(June 3, 2011) – The Maryland State Highway Administration (SHA) has started restoring a threatened wetland at Lizard Hill in Bishopville. The $1.5 million project, which will restore a seepage wetland and habitat for Atlantic white cedar wetland, should be completed by fall, weather permitting.
Located on the existing Bishopville Surface Mine, Lizard Hill was originally used as sand mine. Due to years of mining and loss of vegetation, agricultural runoff went directly into waterways that make up part of Maryland’s coastal bay watershed. The restored wetland and the reestablishment of the Atlantic white cedar trees will act as a buffer to agricultural runoff. In addition to filtering waterways, the trees will slow water velocity that not only erodes vital stream and waterway banks, but also carries suspended sediment to Buntings Branch, which feeds the Bishopville Prong and the St. Martin River.
“It is imperative that SHA protect and enhance waterways that lead to the State’s fragile watersheds,” said SHA Administrator Neil J. Pedersen. “The projects that we begin today will have a positive and lasting impact for tomorrow and help protect the 3,100 miles of Maryland’s coastline.”
As part of the coastal wetland restoration project, SHA will plant approximately 6,500 Atlantic white cedar trees. The Atlantic white cedar is native to Maryland due to freshwater wetlands near the Atlantic coast. Past harvesting of the trees nearly wiped out the Atlantic white cedar habitat, which is a rare, native tree species.
The coastal freshwater marshes of the Mid-Atlantic were typically composed of Atlantic white-cedar, which historically grew in very dense stands with thousands of trees per acre, nearly all of the same age. The Atlantic white cedar, which once thrived in Maryland Coastal regions, exists only in mixed stands in Maryland.
"We are very excited to see the Lizard Hill restoration project finally come to fruition,” said Dr. Roman Jesien, Chief Scientist for the Maryland Coastal Bays Program. “The restoration of the Atlantic white cedar plant community in the Bishopville area is a tremendous start to restoring this fragile ecosystem that was once a common part of our coastal area, but now exists as only a few trees in a few isolated locations".
The project is another environmental milestone for Maryland’s Smart, Green & Growing initiative. Introduced by Governor Martin O’Malley in October 2008, it was created to strengthen the state’s leadership role in fostering smarter, more sustainable growth and inspiring action among all Marylanders to achieve a more sustainable future. The initiative brings together state agencies, local governments, businesses and citizens to create more livable communities, improve transportation options, reduce the state’s carbon footprint, support resource based industry, invest in green technologies, preserve valuable resource lands and restore the health of the Chesapeake Bay.
SHA awarded the Lizard Hill restoration project to David A. Bramble of Chestertown. The project is funded through the Transportation Enhancement Program (TEP), which funds non-traditional, community-based transportation-related projects. The Governor determines which projects qualify for funding based on need and potential benefit to the public. The Maryland Department of Transportation’s State Highway Administration oversees the federal program, which has awarded more than $195 million for 263 projects in Maryland since the TEP program began in 1991.
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