Section
37 stories
The Chesapeake, its tributaries, working farms, and the conservation stories in between.
Shore & Environment follows the health of the Chesapeake Bay and its Eastern Shore tributaries as they relate to Talbot County: water quality, restoration projects, farming and land conservation, watermen and the seafood economy, and the wildlife that shares the shoreline with residents.
MDA’s Sept. 30 notice opens fall grants for moving manure to qualifying fields and injecting liquid manure, with poultry rates up to $28 per ton and injection aid up to $45 per acre.
DNR’s Sept. 30 fishing report puts mainstem and river-mouth temperatures near 70 degrees, notes adequate oxygen in most Bay bottom waters, higher-than-normal salinity, and active blue catfish on the Choptank from Dover Bridge to Denton.
Skipjacks parade from Cambridge Creek at 10 a.m. Sept. 26; the race starts about 11 a.m. off Long Wharf. Host boat is Nathan of Dorchester.
DNR and Old Dominion University cruises put early August hypoxic volume at 0.67 cubic miles — the fifth-smallest in the record set — before late August rose to 1.12 cubic miles.
June and July citations in Blackwalnut Cove and Claiborne Cove charged hydraulic clam dredging inside submerged aquatic vegetation protection zones; first-offense fines can reach $1,000.
Early August’s fifth-best hypoxia rank and late August’s rebound sit inside a Chesapeake Bay Program outlook that already expected volumes about 31% below average after a low-flow winter-spring.
Easton Crossing Greenspace gets $750,000 and BAAM Campus Annex Community Garden & Safety Town $274,140 inside DNR’s Sept. 16 package of more than $9.3 million.
Maryland’s teal-only hunt runs Sept. 17–26; daily bag six teal, possession 18; migratory stamp and federal duck stamp rules apply.
The 2026 Maryland Natural Resource Photo Contest is a prize ladder — grand prize, seasonal 1st–3rd, then Fan Favorite — not a single winner’s check. Fan Favorite voting runs through Sept. 30.
MDA’s inaugural Nov. 14 summit is a priced workshop ladder — soil health, nutrient management, equine nutrition, pasture maintenance — plus an Exhibit Hall and a resource panel, not a single lecture.
Maryland DNR’s Sept. 14 Marsh Resilience Portfolio replaces the 2016 Marsh Protection Potential Index; more than 282,000 acres of Chesapeake Bay tidal wetlands now scored for health, flood buffer, and wave attenuation.
Maryland DNR and the Potomac River Fisheries Commission take public comment Tuesday, Sept. 15, 6–8 p.m. at Annapolis High on ASMFC Draft Addendum II; written comments run through 11:59 p.m. Oct. 9.
The FY2027 Keep Maryland Beautiful round is four dollar rungs — stewardship, land trust, Aileen Hughes, and ag-land tree planting — not one pot. Applications due Dec. 1, 2026.
DNR’s 2026 Venison Donation Grant Program is a small, first-come processing pot — $25,000 total, eligibility floors, and a hard Sept. 27 clock — not an open hunting subsidy.
Draft 21DP0359 would allow up to 1 million gallons a day from Zion Church Road, with new PFAS limits. The published notice set comments for 5 p.m. Sept. 14; after the hearing, MDE officials told reporters Nov. 9.
Maryland underwater grass rose from 36,799 acres in 2024 to 41,419 in 2025; mouth of the Choptank 3,214→4,951 acres, Little Choptank 157→684; Honga and Lower Central Bay lost a combined 1,277 acres.
COMAR 15.20.07 lets qualifying low-risk operations stretch plans from three to five years; farms that spread fertilizer, manure, or biosolids stay on the shorter cycle.
Official contest seeks images of Eastern Shore waterways; four winners per Riverkeeper watershed, 16 total; email submissions to photo[at]shorerivers.org.
Approval letters mailing now. Plant oats/legume mixes and aerial seed by Oct. 10; cereal grains by Nov. 5; certify with the soil conservation district within a week of planting and by Nov. 12.
MDA’s 2026–27 payment ladder pays for how you plant, not for a Talbot acre tally. Enrollment is already closed.
BPW Approves Ort Farms Wetlands Modification on the Tred Avon at Oxford.
Limits unchanged after June watermen committee; 2025 fall survey is second-highest spat set on record (behind 1991), per DNR/Gov. March 9, 2026.
Board of Public Works approved $11 million statewide for 57 enhanced-nutrient-removal plants on Sept. 2; Talbot’s two awards are on the list.
Failing Critical Area systems rank first; household AGI under $300,000 may qualify for 100% of the BAT tank.
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