Calvert Students Restore Reefs

By Molly Weeks Crumbley

Citizen scientists can be any age, as Calvert County Public Schools students are learning firsthand this school year. In conjunction with the county CHESPAX program, all fifth graders in Calvert have an important part to play in the fight to preserve the Chesapeake Bay’s oyster population.

CHESPAX is the environmental education program for the Calvert County Public Schools. “We operate through the Department of Instruction and all of the activities completed by the students are a part of the science curriculum and the Student Service Learning program,” says environmental educator Tom Harten.

 While each grade level focuses on a different environmental issue, the fifth graders focus on the eastern oyster. In the fall, students learned about the vital role that oysters play in the Bay’s ecosystem and their declining numbers. To supplement their classroom unit, they took a field trip to see oysters at Fishing Creek in Chesapeake Beach.

Now, those students are putting their knowledge to work and helping construct oyster reef balls. The reef balls–each made of concrete and weighing about 200 pounds– will jump start the local oyster population by providing spat with a safe and stable place to grow, says Harten. Each school will construct between 15 and 20 reef balls over the course of two in-school field trips. After construction the oyster reef balls will cure for a few months before being placed on oyster restoration sites in Calvert and St. Mary’s counties. 

The project is part of the Coastal Conservation Association’s Living Reef Action Campaign, which has built and placed over 4,000 reef balls in the past five years. Through a grant from the Chesapeake Bay Trust and partnerships with CCA, the Friends of St. Clement’s Bay, St. Mary’s River Watershed Association, Morgan State University PEARL Lab, Chesapeake Beach Oyster Cultivation Society, and the Friends of Mill Creek, this year will mark the first time that the project will be implemented in southern Maryland.

Harten is pleased that students will play such a big role in the creation of the oyster reef balls. “Our primary goal for this project,” he says, “is that students develop a sense of stewardship toward this iconic species and know that they have made a lasting contribution toward oyster recovery.”

For more information about CHESPAX trips and projects, visit their official blog at chespxblogs.com.