Winegrad to Speak at Salisbury University
 Assateague Coastal Trust (ACT), the Assateague  , Salisbury University (SU) Department of Sociology and SU Department of Environmental Studies invites you to a special lecture by clean water advocate Gerald W. Winegrad, former Maryland State Senator and Professor at the University of Maryland, on Thursday, November 20th, at 10:00am at Salisbury University, Guerrieri Center- Nanticoke A Room.
His lecture is titled: "What Needs To Be Done To Restore The Bay? The Inconvenient Truths of Bay Restoration."
Gerald W. Winegrad will make a presentation and lead a discussion on the decline of the Chesapeake Bay and what needs to be done to restore this great estuary. He will outline why the Bay is in serious trouble after 25 years of recovery efforts.
Worcester County Comprehensive Plan-The Saga Continues
 September 29, 2008
Dear Chairman Bunting and members of the Planning Commission,
I noted with interest, a recent editorial cartoon in the O.C. Today newspaper. The cartoon depicted the Worcester County 2006 Comprehensive Plan as a bottle that had washed up on a beach after a storm, with a note inside the bottle that said "Help".
I'm glad to see the general public is now recognizing, just as Assateague Coastal Trust realized earlier this summer, that our award winning Comprehensive Plan is in trouble.
ACT was very disturbed by Ed Tudor’s August 26, 2008 memo to the Commissioners, in which he gave them just the opportunity they were looking for to:
• avoid having to deal with the E-1 down zoning component of the plan, which is necessary to control growth outside of the designated growth areas, as well as protect our water resources and also keep development out of flood prone areas;
• drop the language that would require Environmental Site Design (ESD) implemented at the conceptual drawing phase of subdivisions in order to mimic natural hydrological run-off characteristics and minimize impact of land development on water resources;
• ignore Nutrient budgets and trading which is needed to implement state required TMDL's (Total Maximum Daily Loads for nutrients into our waterways;
• remove an Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance that would make development outside the designated growth areas pay for itself.
County Comprehensive Plan Takes Another Debilitating Hit!
 The nationally recognized Worcester County 2006 comprehensive plan took another debilitating hit during the August 7th Worcester County Planning Commission meeting. The commission, hog tied by outdated county zoning ordinances, approved a 46 lot subdivision bordering Shingle Landing Prong that will tie into another recently approved 126 lot subdivision adjacent to this waterway.
These two new subdivisions are poster child examples of how Worcester County has failed its citizens miserably by not implementing the 2006 Comprehensive Plan in a timely manner, because both subdivisions will be on individual septic systems.
Assateague Coastal Trust Receives Environmental Grant from SIMA
ALISO VIEJO, CALIF. (June 19, 2008)– The Surf Industry Manufacturers Association (SIMA) Environmental Fund announced today the 17 ocean-environmental organizations named as beneficiaries of the 19th Annual Waterman's Weekend, the surf industry's annual environmental fundraiser to be held August 21 – 22, 2008. The two-day event, comprised of the Waterman’s Classic Golf Tournament and Waterman’s Ball, will take place at the St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort & Spa in Dana Point, Calif.
The SIMA Environmental Fund aims to continue the record fundraising legacy and raise the amount of $500,000 at the 2008 Waterman's Weekend. All proceeds will be distributed in the form of SIMA Environmental Fund grants to the one new and 16 returning beneficiary groups. The 17 ocean-environmental organizations will dedicate those funds to programs that will address water quality and ocean pollution issues; defend beaches and surf breaks from development; or provide public education about ocean conservation.
“The SIMA Environmental Fund is extremely proud to fund and support the positive environmental impact these 17 organizations are having on our industry’s most valuable asset – the ocean,” said Paul Naude, chairman of the SIMA Environmental Fund Board and CEO of Billabong USA. “The groups we have selected to benefit from this year’s Waterman’s Weekend cover a broad spectrum, from ocean educational programming for youth, to researchers collecting pollution data in our oceans. Each one of our beneficiaries is crucial for the protection of our ocean-environment, especially now in a time when we are battling to save some of our most precious playgrounds, such as Trestles or the North Shore. Now, more than ever, we are here to show our support and make our mark on the effort to preserve the oceans.”
Coast Kids Joins No Child Left Inside Coalition
 ACT’s environmental education program, Coast Kids, has joined over 250 other organizations nationwide in support of the No Child Left Inside Coalition, organized by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. The primary goal of NCLI is to build support for the No Child Left Inside Act, sponsored by Maryland U.S. Representative John Sarbanes to create federal funding and environmental curricula for schools. For more information about the NCLI coalition, go to www.nclicoalition.org
 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
August 9, 2008 -- Plans reviewed for Showell subdivision
By Jenny Hopkinson, Staff Writer
ACT Donates $10,000 For Assateague Horse Film Production!
 Members of Assateague Coastal Trust (ACT) took part in a beach clean-up activity on April 26, 2008 at the Assateague Island National Seashore (AINS) to help celebrate a recent National Park Service Centennial Challenge $10,000.00 matching grant to the $10,000 ACT donated for the new AINS Visitor Center's Wild Horse exhibit. The $20,000 is being used to fund post-production on a film about the National Seashore's most renowned resource, the Assateague Wild Horses.
ACT Executive Director and , Kathy Phillips addressed the crowd on Saturday saying, "Assateague Coastal Trust is proud to be a partner with Assateague Island National Seashore in this exciting expansion of the Visitor Center and especially in helping to bring a new experience to the Park's visitors through this updated film production about the famed Assateague wild horses."
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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.
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Coast Kids: Build a screech owl house
Saturday, December 13th 2008 from 10 AM to 11.30 AM
Eastern Screech Owls are small owls that live in some Delmarva woodlands. They usually nest in a natural tree cavity or a tree cavity excavated by a woodpecker, but they will also use nesting boxes—a good alternative since some of their habitat has been lost to development. We will talk about screech owls and tell you how to identify their calls at night (listen for them!). Then we will build and decorate nesting boxes for you to take home to create owl habitat in your own yard. Bring a screw driver if you have one.
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