St. Mary’s River Watershed Association has been awarded a grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Association to promote its “River Friendly” neighborhood rewards program.
A certification program similar to Baywise but on a neighborhood-scale, our neighborhood rewards program recognizes communities and homeowners for making significant contributions in reducing their impact on the St. Mary’s River. Storm water runoff mitigation through rain gardens is one way to achieve recognition, as well as an assortment of other practices such as growing oysters, reducing energy use, planting buffers and canopy trees, and upgrading septic systems. Participants will be credited for their improvements and pledges and tracking online will afford the county credit toward its Bay clean-up goals.
The NFWF grant provides as much as 50-50 match funding for the installation of rain gardens and similar practices, for those who have property in the St. Mary’s River watershed. Interested homeowners should contact us.
For more information on this program and how you can participate, please call 301-737-2903 or visit www.smrwa.org/rewards.html.
