About Us

Mission
The purpose of the Corsica River Conservancy (CRC) is to restore and preserve the Corsica River and its watershed. Its goal is to reduce pollution, sedimentation, contamination and loss of habitat to a level which would remove the Corsica from the official list of impaired rivers. The CRC serves as a focal point to organize and promote restoration efforts built upon the Corsica River Watershed Restoration Action Strategy (WRAS). Its emphasis is hands-on, local monitoring, restoration and communication. Towards this end, it follows a cooperative approach among representatives of the Town of Centreville, Queen Anne's County and citizens of the watershed.

It also makes use of the guidance and resources of state and federal offices involved in Bay restoration, working cooperatively with those offices and complementing their expertise with local knowledge, feedback and volunteerism. ?

Who We Are
The CRC is a group of local volunteers committed to restoring and preserving the Corsica River and its watershed. Members and volunteers work with a wide variety of stakeholders to improve water quality and habitat condition in order to remove the Corsica from the Environmental Protection Agency’s Impaired Waters List. We invite you to take a moment to learn more about our organization, identify opportunities for you to join us in our many restoration and outreach activities, and take advantage of available funding that can assist you in making property improvements that will help our treasured watershed.

What We Do
Our members and community volunteers work tirelessly to restore and enhance the Corsica River. Following are areas of CRC activities where volunteers are needed.

Water Testing Group
A team of volunteers trained by the Maryland Department of the Environment conducts weekly water quality testing all along the Corsica River from May to October each year. Tests include temperature, salinity, clarity, conductivity, dissolved oxygen, pH, and bacteria (enterococci). The bacteria samples are analyzed by the Maryland Department of Health. Weather conditions surrounding each sampling event are documented. Results are submitted to state and federal databases and published locally.

Restoration Group
This group gets involved in a range of hands-on activities including tree growouts, buffer planting, fish spawn monitoring, underwater grasses and shoreline restoration. Many of these activities are carried on in conjunction with scientists and other professionals from the state.

One of the most effective actions a family or homeowner can do to improve the water in the Corsica River is to install a Rain Garden. CRC works with several grants and has been able to install over 250 rain gardens and 20 rain barrels in the Corsica River Watershed at no cost to the homeowners. To find out how you can have a rain garden or rain barrel installed at your Corsica Watershed residence, e-mail corsicariverconservancy@verizon.net.

Education and Public Information Group
This group develops and presents educational materials to various groups, and individuals who live in the watershed or affect its quality, and carries out other educational activities such as working with school children.

Outreach Group?
This group develops communication with residents through correspondence and exhibits at various community events. Members help develop and staff exhibits. Each fall since 2006, the CRC outreach group has successfully organized a Corsica Watershed Awareness Day held at Bloomfield Farm, just north of Centreville.

To volunteer in one or more of these areas, e-mail Corsicariverconservancy@verizon.net.