| What is Adopt-A-Stream?
Adopt-A-Stream is a hands-on, feet-wet program with volunteers across the state of Maryland caring for their local waterways. The program began in 1970 and since then thousands of folks have adopted streams flowing in their communities. Adopt-A-Stream is sponsored by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources and Save Our Streams.
What does it mean to Adopt-A-Stream?
Adoptions are as flexible and unique as the hundreds of streams in Maryland. You can choose your own stream or call Save Our Streams for help selecting a stream. Choose from the list of activities listed below and start planning. Conduct one, six, or 12 activities a year. Whatever you do will make a difference. Packets that explain each activity are available from Save Our Streams free of charge. And our staff is always ready to help by answering questions and providing assistance you need to make the activity happen.
Once you have completed one activity, you have officially adopted your stream.
Who can Adopt-A-Stream?
Anyone can adopt a stream. Adoption activities make great family and school projects. They are great for groups looking for service projects like schools, scout groups, and youth groups. Churches, businesses and civic organizations have also adopted streams. The activities are suitable for all ages and Save Our Streams staff can help you personalize them for your group.
Why Adopt-A-Stream?
By adopting a stream you are improving one of Maryland's greatest natural resources. There are 17,000 miles of streams in Maryland and nearly all of them empty into the Chesapeake Bay. Your neighborhood stream is a source of recreation, a haven for wildlife and part of a healthier environment for everyone. Caring for the stream benefits your community and the Chesapeake Bay. In addition, you get to spend a day along the stream having fun and accomplishing something good with your friends, family or coworkers.
Where do you begin?
Once you have selected a stream, it is time to choose your first
activity. They are listed below and include things like - Stream
Cleanup, Tree Planting, Storm Drain Painting, Stream Survey,
Watershed Survey, Water Quality Assessment and Construction
Site Inventory.
Choose an activity and call Save Our Streams (or check out the
"Joining In" section of the web page) for your free
packet and to get more information. If you aren't sure where
you would like to start, the Save Our Streams staff can help
you decide. We're ready to help you get rolling on your first
Adopt-A-Stream project.
Please note that there is no charge for Adopt-A-Stream packets
sent to Maryland residents, however there is a charge of $10
per packet for out of state mailings.
Adopt-A-Stream Activities
Stream Cleanup - Organize
a trash and debris cleanup; beautify and prevent pollution.
Stream Survey - Search
the stream for potential pollution sources like erosion, pipe
outfalls, sewage overflow points and fish migration barriers.
Tree Planting - Plant trees
and shrubs in your watershed and help restore a healthy stream
environment.
Storm Drain Painting
- Remind your community members that streams are a connection
between our neighborhoods and the Chesapeake Bay.
Water Quality Assessment
- Use Maryland Save Our Stream's easy, fun technique to evaluate
water quality in your local stream.
Construction Site Inventory
- Learn to identify, evaluate, and resolve erosion control problems
on construction sites in order to prevent mud pollution.
STREAM CLEAN UP
For many of Maryland's waterways, a good old-fashioned trash clean up is the first step towards creating cleaner aquatic environment. A stream clean up removes potential pollution sources from in and around a stream.
The accumulation of trash in a stream is not just an eyesore. Construction debris, junked cars, discarded appliances and litter can also release pollutants into a stream. Large objects can block the flow of a stream, increasing flooding and bank erosion.
A Stream Clean Up may be just what your local stream needs. The Stream Clean Up Adoption Packet provides all the information you need to organize your community to clean up the neighborhood stream.
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STREAM SURVEY
Uncover potential pollution sources in your neighborhood stream through a Stream Survey Adoption Activity. By walking about or boating the waterway, you will look for things like sewage overflow points, fish migration barriers and channelized sections of stream, among other possible problems.
A Stream Survey will alert the residents of your community to the existence and location of potential pollution sources, so everyone can work together to make better choices about correcting water quality.
The data collected may also help state and local governments in their efforts to improve water quality.
Conducting a Stream Survey can be one of the first steps in restoring your local waterway by identifying problems along the stream channel. The Stream Survey Adoption Packet can help you organize this activity.
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TREE PLANTING
Planting trees and shrubs can help restore a healthy stream environment. No matter where trees are planted in a watershed, they make a difference. You can improve local water quality by organizing a Tree Planting Activity in your neighborhood.
Trees and shrubs along stream banks prevent erosion. They slow storm water runoff. Trees provide food and cover for wildlife, even in the city. When trees and shrubs are replaced by homes, cropfields, and parking lots, water quality begins to decline.
Beautify your community and improve the health of your local waterway with a Tree Planting. All of the information needed to plan and conduct this activity can be found in the Tree Planting Adoption Packet.
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STORM DRAIN PAINTING
Send a message to your community through a Storm Drain Painting Activity. Stencil the message "Don't Dump - Chesapeake Bay Drainage" on neighborhood storm drains.
Storm water rushes over the ground picking up anything in its path and taking it straight to a storm drain. The storm drains then empty into your local stream and eventually end up in the Chesapeake Bay. Storm drains do not take storm water to a treatment plant. Did you know that trash, oil, animal waste, and toxic substances swept along by runoff can cause storm water to be as polluted as raw sewage?
By painting your neighborhood storm drains, you will be making your community aware of their connection to local streams, via the storm drains. The Storm Drain Painting Adoption Packet contains all of the information you need to organize this activity in your own neighborhood.
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WATER QUALITY ASSESSMENT
How clean is your favorite waterway? You don't need expensive equipment to find out. Just a bucket, sieve and some aquatic insects. The Water Quality Assessment Activity can be used to determine the health of your adopted waterway using the insects living there.
Using biological testing, or checking the insects in the stream, you will be able to determine if there is or was pollution in the stream. A pollutant may wash away before you test the water, but its effects will still be evident in the absence or change in insect population. It only takes about 15 minutes to sample and assess the stream's water quality.
Begin your adoption with an assessment of your stream's health. And get your community involved by conducting a watershed-wide Water Quality Assessment. The Water Quality Assessment Adoption Packet provides instructions and information needed to plan an activity.
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CONSTRUCTION SITE INVENTORY
Pollution stems from many different sources, including one that many people may not think about. When eroded soil enters a waterway in excessive quantities, the result is mud pollution.
Mud can be just as deadly to aquatic life as cyanide or DDT because mud particles suffocate the eggs and larvae of aquatic creatures. Mud pollution also fills in water supply reservoirs, reducing available capacity. The removal of suspended sediment accounts for much of the cost of treating drinking water.
The goal of a Construction Site Inventory is to locate construction sites in your watershed to evaluate their compliance with sediment control requirements.
Gathering certain information from construction sites throughout an entire watershed will enable you to organize a campaign to curb mud pollution.
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