Stream Restoration and Wetland Creation at NSF Indian Head, Maryland

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Naval Support Facility Indian Head (NSFIH) is located in the northwestern portion of Charles County, Maryland, approximately 30 miles south of Washington, D.C. The total land area of NSFIH is approximately 3,314 acres. Charles County lies within the Atlantic Coastal Plain physiographic province and is one of five counties that comprise the geographic region known as Southern Maryland. Southern Maryland is an irregularly shaped peninsula of 1,944 square miles, bounded on the south and west by the Potomac River, on the northwest by the District Columbia, on the north by the Patapsco River, and on the east by the Chesapeake Bay. The shoreline of NSFIH is surrounded by the Mattawoman and Chicamuxen Creeks and the Potomac River with numerous perennial streams flowing into these bodies of water. Previous base operations and practices at NSFIH have resulted in the degradation of water quality of onsite streams and wetland areas. These past actions have included grading and surface hardening that has negatively affected drainage patterns and increased stormwater runoff, encouraged soil erosion and increased the sediment loading of runoff. Many of the degraded areas are on slopes surrounding perennial streams and wetlands.If not implemented, the impacts to the mission of NSFIH will include further degradation of slopes along and surrounding perennial streams, negative increases in drainage patterns, soil erosion and sediment loading of runoff. Continued changes in drainage patterns will result in localized flooding, erosion of outfalls and unintended bypass of drainage systems and ditches. This effort supports the requirement of the Sikes Act and the NSF Indian Head Integrated Natural Resources Management Plan (INRMP) to mitigate soil erosion. INRMPs offer a coordinated approach for incorporating ecosystem management efforts into the management of natural resources at DoD installations.

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