Homeowners who have a pier in the saltier waters of the river or the bay may be a candidate to host an oyster garden. Oyster gardens are floating systems designed to grow young oysters for eventual placement back onto oyster reefs in the Chesapeake Bay. These young oysters help to filter the water and provide habitat for a variety of aquatic animals.
CHESPAX, the environmental program of the Calvert County Public Schools, in partnership with the Coastal Conservation Association, MD will be conducting an oyster gardening workshop on Saturday, May 30. This event will be held at Morgan State University Estuarine Research Center, on the grounds of Jefferson Patterson Park, in St. Leonard from 9 – 11 a.m.. The charge for the workshop will be $5 per family to offset some of the costs of the training.
Participants at the workshops will become part of a larger community of oyster gardeners who are helping to raise oysters that will be placed back into the Bay. Oyster gardeners will receive an oyster float and oyster spat (baby oysters) that will be cared for and monitored for the next year.
Oyster gardeners must have access to a pier that extends over water with a minimum depth of one foot at low tide and has a salinity of at least 5 ppt.
This workshop, funded by The Chesapeake Bay Trust, is designed for community members, teachers, and students and will explain how citizens can have a positive impact on the health of the Bay.
For more information or to register for the workshop, contact Linda Subda at the CHESPAX office at (410) 535-2960 or through e-mail at subdal@calvertnet.k12.md.us.