Lusby, MD – On May 12, 35 Huntingtown High School (HHS) students along with four HHS teachers, 10 Dominion volunteers and six staff members/volunteers from the Baltimore National Aquarium hiked out onto the beach at Cove Point to give 2000 beach plants a new home.
A few years ago Dominion built a living shoreline to keep the salt water of the Chesapeake Bay from invading the freshwater of the Cove Point Marsh and during the annual beach grass planting that shoreline is filled with more plants to hold back the salt water.
HHS students spend the school year growing “Spartina patens” otherwise known as saltmeadow cordgrass, in their environmental science classes and when the grasses are fully-grown they bring them to Dominion Cove Point to be planted.
This annual beach grass planting began in 2011 and has been an event that volunteers eagerly anticipate each year.
This was junior HHS student Lydia Milani’s third time coming to the planting.
“I love it,” said Milani. “It’s such a wonderful volunteer opportunity and a great service to the environment.”
The teachers of HHS also enjoy this event.
“It’s a great opportunity for the kids,” said AP environmental science teacher, Jamie Rowder. “Its nice to get the kids outdoors working for their community and doing something hands on.”
In addition to the planting, the students also had the opportunity to participate in education stations taught by aquarium staff, who went over things such as how to take water samples.
“We love Dominion,” said aquarium staff member Charmaine Dahlenburg, who has been coming out to this site almost annually since 2009. “The site is gorgeous, everyone is so kind to us, the staff is very friendly.”
This event is by far the biggest that Dominion spearheads, according to Michael Frederick, vice president-LNG Operations.
“I look forward to this every year,” said Frederick. “It’s one of the few opportunities environmental scientists have to regenerate a species that they thought would be gone.”
Contact Jessica Goodell at news@thebaynet.com
