Nancy Cordes, CBS News chief White House correspondent, will emcee the live presentation of the State of the Rivers on May 7, online via Zoom. photo courtesy of CBS News
ShoreRivers proudly presents its annual State of the Rivers online via Zoom on Friday, May 7, from 5:00-6:15 pm. Nancy Cordes, CBS News chief White House correspondent, will emcee the live presentation, which will include the official release of the 2020 River Report Card and a Q&A session with the Choptank, Miles-Wye, Chester, and Sassafras Riverkeepers. The evening will also feature a presentation of the second annual Award for Environmental Stewardship to Nick Carter, who has been called the Druid of the Chesapeake. The event is free and does not require a Zoom account; register at shorerivers.org/events.
A secchi disk is one piece of equipment Choptank Riverkeeper Matt Pluta uses during weekly water quality monitoring to collect data for the annual ShoreRivers Report Card.
Maryland’s Eastern Shore waterways are negatively impacted by excess nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment runoff from residential, commercial, and agricultural properties. Seasonal flares of bacterial contamination pose risks to human health. ShoreRivers conducts the only comprehensive water quality testing and monitoring of these and other pollutants in our local waterways. The 2020 Report Card reflects the results of these tests throughout four watersheds that span more than 1,650 square miles of the middle and upper Eastern Shore. With data collected by four professional Riverkeepers and citizen scientist volunteers, the Report Card provides a science-based approach to water quality analysis that fuels action.
“The state of our rivers is in our hands,” says ShoreRivers Executive Director Isabel Hardesty. “Good water quality and equitable, easy access to our rivers depend on the actions of our communities; the science tells us where to start. The State of the Rivers event is designed to welcome everyone to the conversation.” Headline topics for the event will include tributary and overall river grades, regional river health trends, strategies to clean local waterways, and a discussion of equitable accessibility. Participants will be able to ask questions of their Riverkeeper in breakout rooms.
In a special highlight of the event this year, ShoreRivers is proud to honor Nick Carter with its Award for Environmental Stewardship in recognition of his transformational accomplishments. After 35 years of service to Maryland’s Department of Natural Resources, Carter is renowned for his spectrum of influence on Bay policies and his singular, moral voice for all woodland and wildlife of the Chesapeake.
ShoreRivers gratefully acknowledges scientific testing support from LaMotte Company. For more information, contact Connor Liu at cliu@shorerivers.org or 443.385.0511 ext. 210.
