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January 21, 2026

Cambridge Spy

Nonpartisan and Education-based News for Cambridge

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With Science Funding Tight, Horn Point Researchers Look Beyond the Lab

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Anji Cooper, a PhD candidate at Horn Point, with sediment samples she analyzes as part of her research on living shorelines.

As federal and state budgets tighten and research dollars grow harder to secure, young scientists are increasingly forced to think beyond traditional academic careers.

At the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science’s (UMCES) Horn Point Laboratory in Cambridge, a new group of early-career researchers is doing just that through an entrepreneurial fellowship that helps open options and an alternative path forward.

Five Horn Point scientists are part of the 2026 class of the Ratcliffe Environmental Entrepreneurs Fellowship Program, a seven-month training initiative that teaches scientists how to translate research into real-world applications and, in some cases, viable businesses.

The fellowship comes at a moment when funding uncertainty has become a defining feature of scientific careers, particularly for graduate students and postdoctoral researchers navigating a highly competitive job market. While many still aspire to academic positions, fewer faculty openings, tighter grant funding and shifts in government priorities have made that path less predictable.

“Scientists are realizing they need more than just research skills,” said Dr. Nina Lamba, director of the fellowship program. “They need to understand how ideas move from the lab into practice, whether that is through industry, startups, or other applied work.”

The Ratcliffe fellowship, founded in 2014 and supported by the Philip E. and Carole R. Ratcliffe Foundation, is open to trainee scientists across UMCES. Of the nine fellows selected this year, five are based at Horn Point: Anji Cooper, Christine Knauss, Yumeng Pang, Limin Sun and Le Zhang.

Over the seven months, participants meet monthly to learn business planning, marketing, communication and intellectual property fundamentals. Sessions are co-taught by professionals from the business sector, exposing scientists to perspectives rarely emphasized in graduate training.

From left, REEF Fellows Anji Cooper, Limin Sun, Christine Knauss, Le Zhang and Yumeng Pang with REEF Director Dr. Nina Lamba.

For Cooper, a Ph.D. student studying living shorelines on the Eastern Shore, the fellowship reflects a broader shift in how young scientists think about their futures.   

“Ten years ago, getting a Ph.D. usually meant you were staying in academia,” Cooper said. “That is not necessarily the case anymore. People want options.” 

She said she wants to keep her options open because of “how uncertain the environmental field is right now,” adding that environmental jobs are increasingly competitive and unstable. 

“A lot of environmental jobs are coming and going,” she said. “Our lab has gotten hit with funding cuts. A lot of government jobs in the environmental field have gone away, so I just want to be open to any avenue.”

Cooper’s research focuses on how living shorelines evolve over time and how sediment movement affects their long-term success. Living shorelines, which use marsh plants and natural materials instead of seawalls to combat erosion, are now the preferred shoreline protection method in Maryland. Yet Cooper said scientists still know relatively little about how these projects perform years after installation.

While her dissertation remains rooted in environmental science, Cooper is using the fellowship to develop a separate business idea centered on glass recycling and reuse in construction materials. 

“Most of the glass people think they are recycling ends up in landfills,” she said. “Glass can be reused indefinitely, but the economics are not there yet. That is the problem I want to work on.”

Other Horn Point fellows are pursuing business ideas more directly tied to their research. Knauss, a postdoctoral researcher, is developing new technologies to more efficiently identify microplastics. 

Pang, Maryland Sea Grant’s aquaculture outreach specialist, works closely with oyster farmers to apply scientific findings to improve productivity. While exploring exploring applications related to coastal resilience and ocean biogeochemistry, the fellowship is providing her a critical wider focus. 

“REEF programs open my eyes to a world where we can transfer our research into application and make real impacts on human society,” she said. “It helps us to get connected with resources from business and industry perspectives and provides new insights for tech and social issues.” 

Horn Point Director Mike Sieracki agreed the fellowship reflects changing realities for scientists entering the workforce. “They will learn how the business side of environmental science works,” Sieracki said. “That knowledge is becoming increasingly important.”

Those realities are underscored by recent funding shifts affecting Horn Point and federal science agencies more broadly. The laboratory recently lost nearly half of its National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) funding for oyster hatchery operations, a cut that threatens production tied to Chesapeake Bay restoration and regional aquaculture. 

Last week, Congress moved to restore funding for major U.S. science agencies, passing a spending bill that rejects proposed cuts and signals continued legislative support for research, even as uncertainty remains about long-term stability and priorities. Together, the competing signals underscore an uneven and unpredictable funding environment that young scientists must navigate.

Past fellowship participants have launched businesses and gone on to careers in industry, and policy, as well as academia. Organizers say the goal is not to push scientists away from research but to broaden their sense of what is possible.

