Are you a State of Maryland employee or retiree who wants to support our local waterways? Check out the Maryland Charity Campaign (MCC), an annual program open from now until December. MCC makes it easy for you to donate to SMRWA via payroll deduction, credit card, or check. Those who pledge or donate will be entered into prize drawings weekly! Support SMRWA today and sign up here.  

Earlier this month, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources released their 2021-2025 Oyster Management Review. In both the St. Mary's River and Breton Bay, the oyster population increased since the last reporting period (2016-2020)! DNR now considers the Upper St. Mary's River Oyster Sanctuary "restored" because 92% of the large-scale restoration reefs meet the Chesapeake Bay Program's minimum  restoration metrics. The work isn’t done; there are still about 20 acres of historic bottom to restore! 

The Chesapeake Bay received its highest score from this year’s Chesapeake Bay and Watershed Report Card - a C+! Our work restoring oysters, educating the public, and advocating for better watershed management contributed to this success. While the Potomac River received a lower score than the Bay at large (C-), the lower Potomac watershed received a B. While these are promising signs, the work isn’t over. These scores don’t include the impacts of the Potomac River sewage spill in early 2026, and the Lower Potomac’s fish community is still scoring an F. 

Despite the wind and drizzles, over 400 people came out for a day filled with watershed wildlife, history, and fun! RiverFest is made possible by our generous sponsors, hardworking vendors and exhibitors, and enthusiastic volunteers. Thank you to everyone involved! 

Over the past two months, we filled over 300 Marylanders Grow Oysters (MGO) cages with baby oysters and hung them from 67 community volunteers’ piers. Throughout the winter, volunteers will care for the growing oysters. We will plant them in the St. Mary’s River Oyster Sanctuary in the spring. Thank you to all the dedicated MGO volunteers!  

Over 60 enthusiastic volunteers came out to plant oysters in Breton Bay. This event was made possible by Friends of St. Clements Bay, ECOBAY Landscape Design, and Bell Marine Services. Thank you to our volunteers and partners! 

With the help of our hardworking volunteers, we recycled hundreds of pounds of oyster shells, which will soon be home to baby oysters. We also shared how important oysters are to the Chesapeake Bay and talked about our work to restore them in the St. Mary’s River and Breton Bay.

Executive Director Emma Green Ewing will be heading out on maternity leave any moment now! The SMRWA team will take care of things until Emma returns in the new year. Please be sure to respect her leave and contact Carla at carla@smrwa.org while she is out. 

While we were sad to see Rachel Bartlett go, we are excited to welcome Carla, our new Communications and Administrative Manager to the team. After graduating from St. Mary's College of Maryland in 2023 with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, Carla worked at St. Mary's County Community Development Corporation developing the Lexington Manor Passive Park Community Garden. Carla is passionate about protecting and improving our community and in her free time, enjoys crocheting and spending time with pets. 

Though we planned to hire only one person, we were so impressed by Catherine "Cat" Irwin's background that we created a new part-time position just for her. As Program Manager, Catherine will help manage our environmental education, watershed restoration, and conservation. She earned a Bachelor of Arts from Charleston Southern University and a Master of Education from Georgia College & State University and has been an environmental educator all around the country. She is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her family and their two dogs, camping, hiking, and cycling.