Restoration Spotlight: Partnering for Stream Restoration in the Rhode River Watershed

At Arundel Rivers Federation, some of our most impactful work begins quietly. A conversation, a site visit, or a community need often grows into restoration possibilities. The Dove Hill stream restoration project in the Rhode River watershed is one of these stories. It’s a story of persistence, partnership, and the kind of behind-the-scenes work that turns big environmental challenges into real, measurable change.

Nearly four years ago, we connected with the landowner of Dove Hill Farm at the headwaters of Muddy Creek in the Rhode River watershed. That relationship would ultimately lead to one of the most significant restoration opportunities we’ve pursued.

After visiting the site, our Restoration Team quickly recognized its potential. The stream was deeply degraded, with severe erosion and instability but that challenge also meant opportunity. With the right approach, this site could deliver massive reductions in nutrient pollution and water quality improvements for the Rhode River and the Chesapeake Bay.

And this is where YOUR support matters. Early site visits, relationship building, and project development (the essential, behind-the-scenes groundwork for projects like these - are powered by donor dollars. Without your investment, projects like this one don’t get the attention they deserve and rarely get off the ground.

So how do we take a project from a site visit with a landowner to big pollution reductions? It takes creativity and a ton of collaboration!

In 2022, we brought in our restoration partners at BayLand Consultants & Designers and Resource Restoration Group (RRG) – two firms with a strong track record of delivering large-scale restoration projects. Together, we pursued a multi-pronged funding strategy, pairing traditional grant programs with public investment through Anne Arundel County’s innovative “Turnkey” program where Anne Arundel County works directly with private contractors to design, build, and maintain restoration projects from start to finish.

The path to bringing this project to life hasn’t been simple. While Arundel Rivers is not managing this phase of implementation, the early work to identify the site potential, build relationships, and coordinate partners, was made possible entirely through the support of our donors and community. In short, because of you, Dove Hill will become one of the most impactful nutrient reduction projects in the Rhode River watershed and in our organization’s history.

Where does the project stand today? The Dove Hill project is being implemented in phases:

Phase one – funded by the County’s Turnkey program - will restore nearly 1,600 linear feet of degraded stream. This phase is designed and permitted by BayLand and currently under construction by Resource Restoration Group.

Phase two – assessment and conceptual design has been completed through a National Fish and Wildlife Foundation grant, and Arundel Rivers is also actively pursuing additional funding to advance the project through final implementation.

When complete, the two phases will restore nearly 3,200 linear feet of stream and deliver some of the most significant, estimated pollution reductions of any project we’ve undertaken, including preventing approximately:

• 2,000 lbs/year of nitrogen

• 960 lbs/year of phosphorus;and

• 680 tons/year of sediment prevented from entering our waterways

  
  

Decades of land use changes, including deforestation and agricultural pressures have left this stream deeply incised and unstable, actively contributing to pollution, sending sediment and nutrients downstream into the Rhode River. Restoring the stream and reconnecting the floodplain will slow and filter polluted stormwater, stabilize eroding streambanks, rebuild wetland and habitat, and reduce downstream flooding. In short, we are turning a source of pollution into a solution.

This project is also a powerful example of how public-private partnerships can accelerate restoration. Anne Arundel County’s Turnkey Program enables private firms to design, build, and maintain projects on private lands, expanding the scale and speed of restoration across the county. At Arundel Rivers, we play a critical role in making these partnerships possible through identifying sites, building relationships with landowners, coordinating partners, and pursuing funding to bring projects to life.