Chesapeake Bay Restoration in Progress

Chesapeake Bay Restoration in Progress. Sharptown Living Shoreline. What is a "Living Shoreline?" A natural shoreline with a gradual transition between the bank and water's edge. Typically, planted with native (plants common to the local area) trees, shrubs and grasses - living shorelines do not end abrubtly at water's edge like a common bulkhead. Instead they use gradual slopes, vegetation, and low rock sills to slow wave energy and create habitat for fish, crabs and other critters that live along this transitional area., Upland Buffer , Native trees are planted in the buffer to provide shoreline stabilization and erosion control., Bankface , Grasses and shrubs are planted along the bank to provide further erosion control and some habitat., Tidal Marsh , Wetland plants are placed in this area providing the most habitat for nesting terrapins, horseshoe crabs and other species. This area is flooded during high tide., Biolog and Rock Sill , Biologs are made of organic material and help stabilize the newly created bank. , Depending on wave energy and location rock sills may also be used to provide added stabilization., (sidebar) , Sharptown's Historic Shoreline, Sharptown was a thriving shipbuilding town during most of the 19th century and into the early part of the 20th century. Located on a stretch of high ground where the river runs relatively straight, Sharptown became the ideal spot for building sailing vessels., An abundance of good lumber nearby allowed shipbuilders easy access to the materials they needed to build the large, 100ft. schooners that sailed the world., This project was funded under the Coastal Zone Management Act, by NOAA's Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management, in conjunction with the Maryland Chesapeake and Coastal Program