• Division of Water Resources Response to Public Comments
• Inland Bays Tributary Action Team's PCS Information Page
• Early implementation PSN3 (Performance Standard Nitrogen Level 3) interactive map
Like them but don't light them: Foliage with colors now at the peak of the spectrum soon will be but swirling piles of fallen leaves. When it's that time, please be aware that Delaware has had a leaf burning ban in effect since 1995. When burned, once-colorful but now decaying leaves will emit harmful chemicals and cause environmental ills. Composting or mulching makes for a better back-to-nature way of leaf disposal.
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New Killens Pond Nature Center is
unveiled as environmental standout
Delaware State Parks' new Killens Pond Nature Center was dedicated Wednesday by Governor Ruth Ann Minner. The new center near Felton sits amidst the state park's forested land and the shore of Killens Pond, allowing park visitors to enjoy the natural setting that surrounds it. The building was designed and built following Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) principles, and is registered with the U.S. Green Building Council as an environmentally-friendly structure. It boasts geothermal features for heating along with innovative rainwater collection and onsite wastewater treatment.
Tiny Acorns Today, Tall Wildlife Habitat Tomorrow
More than 120 volunteers throughout Delaware – including Blades Elementary School teacher Linn Duryea and student volunteers Bryant Cannon and Heather Hastings – recently helped DNREC collect more than 140 pounds of acorns during the state’s 4th Annual Acorn Collection Day held at Wilmington's Rockford Park, Smyrna Rest Area and Holts Landing State Park near Ocean View. The acorns will be used to help private landowners enhance or establish wildlife habitat. More...
Not flotsam...
nor jetsam...
but an innovative 56-acre wetland restoration project on the Mispillion River which partnered DNREC with other public and private interests. To provide protection from erosive forces such as boat wakes, trees up to 25 feet tall with rootballs were anchored along the riverbank in a crisscross pattern. Rows of coconut fiber logs known as coir were placed behind the trees for more bulwark. The restoration is a Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration (NRDAR) project for the DuPont Newport Superfund Site and involved US Fish & Wildlife Service and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. "We utilized the expertise of all the agencies involved to protect a river, restore a beautiful wetland, and recover resources lost at a Superfund site. This is how the Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration partnership works," said DNREC Secretary John A. Hughes.
Coast Day recap: The numbers (and oddities) are in for everything collected in 2008 from Delaware's shores
The numbers are in: Approximately 1,700 volunteers at the annual Delaware Coastal Cleanup in September collected more than 20,000 pounds of trash from the state's shorelines and tributaries. Volunteers from civic groups to businesses to entire families cleaned up 38 sites throughout Delaware from Wilmington to Fenwick Island. The yearly oddities also are in: Topping the list of unusual items are a bowling ball, a tennis racket, truck bed, car engine, car windshield and a New Jersey police officer's cap, among other cleaned up items. As for those numbers and oddities: The types and quantities of trash collected in various locations are recorded on data cards and forwarded to the Center for Marine Conservation, which compiles data for all the cleanups held around the world. The information helps identify the source of the debris and to focus efforts on eliminating or reducing it.