Anne Arundel Protects Waterfront Towns With 'Living Shorelines'

CAPE ST. CLAIRE, MD — Anne Arundel County installed a living shoreline to protect Cape St. Claire from the strong tides of the Magothy River. The project finished its first phase on April 16 and will slow erosion in an environmentally friendly way.

Most waterfront properties use hard barriers, like bulkheads and riprap, to preserve their banks. While effective, these strategies use land materials like bricks, concrete, rocks and wood.

Living shorelines instead rely on native plants. The vegetation creates a natural barrier, offers an aquatic habitat and combats pollution.

"The Cape St. Claire community has witnessed severe erosion along these shorelines over the years," County Executive Steuart Pittman tweeted. "This 970 linear foot living shoreline and 8,000 foot tidal wetland on the shores of the Magothy River is great news for our residents and our environment."

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The living shoreline runs parallel to River Bay Road. The marsh was already in place, but the initiative will make it even more resilient.

A second wave of work will follow later this year. That effort will focus on more western communities on the Magothy.

The green construction cost just over $1 million. Anne Arundel contributed $298,868. That funding came from the county's Watershed Protection and Restoration Fee, also known as the stormwater fee. Community and state grants kicked in the remaining $744,331.

The Alliance For the Bay and the Cape St. Claire Improvement Association led the build. The Chesapeake Bay Trust and the Anne Arundel County Bureau of Watershed Protection and Restoration helped secure the funding.

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