April was a big month at the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay between Earth Month and National Volunteer Month! On Saturday, April 27th staff tabled at events all around the watershed — ranging from working with kids to plant seedlings at Quiet Water Park in Annapolis, MD, to providing a professional development training for teachers about the Chesapeake Bay in Richmond, VA. Along with tabling, staff also hosted several volunteer tree planting events as well as several native plant events. We’d  like to take the opportunity to highlight just a few of the events the Alliance has worked on this Earth & National Volunteer Month!

Asbury Broadneck United Methodist Church tree planting

Members of the Asbury Broadneck United Methodist Church congregation and the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay team came together to plant over 100 native wetland plants on Saturday, April 27, 2019. The planting marked the completion of a larger clean water project on the church grounds that helps protect their historic cemetery and Whitehall Creek, their local stream that flows directly into the Chesapeake Bay.

Bay in a Day Professional Development Training for Teachers

Our RiverWise Schools Program Coordinator, Meredeth Dash, held a Professional Development training for 21 Richmond Public School teachers on site at a farm run by our partner Community Food Collaborative in Virginia. 

Native Planting at Chesapeake Bay Program

Alliance staff member, Will Parson worked with volunteers from the Chesapeake Bay Program Green Team to plant 105 plants on Fourth Street (Leon Wolfe) Park, with support from the City of Annapolis’ GreenSpace program and Unity Garden. This garden was previously planted, but had died off over recent years.

Tabling at St.John’s College for Croquet match

The Alliance was invited to help sell drink tickets at the annual St. Johns vs. Naval Academy Croquet Match. The event was sold out and our team had a chance to reach out to a large number of people about the Alliance and the work that we do in communities across the Chesapeake. St. John’s is even donating a portion of the drink tickets back to the Alliance to do more on the ground work!

Quiet Waters Park Earth Day Festival

Alliance staff member, Harriet Newquist, and Alliance volunteer, Margaret Radford, tabled at Quiet Waters park where they helped kids plant purple coneflower seedlings in ice cream cones to then take home and plant their native plants at home. The event also had musicians for entertainment and great vendors!

Tree Planting in Manheim Township in Lancaster and in Narvon, PA

In just the month of April, the Alliance’s Pennsylvania staff had a total of nine volunteer tree planting events. On Saturday, April 27th we hosted two volunteer streamside forest buffer plantings. The first was on the Home Owners Association’s property at Worthington Community in Manheim Township, and we planted 180 trees. The second was at Historic Poole Forge, a park in Narvon, PA. We planted 140 trees there and will plant more in the fall after our partners at the Lancaster County Conservation District finish a streambank restoration project. We had 25 volunteers come out to help plant trees!

Earth Day on the Farm at Wardensville Farmers Market

The Alliance helped with Earth Day on the Farm by the Wardensville Farmers Market in Wardensville, WV for the second year in a row. Over 100 community members attended an on-site planting, mulching and watering of the 100 trees we planted at last year’s event. That’s a great day for the Cacapon River and for our native wildlife!

Tabling at the Lancaster Native Plant & Wildlife Festival

The Alliance attended the Lancaster Native Plant and Wildlife Festival for the second year in a row in Lancaster, PA. Despite the windy weather, our team had a great time getting to know the attendees who were passionate about restoring Lancaster’s native landscapes and sharing information about our work in Pennsylvania.

The Alliance would like to say a special THANK YOU to all of our amazing volunteers who help us plant trees and native plants, clean up streams, monitor local water quality, and much more year-round! Thanks to YOU the Alliance is making an impact on the quality of local land and water across the Chesapeake watershed.