Improving Chesapeake Bay’s health with dredge material

Leaders of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have toured Poplar Island – an ecosystem restoration project in Talbot County.

Lt. Gen. Scott Spellmon, USACE Commanding General and 55th Chief of Engineers, USACE Baltimore District Commander Col. Estee Pinchasin, and Ms. Karen Baker, USACE North Atlantic Division Regional Programs Director, along with other USACE team members and Maryland State partners, visited the area on October 5, 2021.

Poplar Island is an ecosystem restoration project in Maryland, in the Chesapeake Bay.

Earlier this year, USACE, in coordination with the Maryland Department of Transportation Maryland Port Administration and other federal and state agencies, completed construction of the project’s lateral expansion.

This expansion provides 575 additional acres of wetland habitat and a critical placement site for material dredged from the approach channels to the Port of Baltimore, extending through approximately 2032.

The project represents a long-term strategy for providing a viable dredged material placement site that meets the Port of Baltimore’s dredging needs to keep the waterways safe and open while also maximizing the use of dredged material as a beneficial resource to benefit the health of the Chesapeake Bay watershed.