For Cooper, that flexibility matters. “Science teaches you problem solving, leadership and communication, but we are not always taught how transferable those skills are,” she said. “Programs like this help make that connection.”

The Ratcliffe Environmental Entrepreneurs Fellowship Program is supported by the Philip E. and Carole R. Ratcliffe Foundation.

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How Shark Repellents are Supposed to Work and Why They Often Don’t

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By Doug Fields

Ironman triathletes competing in the annual Cambridge event, and Eastern Shore residents enjoying the surf at Ocean City, probably can’t suppress the chilling Jaws movie soundtrack in their minds as they venture into the shark’s habitat. 

Sadly, Erica Fox, a triathlete swimming off Lovers Point in Monterey Bay, California, was attacked and killed by a shark on December 21, 2025. It is a place I know well, having spent countless hours scuba diving there when I lived in California and conducted research as a marine biologist at nearby Moss Landing Marine Labs and Stanford University’s Hopkins Marine Lab.

When Erica’s body was recovered a week later, she was found wearing a magnetic shark-repellent bracelet on her ankle, which is claimed to overwhelm the shark’s special senses.

As a marine biologist who studied sharks in the laboratory and in the wild, I contributed to the discovery that sharks and their relatives can detect weak electric fields in seawater. 

I would like to briefly explain the science of electroreception and explore the likely reasons why the device failed to protect the swimmer. Few people in the general public understand this amazing sense, called electroreception, which humans lack, and there is much misunderstanding and confusion about it. 

You often hear that sharks can detect magnetic fields, and that they use their electro sensory sense to detect the heartbeat of prey, and that the magnetic ankle bands overwhelm the shark’s electro sensory system. None of these is true.

The Shark’s Sixth Sense

If you look closely at the head of a shark, you will see that it is speckled with small pores. Peeling back the rough skin reveals that these are openings of long, clear tubes filled with transparent jelly. The tubes can be as thick as a strand of spaghetti and just as long or longer, depending on the size of the shark or ray. These unique sensory organs, unlike anything in any other animal, are called ampullae of Lorenzini.

These peculiar structures were a mystery until the late 1970’s and 1980’s, when it was determined that they are a sensory system that detects electricity. They are so sensitive that, in theory, a shark could detect a 1.5-volt battery switched on across the distance of the Atlantic Ocean.

They detect DC battery-like electric fields, not higher frequency signals like the EKG of a heartbeat. Extremely weak DC voltages are generated by all types of chemical and biological processes in nature. The tubes serve as conductors of electricity, and the end of the tube swells into an eyedropper-like bulb, which is in effect the voltmeter, where nerves emerge to transmit neural signals to the shark’s brain. 

These tubes radiate in all directions around the head, especially around the mouth. This enables sharks, rays, and chimaeras (bizarre deep-sea fish that I also studied) to measure the field strength and its shape in three dimensions.  Each tube works like an electrician measuring voltage differences between two points in contact with the probes of a voltmeter.

The Origin of Bioelectric Fields in Seawater

All animals in seawater have a weak bioelectric field around them. This is simply the result of differences in salts inside the body and in seawater. Salts dissolved in water are charged molecules (ions). If there is a difference in the number or type of ions across a barrier, like the skin, you have a battery.

The electric field around a normal fish radiates most intensely between its mouth and gills, because these membranes have the lowest electrical resistance. The two poles create a “dipole,” an electric field resembling the pattern of iron filings radiating from the poles of a magnet. The strength of the bioelectric field pulsates as the fish opens and closes its mouth, pumping water over its gills to extract oxygen. Sharks can detect this extremely weak, slowly fluctuating electric field to locate prey, even when hidden in murky water or buried under sand.

In experiments my wife and I did in the 1980’s in the open ocean off Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, in Massachusetts, we attracted blue sharks at night to our specially designed 21-foot Boston Whaler. Laboratory experiments by us and others had shown that these organs detect electric fields. Still, we wanted to test the hypothesis that wild sharks in the open ocean used electroreception to detect prey.

To do this, I designed a T-shaped apparatus that we lowered through a square hole cut through the deck of our boat. At each end of the T, an electrode generated an electric field resembling that of a normal fish. We pumped chum (ground-up fish) through a central port between the two legs of the T-shaped apparatus to draw sharks into the experiment. My wife and I took turns randomly switching on one of the electrodes at either end of the T, while the other one observed the shark’s response, not knowing which electrode was active.

The results were so clear that no statistical analysis was really needed. The shark would scream in like a torpedo toward the apparatus, tracking the bloody odor source. At the last moment, the shark invariably pivoted its head and bit the electrode that was on. The strength of an electric field from a dipole decreases very rapidly with distance, so that it is only detectable within less than a meter from the source. 

