The Annapolis Maritime Museum & Park presents Stormwater Management Project at Park Campus
A large-scale Stormwater Management Project is underway at the Annapolis Maritime Museum & Park’s (AMM) 12-acre Park Campus, located at 7300 Edgewood Road, Annapolis, also known as the Ellen O. Moyer Nature Park. This project was made possible by a grant from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources’ (DNR) Chesapeake and Atlantic Coastal Bays Trust Fund and designed by award-winning ecological restoration firm Underwood & Associates.
The Park Campus’ main entrance and plaza area have been vulnerable to stormwater runoff and nuisance flooding for decades. The shoreline along the cove has struggled to maintain vegetation and has visible signs of erosion due to high tides and storm surges. To combat these persistent degradations to the landscape, the AMM along with the Chesapeake and Coastal Services division at the DNR developed a conceptual design to restore the low-lying lawn area by redirecting the water to create a natural wetland system.
Work for this project commenced at the Park Campus in mid-October and is projected to be completed by early December. Before construction, hot and polluted stormwater ran untreated into Back Creek. The project consists of a variety of stormwater management techniques, such as a stormwater conveyance system and utilizes natural materials like sand, cobble, and sandstone to treat stormwater before it flows into Back Creek. “To put it simply, the goal of this project is to slow it down, spread it out, soak it in.” said Alice Estrada, President and CEO of the AMM. The project will help the City of Annapolis meet its total maximum daily load goals by reducing total nitrogen by 26.37 lbs per year, total phosphorus by 3.27 lbs per year, and total suspended solids by 1,156.39 lbs per year.
Additionally, this restoration project will not only be an asset to the AMM’s Education Center, serving 12,000 students annually, but also the entire community by providing an ecological exhibit that will be seen by thousands of visitors each year. These improvements to the Park Campus will increase public access to the Chesapeake Bay, improve water quality, creating an ideal location for fishing and crabbing. This project will also serve as a demonstration of proactive management strategies to combat the effects of climate change and coastal flooding.
While the Park Campus’ main entrance and plaza are under construction, the walking trails will remain open to the public.
