Save the Plumtree Branch is on a mission to protect the Plumtree Branch Stream in Howard County, Maryland from a so-called “restoration” process that will inherently destroy woods around the stream and harm the habitat of local fish, birds and other wildlife. Formed in 2022 out of concern for their neighborhood’s environmental wellbeing, the group has been working to raise awareness of how the county’s stream restoration process isn’t the environmentally friendly measure that it’s billed as. While such restoration is promoted as a method for meeting state and EPA requirements to reduce the amount of pollution and sediment being sent into the Chesapeake Bay, the group highlights how even the Chesapeake Bay Foundation itself has expressed doubts about the validity of such urban stream restorations. As a community watchdog looking out for the local environment, Save the Plumtree Branch provides a critical voice for residents to protect their neighborhood.
A recently completed stream restoration in Mt Hebron reduced home values and destroyed the existing woods.
A small group of residents – yet one that includes the former president of the local Saint John Community Association – Save the Plumtree Branch (SPB) is focused on advocacy in favor of environmental resilience in their neighborhood. These efforts center around the message that these types of stream restorations fail to follow the spirit of the law that’s supposedly aimed at protecting the environment. While Howard County is required by law to reduce the amount of sediment and pollutants going to the Chesapeake Bay, SPB has noted that such questionable stream restorations are merely the cheapest way for the County to meet these regulatory requirements. SPB also points to how the Army Corps of Engineers and Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) have suggested that localities shouldn’t overly rely on stream restorations to reduce pollutants going to the Bay and should instead aim to reduce the amount of water entering the stream from upstream of where erosion is occurring.
A big sandbar shows there is still plenty of sediment in the stream.