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Create a Certified Wildlife Habitat or Backyard Buffer on your property

The National Wildlife Federation’s program for creating wildlife habitats in residential backyards, schools, campuses, commercial properties, and communities has resulted in the creation of almost 140,000 Certified Wildlife Habitat sites in the country. The requirements for a Certified Wildlife Habitat are the provision of food, water, cover, and a place for wildlife to raise young. Learn more about the Certified Wildlife Habitat program.

Residents who have a stream, lake, pond, or other waterway on or adjacent to their property are eligible for participation in the Department of Natural Resource’s Backyard Buffers program. By signing up, you can receive 25 free native trees and shrubs. The removal of natural riparian buffers has been a large contributor to nutrient and sediment pollution in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. Riparian buffers are ecosystems lining waterways that help to hold together soil and remove nutrients and other pollutants from stormwater. Learn more about the Backyard Buffers program.

Calculate your environmental footprint

Try out at least one of these useful calculators to discover your ecological, carbon, water, or nitrogen footprint. Re-calculate these values once you’ve finished the challenge to see how much you have improved!

Calculate your ecological footprint:

My household’s ecological footprint is: ___________ Earths

Calculate your carbon footprint:

My household’s carbon footprint is: ____________ metric tons CO₂/year

Calculate your water footprint:

My household’s water footprint is: ____________ gallons/day

Calculate your nitrogen footprint:

My household’s nitrogen footprint is: __________ lb Nitrogen/year

Attend an environmental workshop, seminar, or discussion

Would you like to learn how to engage in a sustainable practice like composting, gardening, or recycling the proper items? Contact us for information about upcoming workshops.

You can also attend a workshop, seminar, or discussion on an issue of interest to you hosted by another organization. Learn more about:

• Common Market workshops,
• Maryland Native Plant Society workshops,
• Department of Natural Resource seminars on environmental issues,
• Composting workshops with the Frederick County Department of Solid Waste Management.

Get updates on upcoming watershed-related workshops and seminars by joining the Chesapeake Network.

Volunteer with an environmental organization

There are many great initiatives within the Chesapeake Bay Watershed that could use an extra helping hand. To search for volunteer opportunities in or near Frederick County, check out Volunteer Match or Idealist.org.

To receive updates on watershed-related projects that you can get involved in, join the Chesapeake Network.

Visit the following organization’s pages to find out more about their volunteer opportunities:

• Monocacy & Catoctin Watershed Alliance,
• Hood College’s Monocacy Basin Stream Monitoring Project,
• DNR Stream Waders,
• Potomac Conservancy,
• Catoctin Forest Alliance,
• Frederick County Nature Council,
• Maryland Park Service,
• Volunteer Maryland,
• Nature Conservancy,
• Maryland Native Plant Society

Interested in traveling the world as a volunteer? To find out more about volunteer opportunities and programs around the world, check out the Earth Watch Institute, World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms, Eco-shout, World Wide Helpers, Conservation Volunteers, Working Abroad, or Global Vision International.

You can even organize your own volunteer project, such as a tree planting, community garden, schoolyard habitat, adopt-a-road, rain barrel installation, or used good drive.

Read more about: Creating a Certified Wildlife Habitat at a local school or community center, Discounted trees for plantings through the TREE-MENDOUS Maryland program, Adopting a road in Frederick County, Organizing a project through the Clean Up the World program or the Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Cleanup.