{"id":21139,"date":"2018-04-20T09:00:39","date_gmt":"2018-04-20T13:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/?p=21139"},"modified":"2018-04-19T16:53:39","modified_gmt":"2018-04-19T20:53:39","slug":"students-help-effort-to-restore-oyster-habitat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/2018\/04\/20\/students-help-effort-to-restore-oyster-habitat\/","title":{"rendered":"Students Help Effort to Restore Oyster Habitat"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center\"><em>Calvert County Children Partner with Maryland Artificial Reef Initiative<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/04\/IMG_1276.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright  wp-image-21145\" src=\"http:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/04\/IMG_1276-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"Photo of students at Tidewater School with artificial reef balls they made\" width=\"351\" height=\"263\" srcset=\"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/04\/IMG_1276-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/04\/IMG_1276-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/04\/IMG_1276-1024x768.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 351px) 100vw, 351px\" \/><\/a>Students at one Calvert County school are getting their hands dirty by helping with habitat enhancement and oyster restoration.<\/p>\n<p>Fifty students, along with a dozen parents and faculty at Tidewater School in Huntingtown are assisting the <a href=\"http:\/\/dnr.maryland.gov\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Maryland Department of Natural Resources<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/dnr.maryland.gov\/fisheries\/Pages\/reefs\/index.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Maryland Artificial Reef Initiative<\/a>\u00a0by creating several cement reef balls that will be dropped to the bottom of Chesapeake Bay.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Recently school students, from preschool to fifth grade, helped mix the concrete and pour the cement into mold. Before deployment each student added their own shell to be embedded in the reef balls as a reminder of their connection to the marine life in the bay.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>After each reef ball is set and dried, the balls will be dropped by barge to the bottom of the bay to create a new artificial reef this summer.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cKids really love learning from something tangible, something they can touch and feel,&#8221; Program Coordinator Michael Malpezzi said. \u201cReef balls are really an easy way to help develop a personal connection with the environment and the bay as they work to build and maintain a healthy marine ecosystem.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Malpezzi and the school\u2019s environmental educator Jamie Testa helped spearhead the project.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe see the Chesapeake Bay and the nearby Patuxent River as living laboratories for our children,&#8221; Head of School at Tidewater School Laura Amin said.\u00a0\u201cWe hope this project will reinforce our goal of instilling lifelong environmental stewardship with our students.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Throughout the school year, students have been engaged in learning about Chesapeake Bay, with projects including a rainwater runoff system and a newly built raingarden.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Calvert County Children Partner with Maryland Artificial Reef Initiative Students at one Calvert County school are getting their hands dirty by helping with habitat enhancement and oyster restoration. Fifty students, along with a dozen parents and faculty at Tidewater School in Huntingtown are assisting the Maryland Department of Natural Resources\u00a0and\u00a0Maryland Artificial Reef Initiative\u00a0by creating several<a href=\"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/2018\/04\/20\/students-help-effort-to-restore-oyster-habitat\/\">&nbsp;&nbsp;Read the Rest&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":146,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[957,11,33],"tags":[3186,2982,3592,3087,3002],"class_list":["post-21139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-appnews","category-fisheries","category-the-bay","tag-calvert-county","tag-chesapeake-bay","tag-maryland-artificial-reef-initiative","tag-oysters","tag-patuxent-river"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/146"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21139"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21139\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21316,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21139\/revisions\/21316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}