Assateague Coastal Trust

Assateague Coastal Trust

Bill Clinton Addresses Waterkeepers at Annual Waterkeeper Conference - tells Assateague Coastkeeper and other Riverkeepers 'The thing I love about what you do, is that YOU DO.'
President Bill Clinton (L) and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. inspire the crowd at the 10th Waterkeepers Alliance conference Thursday. Clinton said the U.S. needs a new job source every five to eight years, and this one needs to be green. (Mingguo Sun/The Epoch Times)

President Bill Clinton (L) and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. inspire the crowd at the 10th Waterkeepers Alliance conference Thursday. Clinton said the U.S. needs a new job source every five to eight years, and this one needs to be green. (Mingguo Sun/The Epoch Times)

July 1, 2009 - By Charlotte Cuthbertson, Epoch Times Staff (Jun 25, 2009)

NEW YORK - President Bill Clinton drew standing ovations from the Waterkeeper Alliance crowd in New York Thursday.

"The thing I love about what you do, is that you do," Clinton told the crowd. "You don't just talk about it."

The Waterkeeper Alliance has 189 programs on six continents around the world, and their mission is to champion for clean water and strong communities. This year's topic was on climate change and ways to mitigate its impact on waterways. Clinton said he has long had an interest in keeping waterways pristine.

"I grew up in this national park where we had the government protecting our national water. You could see the bottom of the lake when I was a boy working there at summer camp, 35 to 40 feet, clear-as-day." Another lake, close by his childhood home was terribly polluted, he said. "Where I learned to drive a boat and ski, and where we all fished, was one of the most polluted lakes in America. President Carter started trying to clean them up, and when I became governor of my home state, we finished the clean-up of the lake I grew up on."

IT�S TIME TO HAVE FUN AT JOLLY ROGER AND CLEAN UP OUR BAYS TOO!

Click on the arrow to see our Jolly Roger Commercial which is airing on WMDT Channel 47

June 21, 2009 - Join us for ''Benefit the Bays Discount Day'' at Jolly Roger Amusement Park (30th Street Location) -- where you can play all day and help save the Coastal Bays! Buy your tickets today -- and on Sunday, August 9 enjoy half-price entry to Jolly Roger's water park, golf courses, and amusement rides!

This year ACT is pleased to have WMDT Channel 47 and The CW3 helping us sponsor the event. We�ll have some new surprises at Jolly Roger Park on August 9th, so don�t miss out!

Splash Mountain Water Park 10:00am - 6:00pm

Amusement Rides 2:00pm - 6:00pm

Miniature Golf 10:00am - 6:00pm

Proceeds will benefit Assateague Coastal Trust and the Assateague .

ASSATEAGUE COASTAL TRUST FILES COMPLAINT WITH MARYLAND OPEN MEETINGS COMPLIANCE BOARD
June 26, 2009 - Assateague Coastal Trust (ACT) has announced today that it has filed a complaint with the Maryland Open Meetings Compliance Board, through the state Attorney General�s office. The seven page Complaint, with four sets of exhibits attached, was filed to formally complain regarding actions taken by the Worcester County Commissioners on May 26, 2009 in closed session to consolidate three departments of Worcester County Government. ACTs contends that this meeting was in violation of the Maryland Open Meetings Act, and that the scope of the meeting and the decisions made therein fall outside any privilege or exclusion afforded to discussions regarding personnel matters, or matters of an administrative nature.

NEARLY 400 CONCERNED CITIZENS SENT A CLEAR MESSAGE TO WORCESTER COUNTY GOVERNMENT - "PROTECT OUR WATER AND OUR NATURAL RESOURCES!!"
Worcester County Residents Attended the Public Hearing on New Zoning Regulations

Worcester County Residents Attended the Public Hearing on New Zoning Regulations

June 3, 2009 - A standing room only crowd of Worcester County citizens showed up for the June 2 Public Hearing on the proposed new zoning regulations and zoning maps. The message was loud and clear: the new zoning map does not adhere to the 2006 Comprehensive Plan and allows for too much commercial and residential development in sensitive areas of the county.

A diverse crowd in age and ethnicity spoke eloquently and �on message� to the Commissions on Tuesday night. And while many spoke with concern about direct impacts to the neighborhoods or businesses, everyone clearly communicated the same message to the Commissioners:
Cartoon Credit: Marc Emonds/OC Today

Cartoon Credit: Marc Emonds/OC Today

"Worcester County is a TREASURE. Don�t screw it up!"

Many ACT members and Board members were in attendance and their presence in the room was certainly noted by the Commissioners. Board member King Burnett, a land use attorney, spoke very directly to the Commissioners, on behalf of ACT, to advise them that ACT sees errors in the new zoning regulations that do not mirror the intent of the 2006 Comprehensive Plan and these errors need to be addressed. (We will have the final written set of comments from ACT to the County posted here sometime after June 12.)

ACT wishes to thank EVERYONE who attended the hearing, and thanks all those who spoke or submitted written comments, for their efforts.

10th Annual Plant Sale A Huge Success
Steve the Tree

Steve the Tree

May 5, 2009 - ACT's 10th anniversary Native Plant Sale and Festival on May 2nd at Golden Quarter Farm in Berlin, was a huge success and turned out to be a fun day for everyone. With ACT's own Steve Farr, dressed as a tree waving to cars out on the roadway, the field 'parking lot' quickly filled and visitors were soon shopping for native plants, checking out the artisan crafts, or just walking the grounds of Golden Quarter Farm to enjoy the morning and look at the well established native trees and plants on the grounds. Click on "Read More" for photos.

