Lower Monocacy Stream
Corridor Assessment Survey


In 1998, the Maryland Clean Water Action Plan identified the Lower Monocacy watershed as one of the State’s water bodies that did not meet water quality requirements. In response to this finding, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR), Frederick County, and local stakeholders formed a partnership to develop a Watershed Restoration Action Strategy (WRAS) for the Lower Monocacy River watershed. The following Stream Corridor Assessment (SCA) survey is part of the WRAS development process.

The SCA provides descriptive and positional data for potential environmental problems along a watershed’s non-tidal streams. Developed by DNR’s Watershed Services Unit, the surveys is a watershed management tool to identify environmental problems and help prioritize restoration opportunities on a watershed basis. As part of the survey, specially trained personnel walk a watershed’s streams and record data and the location for potential environmental problems that can be easily observed. Each potential problem site is also ranked on a scale of one to five for its severity, correctability, and access for restoration work.

SCA survey fieldwork for the Lower Monocacy River began in January 2003 and was completed by September 2003. To complete the survey, field crews walked over 85 miles of streams.

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