But the experiment showed that at the moment of attack, electroreception overrides the senses of sight, taste, and smell to orient the jaws for attack. In this way, electroreception gives sharks something like invisible whiskers.

How Magnetic Bracelets are Supposed to Repel Sharks

Why would a magnetic ankle bracelet repel a shark? Could it even pique the curiosity of a shark and draw it to the swimmer? Here is where rigorous scientific research is lacking.

Sharks detect DC or slowly changing electric fields, not magnetic fields. The idea behind the shark-repellent ankle band is that a magnet moving through a conductor, such as seawater, will induce a weak electric current. That is how electric generators work. 

So as the swimmer kicks their feet, the magnet on their ankle generates a weak fluctuating voltage signal that changes strength and polarity with their kicking action. The shark would no doubt sense this electrical field, but the essential questions then become, what would the shark think it was, and would it be repelled by it?

Here is where experiments like the one I just described with blue sharks can lead to misunderstanding. Such prey-detection experiments give people a simplistic view of electroreception as a kind of beacon that draws the shark to food, like a moth to a lightbulb. The fact is that electroreception is a highly sophisticated sensory system, likely as vivid to a shark as vision is to us. 

All manner of factors affect a battery’s strength, including temperature, the chemical properties of seawater, and more, which provide the shark with a rich sensory ability. A shark can interpret electrical fields as well as we can discern intricate details of objects from photons bounced off and transmitted through them. The shark can tell from the shape and changes in the electric field around a fish whether it is alive or dead, how big it is, and probably what kind of fish it is.

The manufacturers claim the magnetic bracelet overwhelms the shark’s electro sensory system. Still, any metal in seawater, for example, a rusty hook, generates an electric field from electrolysis millions of times stronger than the fields induced by a moving magnet or an animal in seawater. Iron in seawater creates about half a volt through electrolysis, but a shark’s electro sensory system can detect half a nanovolt. A nanovolt is one billionth of a volt.

Our Boston Whaler was designed to have no metal of any kind in contact with seawater for that reason.

The second issue is shark behavior. A “feeding frenzy” is how people refer to sharks partaking in their meal. I’ve seen it many times. The water absolutely explodes and boils when sharks attack their prey, and nothing seems to deter them. 

In the experiments I described with the T-shaped apparatus, the sharks hit the electrode only on their first pass, biting it, spitting it out, and sending the apparatus spinning and swinging violently. During subsequent attacks by the same shark, the animal went into a frenzy, biting anything in sight, including our boat, and even thrusting its open jaws up through the deck cutout, snapping at our faces.

Shark attacks are rare, and they are nearly always instances of sharks mistaking a human for their preferred prey, like a seal. They will take the person in their jaws, mortally or grievously wounding the swimmer, and then spit them out like they did our experimental apparatus when they find it is not food. Shark attacks are horrible, and the loss of Erica Fox is a sad tragedy, but it is important to keep them in perspective. The most dangerous animal on the planet that kills more humans than any other is the mosquito. As a resident of Taylor’s Island, that is a threat I dodge every summer!

Douglas Fields, PhD, is a neuroscientist, marine biologist, and science writer. He is the author of the recent book Electric Brain about brainwaves, brain-computer interface, and neurofeedback.”  Check out his website here.   

 

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Chesapeake Bay Water Clarity Isn’t Clear-Cut

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One of the murkiest questions surrounding the Chesapeake Bay cleanup effort seems like it should be the easiest to answer: Is the water getting clearer?

For decades, widely used data indicate that, overall, water clarity is getting worse.

Earlier this year, for instance, the Chesapeake Bay Report Card released by the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science reported that 2024 water clarity was “very poor” and that “water clarity scores continue to show a significant decline over time.”

One of the major goals of the state-federal Bay Program partnership is to reduce the amount of sediment and nutrients entering the Bay to improve clarity so that underwater grass beds can get enough light to survive.

The region has spent billions of dollars to control sediment and nutrient-fueled algae blooms that cloud the water — seemingly without significant results.

Yet underwater grass beds in the Bay have expanded even as data seem to show that the water is murkier. The amount of submerged aquatic vegetation, or SAV, increased from 38,227 acres in 1984 to 78,451 acres last year.

If the water is cloudy, how are grasses getting enough light to expand?

A recent analysis published in the Annual Review of Marine Science came up with an answer, though it is murky too: The amount of light available for plants is improving, even if it doesn’t always look that way.

“For a long time, the story was that we’ve been cleaning up the watershed, but clarity is not improving,” said Jessie Turner, an assistant professor in the Department of Ocean and Earth Sciences at Old Dominion University, who was the lead author of the journal article.

“That has switched, but it was hard to untangle things,” she said.

