DNR Helps Fund New Stream Restoration Monitoring Program

Efforts to produce measurable water quality data and results

Nature’s Gift by Timothy Shelton

In a continued effort to better gauge how stream restoration projects improve tributary and Chesapeake Bay health, DNR’s Chesapeake and Atlantic Coastal Bays Trust Fund provided $500,000 to help fund the Restoration Research Grant Program. Through the program, DNR and partners selected four research projects that they will use to rigorously evaluate the effectiveness of water quality and habitat enhancements practices. Results will help ensure that practices with the greatest likelihood for success are implemented in the future.

“The health of Chesapeake Bay starts with the health of tributaries in our backyards,” said Mark Belton, Secretary of the Department of Natural Resources. “The Restoration Research Grant Program will provide us with more in-depth scientific data and real, measurable results to help confirm that stream restoration efforts are reducing the amount of nitrogen and phosphorus that enter our waters.”

The Restoration Research Grant Program ─ an $825,000 opportunity made possible through a collaboration of federal and local partners ─ will answer key questions about the specific benefits of restoration techniques. The program aims to increase confidence in proposed project outcomes, clarify site conditions most appropriate for certain techniques, and provide information useful to regulatory agencies. Learn more about the program and grantees with the Chesapeake Bay Trust’s news release, here.

The Trust Fund helps federal state and local partners identify the most targeted and cost-effective stream restoration approaches to meet Chesapeake Bay water quality goals. With Stream Health serving as one of the 29 strategies of the new Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement, the program will help Maryland reach its goal of restoring water quality in local rivers and streams to meet water quality standards. The Agreement, signed in 2014 by governors and representatives from the entire watershed, commits the Bay’s headwater states to full partnership in Bay restoration.