2nd Place

The Meadowbrook Riparian Enhancement project is a notable example of the type of restoration work implemented on parkland to reclaim historically modified landscape to provide stormwater treatment wetland habitat, enhance the riparian buffer and provide carbon sequestration to aid in the climate resilience of the county. The project transformed half an acre of a mowed turf area into a naturalized riparian buffer with native plantings of 90 trees, 50 shrubs, and 5000 herbaceous plugs. Approximately a quarter of an acre was regraded to create wetland habitat.

The Glenmont Forest Green Streets project was completed by the Montgomery County Department of Environmental Protection to reduce stormwater runoff and pollutant loading to the receiving stream and to help meet the County’s MS4 permit and TMDL requirements. This innovative green streets project installed ESD stormwater management facilities along residential streets throughout the Glenmont Forest and Wheaton Hills neighborhoods, within the existing public right-of-way. Working with a dedicated community and local nonprofits, Montgomery County DEP completed this retrofit to add ESD stormwater facilities within a developed urban environment with minimal existing stormwater infrastructure to provide water quality improvement and enhance neighborhood aesthetics.

Prince George’s County Department of the Environment (DoE) partnered with GV-Petro Joint Venture, LLC (which is a joint venture of GreenVest, LLC and Petro Design Build, LLC) and Maryland-National Capital Parks & Planning Commission (M-NCPPC) to implement the Tinkers Creek Stream Restoration Project; an ambitious, innovative, and complex undertaking that stabilized eroding stream channels, re-connected the floodplain and its associated wetlands, improved habitat for terrestrial and aquatic species, and engaged a diverse community through outreach programs to enhance access to this valuable community amenity. The restoration of perennial, intermittent, and ephemeral stream reaches promoted stability and resiliency in both the stream resources and riparian buffers and delivered a suite of co-benefits including critical utility and infrastructure protection, public and private property stabilization, management of invasive plant species, and reductions in nuisance flooding. As one of the largest stream restoration projects in the State of Maryland at over 40,000 linear feet, this project reduces sediment loading to the Chesapeake Bay by over 4,000,000 pounds per year and represents a successful partnership between public and private entities and a success for the local community and Chesapeake Bay.

We created a backyard rain garden to attract butterflies and hummingbirds while managing water from our house and driveway. The choice of a rain garden was motivated by examples at Olney Elementary School and by our county’s RainScapes program. The garden is a fully DIY “COVID project” that took two years from initial research to final inspection, with actual construction in July-December 2022.

Pollution from storm water runoff is a leading contributor to pollution in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. The Master Watershed Stewards of York County, PA, organize the Street 2 Creek Storm Drain Art Project. Using an annual artist contest, project leaders use artwork around drains to raise citizen awareness and help educate the York community about the connection between storm drains and local creeks. The painted drains lead the way from the Codorus Creek to the Royal Square district in the City of York.

The city refocused its Illicit Discharge Detection and Elimination (IDDE) program to target inspections of commercial facilities that have the potential to discharge pollutants into our storm drains and streams. Traditionally, the city inspected 30 percent of outfalls to look for IDDEs. IDDEs were rarely identified, so with MDEs approval we requested to refocus our efforts towards inspecting commercial businesses and eliminating pollution at its source.

The Woody Ward Community Center stormwater retrofit project aimed to mitigate the impacts of a buried stream and the build environment by restoring the landscape in a way that replicates the services of a natural system, through the various retrofit and restoration techniques employed throughout the project.