Turner has been trying to sort out the story for nearly a decade, first as a student at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science and then in her current position. Former colleagues from VIMS and the University of Delaware are co-authors of the article.

It turns out that how far we see into the water — how visibly “clear” it is — is not the same thing as how much light is passing through that water.

The Bay goal is to get more light to underwater plants, but the main tool for measuring clarity has been the Secchi disk — a black and white disk that is lowered into the water until it disappears. The Secchi disk is cheap and easy to use and has been relied upon for decades by researchers and citizen scientists.

But it measures visual clarity, not the amount or quality of light that might be reaching plants on the bottom.

Bay water is filled with tiny particles. Some are bits of sediment, but many are tiny algae cells and microscopic bits of detritus from organic material that is breaking down in the water.

Those organic particles limit visibility, but they don’t block light waves. Instead, they scatter them, reflecting light through the water column. Turner likens it to headlights in a fog bank. The headlights brighten the fog, which is made up of tiny water particles, but a driver can’t see very far into it.

“You can have a lot of light getting to your eyeball in the fog, but the visibility is very poor,” Turner said. “In the water, that would look like a very shallow Secchi depth reading. But you still have enough light for something like seagrass.”

“What ultimately matters to something like SAV is how much light is getting to the bottom,” she said.

When Turner and her colleagues examined historical data gathered with specialized light sensors, they found a different trend than those seen with Secchi disks.

Data from those sensors, which assess the amount of sunlight that is penetrating the water, including the specific wavelengths that are important for plant photosynthesis, show improvements since around 1990.

Many factors affect clarity and light availability, and their relative importance varies from place to place. Sorting them out is complex. For instance, the amount of sediment in the water has slowly declined over time. That has helped clear the water, but clearer water allows for more algal growth, Turner said, which in turn contributes to more tiny particles of organic material. The particles gradually settle to the bottom but are easily resuspended.

That can cloud the water from a Secchi disk perspective, but the increased amount of tiny organic particles, rather than larger sediment particles, can improve light.

Trying to understand all those factors, Turner said, “is a little bit of a maze.”

Water clarity is still important, she noted. Someone diving in the Bay wants to be able to see where they are going, and someone throwing a fishing line into the water wants a fish to be able to spot bait at the end of the line.

Future nutrient reductions should further reduce algae production, and over time that could improve clarity. That might be happening — Secchi disk readings in the last decade do show a slight improvement.

But it’s hard to predict whether Bay clarity goals will be met, Turner said. That’s because the Bay system has been fundamentally changed over the decades by things such as marsh loss, shoreline hardening and the transformation of its watershed to meet the needs of a growing population.

“A recovered Chesapeake Bay with improved water clarity may not resemble the ecosystem that we predict or expect,” Turner wrote in the paper. As a result, the future Bay may have a mix of different particle types and sizes than it did in the past, which means expectations about future clarity may be altered as well.

The good news is that even if clarity goals are not fully attained, continued light improvements will have ecological benefits, especially for grass beds, which will result in healthier ecosystems over time and more habitat for fish and crabs.

“We may get to a point where you still can’t see the bottom when you go swimming in a lot of places,” Turner said. “But if the ecosystem is healthy in terms of what’s living in it, then maybe that’s a success story in and of itself.”

By Karl Blankenship, The Chesapeake Bay Journal

January 2, 2025

Maryland Matters is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Maryland Matters maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Steve Crane for questions: [email protected].

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Black Water Rising to Host Free Composting Workshop Led by Jonathan Williams

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Black Water Rising is hosting a free workshop on home and community composting led by Jonathan Williams on Thursday, January 22nd at the Dorchester Public Library. Composting food scraps reduces methane pollution, builds soil and saves tax dollars on landfill costs. There’s no high-tech about it; anyone can do their part to slow down climate change in their backyard, church or park.

Two years ago Jonathan and members of Talbot Green Hands (TGH) rebuilt an abandoned wood and wire set of compost bins at the Presbyterian Church of Easton’s community garden and it has been replenishing the beds there since. Black Water Rising (BWR), a fast-growing environmental group in Cambridge, also needed a composter for their community garden on Locust street so this fall they teamed up with TGH to build another one.

Jonathan, who has compost training from the Institute for Local Self Reliance and the 131 School of Composting, will explain the basics of how vegetable matter can be turned into a ‘black-gold’ for homesteaders and community groups. He will guide the curious through the practical steps needed to set up and manage a compost pile so that it produces a soil supplement but not varmints or odors. You can also learn about an ancient wood preserving treatment process BWR used on their compost frame.

For more information please visit: blackwaterrising.org

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Waterfowl Festival Inc. Welcome New Board Member

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Waterfowl Festival Inc. have recently welcomed new additions to their Boards of Directors in January, Dan Ketelson and Shaw Pritchett.

