Late Summer Program Updates

Published: August 16, 2023

Water Quality Monitoring and our Interns

What’s with the new deck shoes? A new fashion fad for veteran Water Quality Monitors??? Not exactly.

Our veteran intern, Jason, is heading off to college this week to “enjoy” his Navy ROTC training before he starts class at Virginia Tech. He’s been breaking in these babies while driving our scientific research vessel, Sea Girl, on our water quality monitoring tours these past couple of weeks.

Fellow interns, Havana and Natalie, are cheering Jason on.

With summer winding down this month for interns, our water quality monitoring program marches on. Our water quality teams will be exploring and monitoring the Severn River through the end of October, so there are plenty of opportunities to get an up-close, hands-on experience tracking the health of our river.

It’s a great way to enjoy a science adventure on the river. To join a tour, contact SRA’s Tom Guay at: taguay@severnriver.org.

Thanks to Delaplaine Foundation for their support of SRA’s water quality monitoring program!

 

Floating Classrooms

SRA’s popular Floating Classroom program is underway this summer in partnership with the Annapolis Boys & Girls Club and the Annapolis Police Department’s summer camp program.

During the Classroom, middle schoolers learn the ins and outs of water quality monitoring, like measuring the clarity of the water with a Secchi Disk. They also study the the Severn River’s aquatic habitat created within our underwater grass beds – home to schools of forage fish, young crabs and sea nettles, food for waterbirds and otters, protecting shorelines and oxygenating the water.
 
And, they can also enjoy time at the helm of SRA’s scientific research vessel, Sea Girl.
 
Thanks to Community Foundation of Anne Arundel County for funding the Floating Classroom!
Operation Osprey
What’s everybody searching for? Osprey of course. The searchers are all part of SRA’s innovative, Operation Osprey campaign.
 
In July, our citizen volunteers helped us chart osprey nests (in trees and on platforms) and chronicle an initial population data base – just as the osprey fledglings started to fly and many mamma ospreys started migrating to South America.
 
Over the winter, we’ll be recruiting volunteers to join our new Osprey Navy to help chart nests (in trees and on platforms) and conduct an annual census of osprey living in the Severn River watershed. We’ll use the population database to assess the health of the Severn River and provide early warning signs of stressors (pollution, development, climate change, overfishing).
 
Special thanks goes to BGE and the Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race Foundation for supporting this initial phase of our osprey research and education program.