The 10th Delaware Wetlands Conference will be held Feb. 6 and 7, 2024 at the Chase Center on the Riverfront in Wilmington. Registration for the biennial conference presented by DNREC is now open, with discounted early bird fees good through Nov. 29. /DNREC photo

Registration is now open for the 10th Delaware Wetlands Conference to be held Feb. 6 and 7, 2024 at the Chase Center on the Riverfront in Wilmington. The biennial conference is presented by the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control and organized by the DNREC Wetland Monitoring and Assessment Program. 

Early-bird registration – with discounted admission fees – can be submitted online and by the United States Postal Service through Nov. 29. Registration closes Jan. 19, 2024. Opportunities are available to sponsor and exhibit at the conference – not only to support wetland science and education in the Mid-Atlantic region, but also as an opportunity to gain visibility with important leaders in the field of wetlands science.

“Wetlands play a vital role in our everyday lives by reducing climate risks and protecting our communities by increasing resiliency to flood and storm impacts, as well as providing nurseries for critical juvenile species. Wetlands also help boost our economy by supporting commercial fisheries, generating green jobs and encouraging eco-tourism,” said DNREC Secretary Shawn M. Garvin. “It is important that we continue to foster an atmosphere that supports the exploration and dissemination of wetlands science. This conference brings together a broad group of people to share the latest information about our wetlands and to plan for the future of these important natural resources.”

The two-day event showcases the importance of wetlands in Delaware and across the Mid-Atlantic region. The conference brings together scientists, educators, natural resource managers, planners, county, state and federal representatives, and community leaders. As has been the conference’s calling card since it was initially held in 2001, attendees will gain insight into current research on tidal and non-tidal wetlands, the value of the region’s wetlands, and the impact that managing them for environmental benefits has on the community. More than 400 experts and enthusiasts from the region and beyond are expected to gather at the biennial conference.

The conference agenda for both days will include invited speakers, networking time, and presentations during concurrent sessions. Attendees including undergraduate and graduate students are invited to submit oral and poster presentations that cover wetland topics related to coastal resilience, soils, beneficial use, monitoring and assessment, remediation, stream and wetland restoration, wildlife, policy/legal considerations, green technology, mitigation and hydrodynamics.

Online registration and information about the event, including sponsorships and the preliminary agenda is available at de.gov/dewetlandsconference. 

About DNREC
The Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control protects and manages the state’s natural resources, protects public health, provides outdoor recreational opportunities and educates Delawareans about the environment. The DNREC Division of Watershed Stewardship develops and implements innovative watershed assessment, monitoring and implementation activities. For more information, visit the website and connect with @DelawareDNREC on Facebook, Instagram, X (formerly known as Twitter) or LinkedIn.

Media Contacts: Joanna Wilson, Joanna.Wilson@delaware.gov; Michael Globetti, michael.globetti@delaware.gov

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A Louisiana living shoreline site originated through the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana with Darrah Fox Bach, CRCL’s Oyster Shell Recycling Program manager in New Orleans, deploying shells at the site /Submitted photo

The Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana (CRCL) and living shorelines along the coast of Louisiana are the topic of a free webinar at 10 a.m., Thursday, Oct. 12, presented by the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, in partnership with the Delaware Living Shorelines Committee. Registration for the webinar and more information is posted on the DNREC events and meetings calendar at de.gov/DNRECmeetings.

The webinar speaker is Darrah Fox Bach, CRCL’s Oyster Shell Recycling Program manager in New Orleans, La. Bach will provide an overview of the non-profit CRCL and the organization’s work on shorelines across the Gulf coast state over the past 35 years. The presentation will showcase on-the-ground habitat restoration projects, advocacy and education in which CRCL engages.

Ms. Bach will highlight a wide range of partners sharing in a vision and commitment to the sustainability of coastal Louisiana. She also will detail the organization’s two volunteer-based restoration programs: the Oyster Shell Recycling Program, which offers a recycling service to New Orleans area restaurants and builds recycled oyster shell living shoreline restoration projects; and the Native Plants Program, which grows native plants from seed and uses them to restore habitat along the Louisiana coast. In addition, the webinar will cover the use of oyster shells and native plants in constructing enduring, adaptive living shorelines that accumulate materials across rectangular platforms to provide habitat and protect critical ecosystems.

This webinar is part of an ongoing virtual series offered by the Delaware Living Shorelines Committee, a work group dedicated to facilitating the understanding, peer review and implementation of living shoreline strategy within the First State. The DNREC Wetland Monitoring and Assessment Program represents the Department in supporting the committee and its work.