“This year, we are pleased to appoint two board members with an admirable record of volunteerism with the festival, “ remarked Deena Kilmon, Executive Director. “Dan and Shaw have shown proven leadership over the years and they are both dedicated to the festival’s mission of raising awareness and funds for conservation efforts.”

Dan Ketelsen, is a tenured and award-winning hospitality professional with over 30 years of experience in the hotel and luxury convention sales industry. A graduate of Iowa State University, Dan spent 17 years with Hyatt Hotels and Resorts in Chicago, New Orleans, Dallas, Calgary and Anaheim directing hotel sales and marketing teams. Additionally, Dan has served as the Provider Partner Committee chair at the AMC Institute and on the So Others Might Eat corporate advisory board in Washington, DC. Ketelsen currently is the Account Director for C2 Association Strategies, a role he accepted in late 2025.

Since moving to Easton with his wife Lisa in 2021, Dan has been involved with the Waterfowl Festival as the Tailgate Chair and Co- Chair of Artifacts. Dan currently serves as the Warehouse Chairman and was appointed by Easton’s Mayor Cook to the Waterfowl Commission in 2025. Dan’s enthusiasm for the festival extends beyond the festival weekend, and he is a regular volunteer at Waterfowl headquarters.

Shaw Pritchett comes from a family of dedicated volunteers and has been involved each year since he was a very young child. Growing up, he was introduced to the festival by his father, Albert Pritchett, who served multiple years as Waterfowl Festival and Waterfowl Chesapeake President. Today, Albert and his wife Jennifer continue to support the festival as the Premier Night Chairmen. Shaw’s siblings Finley, Claire, and Austin also work tirelessly on premier night activities,  ushering in a new generation of dedicated volunteers. Premier Night proceeds are deposited directly into our Conservation fund each year, resulting in millions of dollars over the years for conservation efforts. The funds raised by premier night have been instrumental in creating many of the environmental organziations in place today on the Eastern Shore.

Pritchett currently is the vice president of C. Albert Matthews, a company that has been instrumental over the years in repairing and restoring the infrastructure of the Waterfowl Building (formerly the Easton Armory). Pritchett has fond memories of being in the building for many years while his family worked on various projects for the festival. Shaw’s leadership experience, love of the the Eastern Shore, and his deep understanding of the operational structure of the festival will be invaluable as the organization approaches its sixth decade.

About Waterfowl Festival Inc.

Waterfowl Festival Inc., a partner of Waterfowl Chesapeake Inc., is dedicated to wildlife conservation, the promotion of wildlife art, and the celebration of life on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. The 54th Festival will be held November 14-16, 2025 in historic Easton, Md. General admission tickets are $25 for all three days and VIP packages are also available. For more information, to volunteer, or donate, email [email protected] or call 410-822-4567.

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ShoreRivers Accepts Summer Internship Applications

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ShoreRivers is currently accepting applications from college students and recent graduates for two Easton-based summer internships: its Elizabeth Brown Memorial Internship and a Communications Internship.

The Elizabeth Brown Memorial intern will gain experience in a variety of activities including restoration, scientific water quality monitoring, outreach, and enforcement, while the communications intern will focus on organizational communication, public relations, and event promotion. By the end of these internships, each will have completed a Maryland boater safety certificate, gained experience and training in scientific water quality monitoring equipment and protocols, and developed a variety of other skills and experiences. Visit shorerivers.org/jobs for complete job descriptions.

“My time at ShoreRivers taught me that I didn’t have to give up different parts of myself. ShoreRivers is a beautiful example of the way that integration between different aspects of environmentalism (education, science, policy, community, etc.) and close collaboration between experts in different fields can create greater change than any one area of expertise could,” said Sophie Leight, ShoreRivers’ 2024 Elizabeth Brown Memorial Intern. “I was blown away by the breadth of knowledge that existed within the organization and know now that I’d like to be a part of a similar community in my career.”

The Elizabeth Brown Memorial Internship is supported by the Elizabeth Brown Memorial Fund at ShoreRivers. Elizabeth Brown was ShoreRivers’ 2015–2016 Chesapeake Conservation Corps member. She was dedicated to clean water, engaging others with their rivers, and serving as an environmental steward in every way. She brought enthusiasm and joy to every task. Contributions in honor of Elizabeth go toward her legacy of caring for local rivers by supporting the next generation of environmental stewards through this internship program.

Both the Elizabeth Brown Memorial Internship and a Communications Summer Internship run for a minimum of 10 weeks between May and August, and provide a $6,000 stipend. Programmatic work for each will be conducted primarily in the Choptank, Miles, and Wye river watersheds, with some travel throughout the entire ShoreRivers region.

