Monocacy and Catoctin Watershed Alliance
The Monocacy & Catoctin Watershed Alliance (MCWA) is coordinated by the Office of Sustainability and Environmental Resources (OSER) and is a mutual, collaborative, non-advocacy effort among individuals and organizations desiring to work together to improve the health of the Monocacy and Catoctin watersheds. Growing out of more than two years of action planning for the Monocacy Watershed Restoration Action Strategy (WRAS), a Frederick-County-coordinated and State-assisted local planning process, participants decided to continue their affiliation and cooperation at its conclusion in order to help foster the WRAS plan implementation.
Mission Statement
The Monocacy & Catoctin Watershed Alliance coordinates the efforts of a diverse group of stakeholders dedicated to the protection and restoration of the natural resources in the Monocacy & Catoctin Watersheds.
Vision Statement
We envision broadening and deepening stewardship ethic among and informed citizenry, which will help protect the County's agricultural heritage and rural character, maintain and improve the quality of life, protect and treasure our natural resources, and manage future growth more wisely. We envision healthy streams and rivers with forested buffers supplying clean drinking water and supporting healthy communities of aquatic and terrestrial life, as well as diverse and popular recreational uses. We envision a healthy and vibrant agricultural community built on links with citizens who support local agricultural and renewable forest products. We envision increasingly concentrated residential development using conservation design principles with access to collective transportation modes and a web of well-maintained trails. We envision watershed conservation folks from all sectors and communities collaborating to implement effective conservation and restoration practices and foster a creative stewardship consciousness.
MCWA Quarterly Meetings
April 17, 2019 - The Monocacy & Catoctin Watershed Alliance quarterly meeting was held at Hood College. Guest speaker Claire Hudson, Biology Instructor and Coordinator of the Coastal Studies Program at Hood College, gave a presentation on a pilot study that sought to determine the efficiency of garden beds designed to receive rooftop runoff and act a reservoir for sub-irrigation. Guest speaker Michael Paskowsky, a board member of the Friends of Baker Park and a Project Manager for the Culler Lake Renaissance updated us on the future Culler Memorial Plaza project around Culler Lake which will provide interpretative educational elements for visitors to the park.
Thank you Claire and Michael for your presentations and your work on these wonderful projects!
If you wish to participate and receive alerts about upcoming events and meetings for MCWA, please visit our Register page to subscribe!
PAST MEETINGS
January 30, 2019 - The Monocacy and Catoctin Watershed Alliance quarterly meeting was held at Fountain Rock Nature Center. Guest speaker Joe Richardson, owner of Bar-T Mountainside, talked about the restoration of the North Branch of Bennett Creek which runs through Mountainside’s farm campus for summer camps, after-school programs, field trips, and retreats. The restoration will restore stream bank stability and floodplain function and prevent upland stormwater and nutrient impacts. The project will include removing legacy sediments from the floodplain, restoring the stream channel and improving aquatic and floodplain habitat to capture and process nutrients and sediment from upstream areas. The stream will be stabilized by realigning portions of the stream using sustainable design concepts and creating natural sinuous stream pattern that will allow access to the existing floodplain, add diversity to the system, and create habitat. Click here to see a video about the project.
Thank you Joe, and thanks to Fountain Rock Nature Center for hosting!