The Magothy River Association (MRA) built a time capsule that was submerged in the Magothy River on Magothy River Day, Sunday, June 12.  The public was invited to tell future generations what they are doing today to restore the Magothy for tomorrow.  Comments were placed into the time capsule.  More than 185 students from St. John's, Severna Park Middle and Eagle Cove schools participated in this endeavor.  The hope is that future generations will see the time capsule when the Magothy River reaches a more improved aquatic health.  Examples of the students' contributions follow:

Annabelle Mackenzie from Eagle Cove School: "I am helping to keep the Magothy clean by raising Diamond Back Terrapins."

Joule King from Eagle Cove School: "I am helping to keep the Magothy clean by growing oysters."

Scarlet Pitts from Eagle Cove School: "I pick up trash on the beach so it can stay clean."

In the Time Capsule, there were also cds submitted by the schools, MRA, AA County, and NOAA; an old VHS Magothy River Land Trust tape describing MRLT's efforts to preserve open space; a 'Save Dobbins' bumper sticker; a copy of the Severna Park Voice; a copy of the Bay Journal; a copy of the last "Our Bay" page; a copy of the Capital; and a copy of the 2010 MRA Magothy River Index.

The time capsule was a five-gallon plastic bucket filled with concrete and sealed air-tight.  It was deployed on the Rock Point Oyster Reef Restoration site in the Magothy.  It will remain underwater and provide additional oyster habitat.  Some day the Time Capsule will be re-discovered and opened.

Click here to see the photo gallery of this event.

How does one shop responsibly, when nearly all store-bought goods, including groceries, are packaged in plastic?  This is just one of the topics that will be addressed in the free lecture called "Where does the Trash Go?" at 6:30pm on Thursday, June 2.  This is part of The Friends of Quiet Waters Park's Environmental Lecture Series, and will be held in the Blue Heron Center of Quiet Waters Park.

The lecture will address other issues as "What is the Delay of Passing a State-Wide Plastic Bag Fee in Maryland," and "What is the Impact of Plastic Litter on Chesapeake Bay Fish and Wildlife."

Lectures in this series will be held on the first and third Thursdays of the month, always at 6:30pm in the Blue Heron Center.

For more information, call Quiet Waters Park at 410-222-1777.

The Magothy River Association will hold it's ninth annual "State of the Magothy" conference on February 16, 2011 at Anne Arundel Community College/West Campus in Arnold; Room 100 in the CALT building.  Doors and displays open at 6:30 pm.  The program, which includes speakers and features the annual Magothy River Index, runs from 7:00 - 9:00 pm.  For more information, contact Paul Spadaro at 410-647-8772 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . 

Photo by Brian Lancione: Berrywood South used a grant from the stimulus package to help pay for this living shoreline, which will help protect their bulkhead with native grasses beneficial to the environment.

 By Kevin Murnane

The residents of Berrywood South had a decision to make with its decaying retaining wall in 2007. They could have rebuilt it and kept all the grasses they had grown there that were not natural to the region or take a chance on a new concept that was being used in some areas of the region called a “living shoreline.”

Their first step was to get some local expertise in the person of Jana Davis, Ph.D, who was the associate director of the Chesapeake Bay Trust. Berrywood South had numerous problems on its shoreline including invasive Phragmites - hard grasses not natural to this region - a small failing bulkhead on the east side of the pier and a retaining wall that was over 20 years old.