Applicants should be rising college juniors or seniors, or recent college graduates, with majors in appropriate fields. To apply, please email a resume and cover letter to Doug Mayorga, Deputy Director of HR and Culture, by January 31, at [email protected] and include in the subject line which internship you are interested in. Interviews will be conducted by Zoom in February and an intern will be selected and notified at the end of the month.

Applicants are encouraged to visit shorerivers.org prior to applying to learn more about the organization’s programs. Internships available specifically for Washington College and University of Delaware students are also available — please visit shorerivers.org/jobs for details on those positions.

ShoreRivers protects Maryland’s Eastern Shore waterways through science-based advocacy, restoration, education, and engagement. shorerivers.org

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Conowingo Dam Appeal Dropped, Allowing $340M Settlement To Go Forward—Maryland Matters

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Maryland’s $340 million settlement with the owner of the Conowingo Dam can now move forward, after a group of Eastern Shore counties dropped their challenge of the deal.

The withdrawal came less than a month after the administrative appeal was originally filed. Officials at the Maryland Department of the Environment, which brokered the key settlement deal, had lobbied hard for the handful of counties to back down.

That’s because the appeal had the potential to derail or delay the funds from dam owner Constellation, which are designated for various environmental projects. The state negotiated to receive the funds in exchange for issuing the hydroelectric dam a crucial water quality certification, which it needs in order to obtain a 50-year license from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

“We are very excited to move out of the courtroom and into action. After nearly a decade of legal challenges we can now put this $340M to work to accelerate progress on the Bay,” wrote Maryland Department of the Environment spokesperson Dave Abrams in a statement. “Thank you to the local governments who worked closely with us to reach this resolution. We are all on the same team and will work closely with them and other stakeholders as we move forward.”

After Maryland officials promised counties they could have input on the rollout of the environmental projects in the settlement, several counties pulled out in late December. Cecil County — which hosts the dam and has complained about the impacts of sediment build-up — was the final hold-out, but dropped out on Friday.

“Over the holidays, MDE and Cecil County Government held productive, transparent discussions that clarified the settlement and secured assurances on Upper Shore project focus, municipal reimbursement for sediment and debris damage, front-loading $18.7 million for dredging studies, and Cecil County’s participation in an advisory council with other Shore counties. As our concerns were addressed, we felt comfortable withdrawing our appeal,” wrote Cecil County spokesperson Robert Royster in a statement.

The counties had expressed frustration that they were not given input on the settlement arrangement until after it was made final. But the negotiations were confidential, because they were also meant to resolve litigation between the state, Constellation and several waterkeepers groups who intervened. The Eastern Shore counties did not intervene in that legal battle.

The appeal was filed by an advocacy group called the Clean Chesapeake Coalition, which includes many Eastern Shore county officials who have long voiced frustration with the dam’s impact on the environment, and specifically the Chesapeake Bay.

The dam, which was built in 1928, once trapped damaging pollutants racing down the Susquehanna River, which contributes about half of the bay’s fresh water, and serves as its largest tributary. But now, the reservoir behind the dam is essentially full, meaning it can no longer trap sediment, and can release large amounts during storm events, with the potential to bury underwater life, and carry harmful nutrient pollution along with it.

Under the settlement, Constellation will put tens of millions of dollars toward tree and underwater grass planting, improvements to fish passage, trash and debris removal and invasive species remediation.

But the agreement also includes provisions about an oft-discussed but controversial strategy for dealing with the dam’s sediment: dredging. Over the next 25 years, Constellation will pay $18.7 million into a fund focused on dredging. But first, all eyes are on an upcoming study from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which will assess whether dredging the Conowingo reservoir is advisable.

If the Army Corps determines dredging is feasible, Maryland can use the funds from Constellation to conduct further study or begin the permitting process for dredging. If the Army Corps deems dredging inadvisable, Maryland can designate the money for other environmental purposes.

For now, though, Constellation will be focused on obtaining its 50-year license from FERC after a federal court reversed the last one. That occurred because Maryland had not issued a water quality certification for Conowingo, instead waiving its right to do so. This time, Maryland has issued the certification, and is aiming for its conditions to be incorporated into the dam’s new federal license to operate.

By Christine Condon – Maryland Matters, January 5, 2026

Maryland Matters is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Maryland Matters maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Steve Crane for questions: [email protected].

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

ESLC Protects 170-Acre Dorchester Farm with New WILD Grant

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A Dorchester County family farm near Vienna has gained permanent protection from future housing subdivisions, warehouses, and commercial sprawl thanks to a pair of federal programs that conservation leaders hope will safeguard more of the Eastern Shore’s rural landscape.

