EC is celebrating 50 Years!

In the early seventies, when most people thought wetlands were worthless, mucky swamps filled with mosquitoes, EC's founder, Dr. Ed Garbisch, recognized the importance of wetlands and the disastrous effects of losing tens of thousands of acres of this critical ecosystem in the Maryland watershed. Since that time, EC's staff, comprised of practitioners, planters and planners have expanded and refined the processes developed in the 70's to maintain the quality and sustainability of its restoration projects.
Over the 50 years, EC has restored 40 miles of shoreline and propagated over 30 million native plants!

Evidence of EC's impact can be found around Maryland's Chesapeake Bay Watershed, beginning with it's first successful wetland restoration project on Hambleton Island in Talbot County. Poplar Island, once on the verge of disappearing, is now a model of the beneficial use of dredging materials and habitat restoration for diamondback turtles, egrets, and monarch butterflies. EC was awarded the contract to plant 650,000 native plants in Cell 3D on Poplar Island and staff recently visited and collected seed for our next growing season. EC was also selected to design and construct a Living Shoreline on Elliott Island to protect the only road access to the quaint waterfront village. On behalf of the Town of St. Michaels, EC designed the St. Michaels Nature Trail and secured a $471,000 grant from the State of Maryland to build the trail.

As we celebrate this milestone, we are proud of our accomplishments and look forward to the future and continuing our mission to improve water quality, creating, restoring and conserving wetlands, living shorelines and natural habitats.....one wetland at a time!

Thank you for your support!