The Conservancy was awarded a planning grant by the Chesapeake Bay Trust (CBT) to begin restoration of Hawkins Cove.
This mini-watershed contributes a significant pollutant load to Spa Creek, the Severn River, and the Chesapeake Bay.
In 2008, the Center for Watershed Protection gave the area a 100-point priority score, the maximum possible, for remediation. In other words, it needed immediate action — back in 2008!
And it has only gotten worse. Silt funneled into the cove by stormwater has made it toxic to aquatic life, inhospitable to humankind, and no longer navigable.
We are working to secure funding to complete the plans developed with the support of CBT while engaging neighbors in the Hawkins Cove Watershed in the effort. Among those neighbors are residents of Eastport Terrace and Harbor House, public housing communities with a large footprint in the Watershed.
We are working in partnership with the Housing Authority of the City of Annapolis to engage the under-served residents of these communities in watershed restoration. The collaborative, multi-stakeholder programming we are now developing has the potential to become a national model for dealing with sustainability issues confronting public housing.