Friends From Afar Visit PDE

(Above) PDE staff and members of an Environmental Protection Agency’s program evaluation team visit Delaware’s official tall ship, the Kalmar Nyckel in Wilmington, Delaware.

In June, PDE hosted a three-day tour of our science and outreach programs with a team from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Oregon's Lower Columbia National Estuary Program. Every five years, the EPA reviews organizations in the National Estuary Program to make sure their initiatives are running well. This year, the group visited the Kalmar Nyckel Shipyard in Wilmington, Delaware, where PDE is teaming up with partners to build the first living shoreline in the city. The group also went to Philadelphia where PDE will build a freshwater mussel hatchery at Bartram’s Garden and to Bivalve, New Jersey, to chat about exciting projects at the Rutgers University Haskin Shellfish Research Laboratory.

ALL THEMES AND GOALS of the CCMP

The group visited Philadelphia, where they visited Penn's Landing, the site of the annual Delaware River Festival, and Bartram's Garden, where PDE will build a freshwater mussel hatchery.

In Bivalve, New Jersey, the group learned about exciting projects at the Rutgers University Haskin Shellfish Research Laboratory.

At PDE's shell recycling area in Wilmington, PDE staff talked about how we collect oyster shells from area restaurants and eventually use them in shoreline replenishment and protection projects.