Late last year, the Eastern Shore Land Conservancy (ESLC) completed a conservation easement on the 170 acres of farmland and woodland owned by the Sellers family near the Nanticoke River. The agreement ensures the property will remain open to farming and wildlife while permanently blocking most types of development.

This project marks the first on the Eastern Shore to use funding from the Chesapeake Watershed Investments for Landscape Defense program, known as Chesapeake WILD. To complete the easement, ESLC paired those dollars with money from the U.S. Navy’s Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration program, or REPI.

Steve Kline, ESLC’s president and chief executive officer, said the two programs working together show a powerful new way to keep large blocks of land from being paved over.

“We’re trying to protect the property in perpetuity,” Kline said. “That means protecting its agricultural viability and its open space viability forever.”

A conservation easement is a voluntary agreement between a landowner and a land trust. The owner gives up the right to build houses, stores, or factories on the property. Farming, hunting, and other traditional rural activities can continue. The restrictions stay with the land’s deed, no matter who owns it in the future.

“There’s a lot of belief in the public out there that somehow people can buy themselves out of these easements or that if somebody changes their mind later on, all they have to do is write a check and the easement goes away,” Kline said. “That is not how these easements work.”

The Sellers property includes productive crop fields and forested areas that provide homes for wildlife and links to thousands of surrounding acres already under protection, creating larger stretches of open land that help animals move and keep local creeks and rivers cleaner.

Located near the Nanticoke River and along Chicone Creek, the property includes 135 acres of productive agricultural fields and 35 acres of forested habitat. Reggie III, who lives on and actively farms the land, is already part of the ownership chain, helping ensure multigenerational stewardship.

For the Sellers family, the decision goes beyond finances. “You’ve got to love the land,” Kathy Sellers said. “Selling for development might offer quicker profits, but preserving this heritage feels far more valuable in the long term.”

Chesapeake WILD grants come from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and are awarded competitively through the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. Projects must show substantial benefits for habitat, water quality, and wildlife movement, especially as sea levels rise.

“The WILD money is a little different because you have to compete for it,” Kline said. “Winning this grant gives the conservancy a proven track record that could open doors to more funding for future projects across the Shore.

The REPI program works differently. The Navy and other branches of the military use it to prevent dense development near bases and training areas. In this region, open land helps protect flight paths around Patuxent River Naval Air Station. In Dorchester, those military needs closely align with local goals of saving farms and wetlands. Kline said the Navy has been an “excellent partner.”

ESLC sees consistent development pressure on the Eastern Shore. Encroachment of traditional housing remains a concern near major roads, but new threats include large warehouses, shopping centers, and utility-scale solar farms.

Maryland has set ambitious goals for renewable energy. Big solar projects can cover hundreds of acres of farmland under panels for 25 years or more.

“When they come, they take farms out of production,” Kline said. Once the leases end, he added, the land often does not return to the same kind of farming.

These changes can break up open spaces, harm soil, and add more runoff into waterways. Conservation easements offer a direct way for willing landowners to stop that on their property.

The larger mission, Kline said, is to preserve what makes the Eastern Shore special for future generations.

“When you think about what you love about the Eastern Shore, everybody you talk to is going to talk about the way it feels to live here,” he said. “That’s what we’re trying to protect.”

Public benefits flowing from protected land include continued bucolic scenes along rural roads, habitat for wildlife, and healthier, less polluted creeks and rivers.  

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Adkins Arboretum Hires Visitor Services Manager

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Jean Wortman of Easton has recently been hired as the Visitor Services Manager at Adkins Arboretum. Wortman has a breadth of experience in the public humanities, museum education, and non-profit management and capacity building. Throughout her career, she has supported cultural and educational nonprofits as an employee, volunteer, grantor, and/or board member, both locally on the Eastern Shore and throughout Maryland, as well as across the country.

“I’m thrilled to be here at Adkins Arboretum, to work at such a special place with this phenomenally talented team, and to utilize my skills and experience to further Adkins’ mission,” stated Wortman.

“My role as Visitor Services Manager is to make sure that each person who comes to Adkins Arboretum has an exceptional experience in nature, which, as our mission states, will hopefully inspire them to become environmental stewards,” she adds.

According to Wortman, Adkins is a model non-profit organization that consistently delivers innovative programming, connecting diverse audiences of life-long learners to the natural environment through the lenses of ecology, history, and art, while uplifting community and collaboration.

The Arboretum offers science-oriented nature programs, including garden and landscaping talks, birding opportunities, and biodiversity walks, to name a few. In the areas of fine and performing arts, the Arboretum offers botanical art classes, an annual juried art show, year-round rotating art exhibitions, nature journaling, and special events like Plein Air Adkins, Forest Music, and Rhythm & Roots. Humanities offerings include the Arboretum’s Rooted Wisdom Walks and three free digital guided walks from Beech Works, available for download on the Bloomberg Connects app.

