Four years ago, Keith Madsen was worried about his community. A resident of West Severna Park, his beloved neighborhood beach on the Severn River was washing away. The 50-year-old bulkhead was failing, and daily erosion from stormwater runoff was putting his community at risk.
Keith started to research a repair for the structure but a $60,000 quote for a vinyl bulkhead raised concerns. He wanted to protect his community and preserve the waterfront so decided a living shoreline would be a better solution.
“We had a community group, and it really wanted to put in a living shoreline, but they didn’t have the implementation or construction funds to build the project,” said Chesapeake Bay Trust Program Manager, Sarah Koser. “And so this community came to the Trust requesting funds for construction, and we were able to match them up with their local nonprofit, the Severn River Association.”
Through the Anne Arundel County Watershed Restoration Grant Program, a partnership between the Anne Arundel County Bureau of Watershed Protection and Restoration, the City of Annapolis, and the Chesapeake Bay Trust, the Severn River Association received a grant to work with Keith and the community to design an effective living shoreline that met their own vision to preserve their neighborhood’s natural resources. The community themselves raised funds to contribute to the project as well, a true collaboration for restoration.
“The grants that Chesapeake Bay Trust offer are really phenomenal,” shared Ben Fertig, Restoration Manager at the Severn River Association. “To be able to say to a community, ‘Hey, look, we’d like to put in a stormwater management project, we’d like to put in a living shoreline like this, we really want your partnership in helping us protect and restore Severn River,’ it goes a long way.”
With funding in place, the Severn River Association with the community contracted John Flood with Flood Brothers Marine Contracting to build a living shoreline in front of the failing bulkhead. This provided a minimally invasive solution to protect and restore 100 feet of shoreline, addressing the erosion and sinkhole issues created by stormwater runoff.
“We love this project because it’s an example of how accessible a living shoreline can be for a community,” said Sally Albright, Education & Outreach Coordinator with the Anne Arundel County Bureau of Watershed Protection and Restoration.
From planning to implementation, the residents in West Severna Park were empowered to engage with the restoration at every step of the process. Neighbors joined a community planting to literally get hands on with their shoreline. To this day, community members continue to volunteer to maintain their living shoreline to keep their beach healthy.
“We decided as a community to do something that was better for the river,” explained Keith. “About once a month we come down and just clean everything out and it takes care of itself.”
Four years later, the West Severna Park living shoreline is as vibrant and effective as when it was first installed. It not only protects the community but is a habitat for turtles, blue crabs, horseshoe crabs, plants and other native species. The Chesapeake Bay Trust believes that when we empower local communities to become the champions of their own green projects, we can restore our natural resources for years. This living shoreline is a model for implementing a cost-effective, long-term solution so our families, friends, and neighbors can benefit from healthy and clean local waterways.
