{"id":34138,"date":"2021-08-25T15:53:41","date_gmt":"2021-08-25T19:53:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/?p=34138"},"modified":"2021-08-26T13:57:32","modified_gmt":"2021-08-26T17:57:32","slug":"department-of-natural-resources-highlights-deep-creek-lake-partnerships-announces-2-2-million-in-additional-funding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/2021\/08\/25\/department-of-natural-resources-highlights-deep-creek-lake-partnerships-announces-2-2-million-in-additional-funding\/","title":{"rendered":"Department of Natural Resources Highlights Deep Creek Lake Partnerships; Announces $2.2 Million in Additional Funding"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Secretary Jeannie Haddaway-Riccio Presents &#8216;State of the Lake&#8217; Address<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<div style=\"width: 365px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/51401569157_5b6b461590.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/51401569157_5b6b461590.jpg\" alt=\"Photo of Secretary Riccio speaking at a podium\" width=\"355\" height=\"207\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Secretary Jeannie Haddaway-Riccio discusses updates and issues related to Deep Creek Lake. Photo by Stephen Badger, Maryland Department of Natural Resources.<\/p><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Maryland Department of Natural Resources Secretary Jeannie Haddaway-Riccio on Tuesday delivered a \u201cState of the Lake\u201d to homeowners, officials, and stakeholders with interest in Deep Creek Lake. The secretary also announced $2.2 million in additional funding for dredging as part of her presentation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Speaking to the group at Garrett College, Secretary Riccio discussed the state\u2019s long-term commitment to water monitoring at the lake, ongoing efforts to prevent and combat aquatic invasive species, and work to protect and expand the lake\u2019s freshwater fisheries.\u00a0<\/span><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Above all, the secretary commended the partnerships between the state and local stakeholders and elected officials that support these efforts and help advocate for the resources to achieve these goals.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/8133\/28858880094_01be05a310.jpg\" alt=\"Photo of Deep Creek Lake during the summer\" width=\"344\" height=\"258\" \/>Monitoring indicates that the lake is healthy, with low nutrients levels at mainstem sites and clear water throughout. The state continues to follow the comprehensive watershed management plan for Deep Creek Lake, developed in 2015 by DNR and Garrett County to recommend guidelines to protect the popular area, balancing environmental and economic needs.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Secretary Riccio provided numerous updates to the activities at Deep Creek Lake, including:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Governor Larry Hogan just released $2.2 million in new funding for pilot dredging projects in <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Deep Creek Lake, including $1.2 million for the Arrowhead Cove pilot dredging project.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/dnr.maryland.gov\/Pages\/state-lakes.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">State Lakes Protection and Restoration Fund<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, approved by Governor Hogan in 2018, provides $1 million a year for three years for state-owned lakes including Deep Creek Lake. This money has supported invasive hydrilla control, fish habitat installation, shoreline erosion control, and dredging.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Deep Creek Lake Launch Steward Program, a cooperative effort between Garrett College\u2019s Natural Resource and Wildlife Technology program and the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. Stewards conduct voluntary boat inspections and educate the public about aquatic invasive species. Since 2016, the Stewards intercepted 29 vessels that carried aquatic invasive species, including zebra mussels, a species found in other nearby waters, thwarting their expansion into Deep Creek Lake.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Further, more than 20 different species of mostly native submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) are flourishing; oxygenating and providing natural filtering of the water, reducing wave energy to help stabilize shoreline, and providing critical habitat for fish, and,\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Department of Natural Resources is helping build fish structures at 125 locations to be installed in the next few years, leveraging $60,000 in funding from the State Lakes Protection and Restoration Fund.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Deep Creek Lake is a manmade impoundment that is Maryland\u2019s largest body of freshwater. The Maryland Department of Natural Resources manages the lake, shoreline, and adjacent <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/dnr.maryland.gov\/publiclands\/Pages\/western\/deepcreeknrma.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Natural Resource Management Area<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/dnr.maryland.gov\/publiclands\/Pages\/western\/deepcreek.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">State Park<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. The Maryland Department of the Environment manages the water level and lake bottom. Brookfield Renewable owns and operates the hydroelectric dam, construction of which formed the lake in the 1920s. Garrett County manages the lake\u2019s 40,000-acre watershed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Stakeholder groups that meet regularly with DNR staff are the Deep Creek Watershed Foundation, Property Owners Association of Deep Creek Lake Inc., Friends of Deep Creek Lake State Park, and local elected officials.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Deep Creek Watershed Foundation organized Tuesday\u2019s address.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Secretary Jeannie Haddaway-Riccio Presents &#8216;State of the Lake&#8217; Address Maryland Department of Natural Resources Secretary Jeannie Haddaway-Riccio on Tuesday delivered a \u201cState of the Lake\u201d to homeowners, officials, and stakeholders with interest in Deep Creek Lake. The secretary also announced $2.2 million in additional funding for dredging as part of her presentation. Speaking to the<a href=\"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/2021\/08\/25\/department-of-natural-resources-highlights-deep-creek-lake-partnerships-announces-2-2-million-in-additional-funding\/\">&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":[957,23,12,33],"tags":[3487,3488,3491,2949,4035,4851],"class_list":["post-34138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-appnews","category-land","category-parks","category-the-bay","tag-deep-creek-lake","tag-deep-creek-lake-state-park","tag-garrett-college","tag-garrett-county","tag-jeannie-haddaway-riccio","tag-state-lakes-protection-and-restoration-fund"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34138","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=34138"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34138\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34161,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34138\/revisions\/34161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}