Piscataway Park to get stimulus cash

$1 million slated for erosion control along Potomac

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Piscataway Park in Accokeek is set to receive $1 million from the federal economic stimulus package to restore its eroding shores along the Potomac River.

The money is part of a larger $167 million in funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that will fund 50 habitat restoration projects across the country, including Piscataway Park.

The projects will restore damaged wetlands, shellfish beds, coral reefs and reopen fish passages to improve the nation's coastal and Great Lakes communities.

The funds, which will be dispersed in September, will be used to help restore two acres of shoreline In Piscataway Park covering a half-mile along the Potomac River. The project is expected to provide fish habitat and erosion protection, as well as help protect 30 acres of freshwater wetland and preserve an American Indian archeological site in the park.

Planners at the Alice Ferguson Foundation in Accokeek, which will administer the grant money, said that the park has been losing shoreline for the last four years because of natural erosion.

Things have gotten so bad that park officials have had to relocate a road it uses for hay rides and have considered closing the canoe program.

Tracy Bowen, the foundation's executive director, said the money will pay for a "living shore" along the Potomac River that would include placing plants, stone, sand fill and other structural and organic materials to help stabilize the shore.

"It's an exciting grant," Bowen said. "[The restored shoreline] is probably one of the biggest living shorelines in the region."

Currently, the park has a rock shoreline in place that Bowen said was cheaper to install than a living shoreline but has been found to accelerate erosion downstream.

Bowen said U.S. Rep. Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md. 5) was instrumental in having the funds directed to Maryland environmental projects. Upon completion, these projects will have restored more than 8,900 acres of habitat.

The restoration projects will remove more than 850 metric tons of debris, rebuild oyster and other shellfish habitat and reduce environmental impact to 11,750 acres of coral reefs.

"I am pleased that the Piscataway Park project was chosen as a priority restoration project. The park is a national treasure on the Potomac River that is home to many species and serves as a wonderful resource for environmental research and education," Hoyer said in a statement.

jgarner@gazette.net