Members of South River Federation unanimously approved to consolidate with West Rhode Riverkeeper at the annual meeting held on October 30th Effective January 1, 2019 the Federation and West/Rhode Riverkeeper Inc. will become Arundel Rivers Federation and will serve an expanded area with jurisdiction in the West and Rhode watershed and Herring Bay. The members present at the meeting voted to approve the proposed bylaws with amendments including retaining rights to approve future Bylaw amendments. These new Bylaws will be posted on the website along with links to other watershed groups working in the county.
All staff including both riverkeepers, Jesse Iliff and Jeff Holland, will serve in current roles and all current program will continue. The new Arundel Rivers Federation board of directors will have representation from both the Federation and West/Rhode and will establish advisory boards to work on watershed related programs and advocate for issues in the respective areas. The end of year giving campaigns for both organizations will continue through Dec 31, 2018. We hope current members/ donors will continue their level of support next year to Arundel Rivers Federation. Contributions can be restricted to the South River Watershed if desired.
New logo concepts for Arundel Rivers Federation were presented at the annual meeting. No decision has been made on the new logo, however the board will take into account all comments and approve a final design at its December 4th meeting. Current members are welcome to express their views on the proposed logo concepts by sending an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Type New Logo in the subject line. Click here for more information about the merger.
Fish Survey Results Are In!
This Summer, David Lanier, our Restoration Project Manager, led our band of summer interns and assorted volunteers to survey the fish populations at our current or potential restoration sites. Fish surveying is hot, hard work, lugging heavy gear through tick-infested shrubs. Thank you to all who participated.
This year the Federation changed its survey protocol to align with MD Department of Natural Resources’ Biological Stream Survey protocol (http://dnr.maryland.gov/streams/Publications/R4Manual.pdf), where a 75 meter representative stretch of stream is chosen.
We were very pleased with the preliminary results of the fish survey at our Church Creek Headwaters site off Rt. 665. There was so much underwater grass and such great fish habitat, that we were unable to properly survey it! However, last year while we saw an increase in fish, they still had a lot of fungi and parasites on them. This year the fish all looked healthy.
BIG NEWS!
FEDERATION PLANS TO JOIN FORCES WITH WEST/RHODE RIVERKEEPER
View the Press Release
View Frequently Asked Questions.
View the Consolidation Agreement.
Click here to see the proposed New Bylaws that will be presented for approval at the October 30th South River Federation annual meeting.
2017-18* Marylanders Grow Oysters Participants for the South River
See below for our list of Marylanders Grow Oysters Program Participants. We are grateful to our oyster gardeners for taking care of their baby oysters over the winter at their docks. That way, in the spring they will be large enough to thrive in the wild when moved to the South River Oyster Sanctuary Reef. See the participant list below.