Rain Gardens featured at MCBP Citizen's Advisory Committe Meeting

Environmental Engineer Gail Blazer will be the featured guest speaker at the next Maryland Coastal Bays Program Citizens Advisory Committee meeting on Wednesday, Jan 28 at 7 p.m. The meeting will be held at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church on 3 Church Street in Berlin. The public is invited and encouraged to attend.
A rain garden is a landscape technique that uses a strategically placed depression in the ground designed to capture runoff from hard surfaces such as rooftops, driveways and sidewalks.

A typical rain garden consists of native plants, loose soil, mulch, and sometimes gravel. Together, these elements collect, absorb, and clean runoff. The surface layer of mulch or gravel spreads water throughout the garden so that plant roots and soil mixture can absorb the water. As the runoff passes through the mixture, chemical and biological processes breakdown the pollutants before they can enter the bays.

Blazer has been the environmental engineer for the town of Ocean City for 10 years. Her education, training and enthusiasm for her profession have led her to promote and teach innovative methods to improve water quality and maintain the area’s natural beauty.

The CAC meeting will also include information about the Great American Backyard Bird Count coming Feb. 13 – 16. The annual four-day event is designed to get everyone involved in an effort to collect important information about birds for science and conservation.The Citizens Advisory Committee is comprised of recreational and commercial fishermen, developers, farmers, and other local business owners and citizens who meet monthly to discuss the goals and direction of the Maryland Coastal Bays Program.