Photograph, Nicky Lehming

Kelsey Brooks is the newest regional watershed restoration specialist for Maryland Sea Grant Extension, serving Baltimore City and Baltimore, Carroll, and Harford Counties.

Brooks is working with communities, citizen groups, and local governments to help improve water quality in the rivers, streams, and creeks that flow into the Chesapeake Bay.

Sea Grant's team of five watershed restoration specialists educate Maryland residents about practical measures they can take. For example, the specialists help communities to secure funding to install projects that reduce stormwater runoff, which carries excessive amounts of nutrients into the Chesapeake where they have fostered the development of low-oxygen "dead zones."

For information about watershed restoration planning and projects in your area, please visit the Maryland Sea Grant Extension watershed specialists' webpage: www.mdsg.umd.edu/topics/watershed-restoration/watershed-restoration