Upper Chester River
Stream Corridor
Assessment Survey


The Upper Chester watershed encompasses approximately 86,541 acres (135.22 square miles) of land. In 1998, the Maryland Clean Water Action Plan identified the Upper Chester 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 and Kent and Queen Anne’s Counties formed a partnership to develop a Watershed Restoration Action Strategy (WRAS) for the Upper Chester River Watershed. As part of the WRAS development process, a Stream Corridor Assessment (SCA) survey was performed on nine streams flowing into the Upper Chester River: Andover Branch, Cypress Branch, Foreman Branch, Mills Branch, Pearl Creek, Red Lion Branch, Sewell Branch, Spry Landing, and Unicorn Branch. The survey began in September 2004 and was completed in November 2004. It is necessary to mention that only the main-stems of these streams were surveyed, with the exception of the Red Lion Branch. At the request of Kent and Queen Anne’s Counties, the tributaries of Red Lion Branch were surveyed to provide a more comprehensive picture of the streams in the watershed.

The SCA survey was developed by the Watershed Assessment and Targeting Division of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources to provide a rapid examination of the stream network in a watershed. The survey is done using specially trained field teams that walk streams and note the location of a variety of potential environmental problems. As part of the survey, field teams also collected some basic information about stream habitat conditions at regular intervals. This survey is not intended to be a detailed scientific evaluation, and the data collected about any specific problem is limited. Instead, the survey is designed to give an overview of the condition of the stream system so that future restoration efforts can be better targeted.

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