By changing a few simple landscape practices, you can help keep Maryland waterways healthy.
Most Maryland residents live within a half-mile of a storm drain, stream or river. Most of those waterways eventually drain into the Chesapeake Bay. What we do to maintain our own landscapes can affect the health of our local waterways (drainage ditches, streams, and rivers), the Chesapeake Bay, and our environment.
By changing a few simple landscape practices, you can help keep Maryland waterways healthy. The University of Maryland Extension (UME) Bay-Wise Program provides environmentally sound landscaping resources and Bay-Wise landscape certification opportunities to Maryland residents.
Many UME Master Gardeners from across the state of Maryland have been trained to educate the public about garden, landscape, and Bay-Wise best practices. UME Master Gardeners concentrate on several key Bay-Wise focus areas such as how to plant wisely, fertilize wisely, water efficiently, mulch appropriately, control stormwater runoff, encourage wildlife, and much more.