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Monday, June 20, 2011

Berlin, Maryland Coastal Bays Partner for Hudson Branch Restoration Project

Hudson Branch in Berlin has been ranked, “the worst stream in the Coastal Bays watershed,” by the Maryland Coastal Bays Program, so the environmental nonprofit and the town of Berlin are partnering to use a $129,000 state grant to clean it.

During its meeting Monday, the Town Council approved a motion for the town to pay the bills for a project to clean and regulate the stream by administering a grant awarded by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources to the Maryland Coastal Bays Program. Roman Jesien, science coordinator for the environmental nonprofit, called it “the stream that needs the most attention in the Coastal Bays region.”

Berlin Mayor Gee Williams said for decades residents in the region have used the stream leading into the Newport Bay as a dumping area, where tons of garbage has been recovered by cleanup events, such as Take Pride in Berlin.

“We can start getting people to think of this as a beautiful stream that is part of the neighborhood,” Williams said.

Jesien said the project is designed around a network of sand matrixes, which would include a pond in the Hudson Branch section near Henry Park. The sand and gravel basins would keep the flow of the stream moving slowly and would absorb the nitrogen and other nutrients to create makeshift wetlands, according to Jesien.

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