“We want people to feel that this place is not just a place to visit, but more importantly, we want them to fall in love with this place – to become engaged, to find community, to feel connection and to gain awareness of their place in the this ecosystem of plants, animals – our unique natural environment here on the peninsula,” Wortman shares.

Wortman has a master’s degree in liberal arts from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and a master’s degree in museum studies from Cooperstown Graduate Program, SUNY College at Oneonta, New York. She completed a Bachelor of Arts degree in American Studies from Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania.

She has served on the boards of Eastern Shore Heritage, Inc., the Talbot County Free Library, Cooperstown Graduate Association, and the Lyric Foundation for Traditional Poetry.

“Jean brings an incredible breadth of knowledge and organizational skills, as well as pure enthusiasm for our work at Adkins Arboretum. I was truly impressed with Jean when I first met her as my Maryland Humanities Council grant administrator for our 2010 exploration of nature’s role in the Underground Railroad. I am delighted to have her join our team, with three significant planning projects coming up – Strategic Plan, Master Plan, and Development Plan, and the prospect of the addition of an independent art gallery, the timing could not be better,” states Ginna Tiernan, Executive Director of Adkins Arboretum.

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Dorchester and Kent Drop out of Challenge to $340 million Conowingo Settlement

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Several Eastern Shore counties have withdrawn from an appeal of Maryland’s recertification for the Conowingo Dam, a challenge that the state feared could jeopardize a $340 million settlement with Constellation, the dam’s owner.

But the county that hosts the dam, Cecil, is moving forward with the complaint, which argues that counties on the Shore were improperly excluded from the recertification process. The appeal also bemoans the fact that the agreement itself does not guarantee that harmful sediment in the dam’s overflowing reservoir will be drained out.

The deal resolved years of legal wrangling between the dam owner and the state, plus waterkeeper groups that intervened in the litigation. In exchange for recertification — which is needed for Constellation to get a 50-year license from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to keep operating the hydropower plant at the dam — Maryland is set to receive $340 million from Constellation for environmental projects at the site. If all goes according to plan for the state, the federal license will incorporate Maryland’s conditions.

Several counties on the Shore had joined the appeal of the certification filed by an attorney for the Clean Chesapeake Coalition. But Maryland Department of the Environment officials lobbied counties to rescind their complaint, arguing that it could muddy the waters as the dam tries to get its new FERC license.

Officials also worried that an anticipated policy change from the Trump administration, undermining states’ recertification authority, could make matters worse.

After those conversations, Dorchester and Kent counties opted to abandon the administrative appeal, which MDE will ultimately rule on. Queen Anne’s has also withdrawn, according to the state and the Coalition, but that county did not respond to a request for comment.

“They [MDE] explained to us more about how a delay in this agreement going through could hamper some of the actions they want to do to clean up the bay,” said Dorchester County Council President Lenny Pfeffer. “We’d rather see some cleanup than no cleanup.”

Cecil County, though, is holding pat, said county spokesperson Robert Royster.

In a statement earlier this month, Royster expressed concern that county leaders didn’t play a role in the settlement, and said that the county’s water intakes south of the dam, including in Perryville, Port Deposit, and Havre de Grace, “continue to experience significant impacts from sediment and debris trapped behind the Conowingo Dam.”

Dorchester County officials also learned after filing the administrative appeal that “it wouldn’t be possible to change the negotiations between Constellation and the state,” because they occurred as part of the litigation, Pfeffer said.

“MDE has told us that they will be giving us a seat at the table going forward,” Pfeffer said.

Adam Ortiz, deputy secretary at the Department of the Environment, said the state has “committed to the parties that dropped the challenge that they can have an advisory role in the implementation of the projects.”

“We’ve had good conversations in recent weeks, and when good people talk, good things happen. So, we’re really glad that these counties have stepped back,” Ortiz said.

After nearly a decade of back-and-forth, state officials are eager to “get out of the courts and get to work,” Ortiz said.

Pfeffer said that his county council does not plan to renege on a $5,000 commitment to the attorney who filed the complaint, Charles “Chip” MacLeod. The money came from the county’s contingency funds, Pfeffer said.

Kent County also planned to send the same sum, said Ronald Fithian, president of the board of commissioners. But it’s unclear whether the funds were dispatched before the county reversed course, Fithian said.

Fithian said that the state promised to convene a meeting in January to discuss the Conowingo settlement with the counties — if they dropped the appeal.

“We just figured it might be better to work with them and go to this meeting,” Fithian said, “and see if we could recommend some ways that would make the bay a healthier place.”

By Christine Condon

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