Chesapeake Bay Health Improving With Help From Community-Funded Projects
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (WJZ) -- Cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay is a big job.
But breaking it down into smaller efforts may help the state reach that goal.
The Chesapeake Bay has been showing signs of improvement over the past few years.
Algae blooms and dead zones have been shrinking, because nutrients like nitrogen have been reduced.
The big job of making the bay healthier boils down to a basic strategy:
"The whole idea is to remove those nutrients and to reduce the amount of sediments going into the bay," said DNR secretary Mark Belton.
RELATED: Chesapeake Bay Health Trending Upward For First Time
Expensive solo projects like new sewage treatment plants have helped.
But Maryland is also spending millions on a variety of smaller projects, like reforestion along streams.
Planting new marsh grasses to slow erosion and trap nutrients and the rebuilding of oyster reefs.
Work not done by the state, but funded through the bay trust grants.
MORE: Chesapeake Bay Water Quality Improving But Challenges Lie Ahead
"Anybody that is a local government, a school system, a non-profit organization is who we're looking to partner with," Belton said.
Moores Branch is a small stream that runs through the park school campus.
"We're going to be able to remove 400,000 pounds of sediment solids in the stream flowing down into the Chesapeake Bay," Tim Pickering, of the Park School said.
Park School is one of 18 grant recipients awarded nearly $1 million to restore the stream.
"There's been much more erosion than there should be," Pickering said. "The sides of the stream are too steep. We want to level those out a little bit and add more curves to it to slow it. Give more time for oxygen to get in."
The goal is to do enough small projects to add up to large scale improvements, which Belton said "management practice will have the most positive effect on different areas of the bay.
Follow @WJZ on Twitter and like WJZ-TV | CBS Baltimore on Facebook