More information can be found at delawarelivingshorelines.org.

About DNREC
The Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control protects and manages the state’s natural resources, protects public health, provides outdoor recreational opportunities and educates Delawareans about the environment. The DNREC Division of Watershed Stewardship develops and implements innovative watershed assessment, monitoring and implementation activities. For more information, visit the website and connect with @DelawareDNREC on Facebook, Instagram, X (formerly known as Twitter) or LinkedIn.

Media contact: Joanna Wilson, joanna.wilson@delaware.gov

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Joe Rieger, deputy director of restoration for The Elizabeth River Project in Norfolk, Va. will present a webinar about the use of living shorelines in urban Virginia. Submitted photo

The Elizabeth River Project and living shorelines in urban Virginia is the topic of a free webinar to be presented at 10 a.m. Wednesday, April 26, by the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, in partnership with the Delaware Living Shorelines Committee.

The webinar speaker is Joe Rieger, deputy director of restoration for The Elizabeth River Project in Norfolk, Va. Rieger will provide an overview of the project, and of the non-profit organization’s work in southeastern Virginia over the past 30 years. His presentation will showcase the significant water quality improvements and achieved oyster restoration goals in two tributaries in the surrounding area.

He will also tell how the organization pioneered the first living shoreline cost-share program for homeowners in the United States and carried out the country’s first community lead cleanup of contaminated river bottom. Part of his presentation will go into detail about the River Star Homes Program, a program that offers homeowners matching funds for completing projects, while offering them a turnkey process for project delivery via The Elizabeth River Project’s staff.

The presentation will highlight how The Elizabeth River Project designs oyster habitat into living shoreline projects to improve marsh habitat which can help to reduce overall project cost. The webinar will cover lessons learned, successes, innovative designs, and adaptive management strategies used at over 30 living shorelines completed on private homeowners’ properties.

The webinar is part of an ongoing virtual series offered by the Delaware Living Shorelines Committee, a work group dedicated to facilitating the understanding, peer review and implementation of living shoreline strategy within the state. DNREC’s participation is represented by the DNREC Wetland Monitoring and Assessment program.

For more information, visit the Delaware Living Shorelines website. Registration for the webinar and more information about it are also available on the DNREC events and meetings calendar at de.gov/DNRECmeetings.

About DNREC
The Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control protects and manages the state’s natural resources, protects public health, provides outdoor recreational opportunities and educates Delawareans about the environment. The DNREC Division of Watershed Stewardship develops and implements innovative watershed assessment, monitoring and implementation activities. For more information, visit the website and connect with @DelawareDNREC on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or LinkedIn.

Media Contacts: Joanna Wilson, joanna.wilson@delaware.gov; Michael Globetti, michael.globetti@delaware.gov

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The Lewes Ball Field Living Shoreline Project was designed to reduce marsh erosion caused by boat wakes in the Lewes-Rehoboth Canal, and the project area has successfully regained marsh and elevation. DNREC photo.

More Assistance in Defraying Project Costs, More Staff Resources Offered

Landowners, homeowners’ associations and community boards who qualify are invited to apply for help with the cost of installing living shorelines through an expanded program offered by the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control. DNREC’s Living Shoreline Cost Share Program aims to help protect properties in watersheds throughout the state by providing cost assistance for projects that use natural materials to create a living shoreline.

The program has been revamped to offer more financial assistance to landowners for helping to defray the actual cost of the project. Additionally, DNREC staff resources will make direct contact with the landowner or group planning a living shoreline project for a better understanding of program criteria and the permitting process. To take it further, program staff are likely to serve on the Delaware Living Shorelines Committee, making them knowledgeable and more informative about this type of green infrastructure.

The Cost Share for Vegetative Shoreline Stabilization Program was originally launched by the DNREC Division of Water’s Wetlands and Waterways Section in roughly 2007. In 2021, DNREC’s Watershed Assessment and Management Section within the Division of Watershed Stewardship became the grant applicator in addition to providing the two funding sources for the program. By the end of 2022, the Living Shoreline Cost Share Program had been redesigned, renamed and was ready for relaunch.

Living shorelines utilize natural materials like native plants, oyster shells, and biodegradable coconut-fiber coir logs as a barrier against shoreline erosion and flood impacts. DNREC’s Living Shoreline Cost Share Program aims to enhance the natural beauty of shoreline ecosystems while providing in-depth information for project criteria, design types and financial assistance. Financial assistance depends on the size and watershed location of the living shoreline project. Potential applicants can find a process timeline and project guidelines by going to de.gov/livingshoreline and clicking on Cost Share Program.

