South River Federation partnered with Underwood & Associates to design this amazing regenerative restoration project, with the help of The Maryland Department Natural Resources, Anne Arundel County, Jerry Blackwell (property owner), Meadville Land Service, Chesapeake Bay Trust  and many more and volunteers.

Church Creek and Wilelinor Waterway Restoration Video

Located just north of Route 665 (Aris T. Allen Boulevard) in Annapolis on a parcel that includes several acres of floodplain and steep slopes. The site represents the confluence of two major non-tidal tributaries to Church Creek, the most highly urbanized subwatershed of the South River. Currently, these tributaries are incised into a floodplain composed of over ten feet of aggraded legacy sediments that are exported to tidewater under storm flows through the rapidly eroding (widening) ditch channels. This project created several acres of stream and wetland habitat by raising the invert of the existing ditch channel in multiple locations and inundating or saturating the floodplain.

There are four primary tributaries feeding Church Creek, one of the most highly degraded sub-watersheds on the South River.  One of them, the Wilelinor Stream Valley was restored in 2003 by Underwood and Associates for Anne Arundel County and the Maryland State Highway Administration using sand seepage stream and wetland restoration techniques. The goal of this larger subwatershed restoration effort is to take the necessary steps to repair the other tributaries to Church Creek, using similar restoration methods as well as pond retrofits, upland bioretention practices, and living shoreline techniques to create a model sub-watershed restoration, and evaluate the impact of such cumulative work on the South River.

Anne Arundel County’s Phase II WIP listed this site as moderately degraded and a high priority for restoration.  It is listed in our 2008 Watershed Restoration Plan as one of 30 high and medium priority restoration projects.

2015 BUBBA First Place Award Winner for Best Habitat Creation

To see South River Federation’s Chesapeake Conservation Corps Volunteers capstone project analyzing the preliminary results of the project, view: Project Analysis.

• South River Federation Website  for more pictures and information