Project targets stormwater issue through partnership Annapolis (April 26, 2005) - County Executive Janet S. Owens and the Anne Arundel County, Department of Public Works, Environmental Engineering Division (DPW), today announced the completion of the Wilelinor stream restoration project. A ceremony to celebrate the final planting of the project was held in the community. In partnership with DPW, the Wilelinor Community Association and the Arlington Echo Outdoor Education Center, students and staff from area schools helped plant more than 1500 Atlantic White Cedar and other plants native to this area. The schools that were represented included Annapolis Middle School Grade 6, Central Middle School Grade 6, Georgetown East Elementary School Grade 3 and West Annapolis Elementary School Grade 1. The Maryland Department of Natural Resources Watershed Restoration Program and the State Highway Administration were also an integral part of the partnership that was celebrated at today’s event. The project provides for the establishment of native Atlantic White Cedar in an area that has been degraded by stormwater for decades. The Wilelinor Stream outfall has been engineered and planted in such a way to address quantity and quality of stormwater from more than 108 acres of impervious surface. The Wilelinor Stream feeds Church Creek and ultimately the South River. The Wilelinor Stream Restoration Project is another in a series of successful Chesapeake Connection partnerships that demonstrates the importance of protecting the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries. Previously completed Chesapeake Connection projects include the Shipleys Choice stormwater management facility, the Edgewater Elementary School wetland complex, and Howard’s Branch. The next project in this series is planned at NorthGray’s Bog which is complete and the planting will be celebrated at a similar ceremony on May 6, 2005. In addition to the Department of Public Works, the Wilelinor Community Association, and Arlington Echo Outdoor Education Center, the Wilelinor Stream Valley Improvement Project is supported Maryland State Highway Administration Environmental Program, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources Watershed Restoration, and the Anne Arundel County Public School’s Chesapeake Connections. The project was designed by Keith Underwood & Associates and constructed by Baltimore Pile Drivers Co. The County funded $800,000 through the capital improvement budget. The State shared the cost of the project in the amount of $400,000. | 
