CCCC Member Capstone Blog-An Innovative Approach to SAV Restoration

Hello folks! If I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting you yet, my name is Rachel Beall, and I am the Chesapeake Conservation and Climate Corps (CCCC) Member at Arundel Rivers Federation this year. I chose to work at Arundel Rivers because of the impressive and encompassing work that they do for the South, West, and Rhode Rivers - from large-scale restoration projects, to science-based advocacy, local Best Management Practices (BMPs), and volunteer and education experiences for all ages. You and our rivers are in great hands. 

As part of the CCCC program, each member completes a capstone project that benefits both the host site (Arundel Rivers in my case!) and the Corps member. I came to Arundel Rivers with a research background in mathematics and environmental science, with concentrations in Chesapeake regional studies, Submerged Aquatic Vegetation (SAV), and climate modeling. Through my education and experience with Arundel Rivers, I knew that I want to continue restoring, researching, and advocating for the Chesapeake Bay - particularly, with SAV! 

Thanks to generous funding from the Chesapeake Bay Trust, my capstone will be in partnership with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and Providence Greenhouses to grow about 150,000 SAV seeds in tanks to be planted in the Rhode River later this year! 

The current tank setup.

This restoration project idea is new to Arundel Rivers, but not new in Chesapeake Bay research. I am working closely with representatives from DNR who have done this research with eelgrass, and who have experience in this large-scale setting. I have also experimented with this type of SAV restoration in college, as I worked with redhead grass seeds processed by ShoreRivers on the Eastern Shore (Go Washington College!). However, we have not yet tried to grow the three species that Arundel Rivers processed - sago, widgeon, and horned pondweed.

The objective of this research is to grow SAV in a more controlled environment, avoiding common causes of seeds not germinating, like lack of oxygen and not enough available light from excess sediment in the water column. Once the seeds have matured to sproutlings in the tanks, we can transplant the SAV into the rivers, where hopefully, they have a better chance of survival. Essentially, I am SAV gardening!

Here is me in college so excited about the Redhead Grass growth from this restoration technique!

Last year alone, Arundel Rivers processed and stored over 7 million SAV seeds to be planted back into the South, West, and Rhode Rivers! Our monitoring team was gracious in setting aside some seeds for me to experiment with this new-to-Arundel Rivers restoration technique, which, with the support of staff from Arundel Rivers, DNR, and Providence Greenhouses, we have successfully planted in large tanks. I chose to experiment with substrate in the tanks as well, so some of the tanks have a mixture of gardening soil and sand, and others have sediment taken from places in our rivers with known historic SAV growth. We are curious if there is something in the sediment where there was once SAV growth that makes it more conducive to germination success. Stay tuned for results from the project!

Water Monitoring Program Coordinator Riley & Chesapeake and Climate Conservation Corps member Rachel collecting the sediment for some SAV tanks.

Mixing the sand and soil for the rest of the SAV tanks.

Once we mixed and collected enough sediment, we planted the seeds in tanks and patiently waited for growth. At the end of January, we saw that some of the seeds had sprouted! Right now, widgeon grass is the superstar in terms of growth, but we have growth from sago and horned pondweed as well. I am so excited to keep seeing these plants grow!

Widgeon grass is growing well already.

Water heaters and powerheads are placed in each tank, and large grow lights are over the tanks to help our seedlings grow. We also mixed saline water for each tank to mimic the natural growing conditions as much as possible. Each week, I check on the SAV plants by maintaining the water salinity and level, clearing any algae growth, and doing quadrant sampling of germination success in the tanks.

Thanks for all of your support already on social media as I share updates of this project. Be sure to follow us @Arundel Rivers Federation on Facebook and @arundelriversfed on Instagram for more project updates! I hope to connect with you more soon, and all my best fishes!🐟🌱