Severn
Your donation will be used to fulfill our vision to create A Thriving Severn River by 2050. More details on how to donate today.