ACT Recognized by National Audubon Society

Kathy Phillips, front and center, displays award.

(photo: ACT Executive Director Kathy Phillips, front center, proudly shows off the plaque presented to ACT by the National Audubon Society during the Delmarva Birding Weekend April 23-26.)

May 5, 2009 - Assateague Coastal Trust was recognized on April 25 by the National Audubon�s Maryland-DC chapter for its land protection and preservation efforts which have helped the Coastal Bays watershed be recognized as an Important Birding Area (IBA) by the National Audubon Society.

National Audubon's Maryland-DC Important Bird Areas (IBA) Program is developing an inventory of sites critical for bird conservation in our state, as part of a global IBA Program coordinated by Birdlife International. Assateague Island is globally important for its breeding Piping Plovers, which represent 2% of this species' entire population.

POISONED WATERS on FRONTLINE

Poisoned Waters

Did you miss seeing FRONTLINE's 'Poisoned Waters' on PBS April 21? Don't worry, you can watch the entire show online here.

This two hour documentary on the decline of the Chesapeake Bay and Puget Sound, the two largest estuaries in the U.S., is a MUST SEE program.

Hedrick Smith presents a two-year-in-the making documentary about the Chesapeake Bay and Puget Sound and why, 20 years later, the Clean Water Act is not working.

Waterkeeper Alliance and a number of Waterkeeper programs helped in the making of this documentary. And while this program focuses on the two largest estuaries in the U.S. � what it says can apply to any local watershed.

June 20, 2008 -- County Sets Deadline For Comprehensive Rezoning
By Cara Dahl, Staff Writer

August 15, 2008 -- New Showell Homes' Water Quality Impact Debated
By Cara Dahl, Staff Writer

May 22, 2009 -- State Waterkeepers and Assateague Coastkeeper, MDE Settle Runoff Lawsuit
By Cara Dahl, Staff Writer

May 29, 2009 -- County's Department Merge Calls For Layoffs
By Cara Dahl, Staff Writer

June 16, 2009 -- ACT Files Challenge To County Closed Meeting
By Cara Dahl, Staff Writer

Proposed Service Road

May 6, 2009 -- Beware Of Service Road Proposal
By Kathy Phillips, ACT Executive Director

(click on the thumbnail to enlarge the Proposed Service Road map)

June 9, 2009 -- Outrage at Worcester's Land-Planning Cuts
By Joseph W. Fehrer Jr., Snow Hill

June 16, 2009 -- Worcester Consolidation a Reward for Developers
By Kim Quillin, Berlin

Baltimore Sun

June 9, 2009 -- Water Hazard
By Tim Wheeler

June 10, 2009 -- Heads Roll in a Planning Department, Protections Fall
By Tom Pelton, Chesapeake Bay Foundation

There are no articles available at this time for the Shore Progress.

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The Assateague

is an on-the-water advocate who patrols and protects the Maryland and northern Virginia eastern shore coastal bays, including the St. Martins River, Assawoman Bay, Isle of Wight Bay, Sinepuxent Bay, Newport Bay, and Chincoteague Bay, standing up to polluters and guaranteeing everyone's right to clean water.

Find out more about the

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Get the Dirt Out (GTDO) is a NEW project being implemented by local Waterkeeper programs, across the Chesapeake and Atlantic Coastal Bays watersheds, to protect our waterways from damage caused by sediment-laden runoff from construction sites and land development. ACT is participating in this extremely important program and has created a website specifically for this purpose. To read more about this project or to help us by volunteering, click here to be automatically transferred to the GTDO website.

Grow Berlin Green (GBG) is a NEW 3 year campaign to encourage Berlin residents, businesses and government officials to connect the community to conservation. The campaign will be managed by a coalition of Assateague Coastal Trust (ACT), Lower Shore Land Trust and Maryland Coastal Bays Program, but it will be driven by community education, empowerment and action, said Steve Farr, development director for ACT and the project director of GBG. For more information on the Grow Berlin Green Project, click here to be automatically transferred to the GBG website.

Kids + Outdoor Adventure = Coast Kids! Join Coast Kids Today

Join Coast Kids Today

Join Today! Or Renew Your Membership!

International Coastal CleanUp

Saturday, September 19, 2009
Assateague Island National Seashore

Registration opens at 8am

Assateague Island National Seashore
(entrance fee waived)

North Beach parking lot
(1st left after the entrance booth)

CleanUp begins at 9 a.m.

On September 19, beach-lovers will gather on Assateague Island to comb the beach. But they won't be collecting seashells, or even scouting for wild ponies. These volunteers will don work gloves and set out with trash bags to clean up the coast. Click here to read more.

Links to Zoning Documents
The Worcester County Planning Department has published draft documents that are the implementation of the 2006 Worcester County Comprehensive Plan. We have provided links on our website to the main documents:

proposed 2009 zoning map
zoning map key
zoning code

subdivision regulations
County Comprehensive Plan

You can view all the documents at the Worcester County Commissioners Website (Look for the small tabs located under the photograph of the Welcome sign on the home page. Click the tab that says "zoning draft code." )

ACT Details It's Concerns
We want to compare the 2006 Plan to the new zoning regulations and maps. What is good, what is missing? We've put together a document that outlines the major zoning concerns. Click here to view it.

2007 Annual Report

Click on the 2007 Annual Report Image to view it as an Adobe PDF file.

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