The St. Mary’s River Watershed Association needs a financial sponsor ($1,500) for our new SAV Watchers Program!
Submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) is essential to river health. These underwater grasses improve water quality, absorb harmful excess nutrients, stabilize sediments, and provide food and shelter for a variety of commercially, ecologically, and recreationally important species, including fish, crabs, and waterfowl. Yet, we only have a cursory knowledge of SAV’s distribution, which is primarily tracked through an aerial survey conducted once a summer.
In response to these data gaps, the St. Mary’s River Watershed Association is launching a new program in the St. Mary’s River: SAV Watchers. This program is a community-based submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV; bay grasses) monitoring program that follows methods developed by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. Participants will attend a workshop to learn SAV identification, ecological significance, and standardized data collection methods. Trained volunteers will then check out a numbered monitoring kit and document species presence, relative abundance, and site conditions throughout the growing season (spring to summer).
Data collected through this program will help us understand where these grasses currently exist, which species are present, and how distribution has changed over time. These data will lay the groundwork for future SAV restoration initiatives. To accomplish this, we are asking for a generous sole sponsor for this program. Funding will provide essential tools and materials needed to launch and sustain the SAV Watchers program in St. Mary’s River. We have put together a list of the materials needed and associated costs. For 30 kits, we are requesting a sponsorship of $1,500.
Beyond data collection, this program is designed to build a culture of stewardship. By engaging waterfront home owners, paddlers, anglers, students, and residents, SAV Watchers strengthens community connection to the river and increases understanding of how individual actions influence water quality and habitat. Consider the impact you’d be making in our community!
If interested in being the sole sponsor of this program, please email Emma at [email protected].