For eligible projects, the program provides:

• A review of project design for meeting program criteria;
• Assistance with understanding program criteria and permitting process;
• Reimbursement of a percentage of project costs to the landowner upon completion;
• Opportunities from DNREC for learning how to conduct citizen monitoring; and
• Annual maintenance checks by the cost share program for five years after the project is completed.

Eligible living shoreline project areas are located within targeted watersheds. Currently, only tidal projects in these watersheds will be considered for cost share assistance. Groups of landowners, HOAs, or community boards are also encouraged to apply for assistance with projects where properties may be adjacent to each other or in shared neighborhood spaces.

Funding for the Living Shoreline Cost Share Program comes from a collaborative DNREC effort between the Watershed Assessment and Management Section and the Non-Point Source Program for securing funding, specifically the CWA Section 319 Nonpoint Source Pollution Grant and the Chesapeake Bay Implementation Grant III. Information about both also can be found at de.gov/cheswip.

About DNREC
The Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control protects and manages the state’s natural resources, protects public health, provides outdoor recreational opportunities and educates Delawareans about the environment. The DNREC Division of Watershed Stewardship develops and implements innovative watershed assessment, monitoring and implementation activities. For more information, visit the website and connect with @DelawareDNREC on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or LinkedIn.

Media Contacts: Joanna Wilson, joanna.wilson@delaware.gov; Michael Globetti, michael.globetti@delaware.gov

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‘Wetlands of Wonder: The Hidden World of Vernal Pools,’ a 54-minute nature documentary produced by DNREC in partnership with 302 Stories and filmmaker Michael Oates, will air starting today on DNREC’s YouTube Channel

Free Admission Through DNREC’s YouTube Channel

The Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control has partnered with the production company 302 Stories and writer-director Michael Oates to produce and premiere the nature documentary “Wetlands of Wonder: The Hidden World of Vernal Pools.” The 54-minute film features a panoramic voyage into Delmarva Bays called vernal pools, unique wetland ecosystems found in Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia. The film began airing today on DNREC’s YouTube Channel.

Vernal pools – also known as Coastal Plain seasonal ponds – are small, isolated wetlands that usually emerge in shallow depressions in the ground around forests, seasonally-flooded woodlands or floodplains. Though seasonally inundated, these ecosystems seldom hold water year-round, yet provide important habitat for amphibians and invertebrates, particularly for breeding purposes. Vernal pools, like other wetlands, also provide critical benefits to water quality and function for sustaining fauna and flora across the Delmarva Peninsula.

“Vernal pools are typically small in size, but provide enormous ecological value to a wide variety of species,” said DNREC Secretary Shawn M. Garvin. “This film captures the uniqueness of this little-known wetland type, by putting audiences in contact with rare species found in and around forests, woodlands, floodplains and even underwater.”

The film features a journey through the seasons in vernal pools spanning a year in the life of the species that call these habitats home. Filmmaker Oates and partners including DNREC’s Wetland Monitoring and Assessment program and DNREC Division of Fish and Wildlife staff provide up-close views as well as rare underwater footage of the daily behavior of species that inhabit vernal pools. Included in this hidden world are some of Delaware’s rare and endangered species, such as the Eastern tiger salamander and the barking tree frog, and from the plant world yellow-eyed grass and bog button.

Also featured in the film are monitoring efforts by DNREC scientists and biologists to track environmental changes that impact the function of animal and plant species in these natural areas. “Wetlands of Wonder” also boasts interviews with a range of environmental staff and students from across Delmarva who work to improve research that can lead to a better understanding of this rare natural resource.

Additional production partners for the film include the Delaware Forest Service, University of Delaware, Delaware Nature Society, Eastern Mennonite University and Virginia Vernal Pools, LLC. Funding to produce the documentary was provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration through DNREC.

More information about “Wetlands of Wonder: The Hidden World of Vernal Pools” can be found at 302stories.com. The full-length documentary is available from today on DNREC’s YouTube Channel.

About DNREC
The Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control protects and manages the state’s natural resources, protects public health, provides outdoor recreational opportunities and educates Delawareans about the environment. The DNREC Division of Watershed Stewardship develops and implements innovative watershed assessment, monitoring and implementation activities. For more information, visit the website and connect with @DelawareDNREC on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or LinkedIn.

Media Contacts: Joanna Wilson, joanna.wilson@delaware.gov; Michael Globetti, michael.globetti@delaware.gov

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