MDE Lawsuit Against Ridgely’s Reserve Housing Development Settled for $4.1 Million with Gunpowder RIVERKEEPER® as Intervenor Nets $2 Million Civil Penalty, $2.1 Million for Community Driven Remediation Projects

Joppa, Maryland. – Today, Gunpowder Riverkeeper in conjunction with the Maryland Department of the Environment (“MDE”) announced a $4.1 million settlement to resolve a lawsuit, instigated by Gunpowder Riverkeeper, against the Ridgely’s Reserve housing development for water pollution that harmed Foster’s Branch the Gunpowder River tidal basin. D.R. Horton, Inc., Forestar (USA) Real Estate Group …

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Update on Gunpowder RIVERKEEPER® pursuit for Tier III Water Quality Monitoring Accreditation

Since November 2025, Gunpowder RIVERKEEPER® has been working diligently alongside the Chesapeake Monitoring Cooperative (CMC) who provides technical and logistical support to partners, communities, and individuals who want to collect, share, interpret, and use water quality data to increase understanding of Chesapeake Bay watershed health. Gunpowder RIVERKEEPER® is currently in the process of obtaining its Tier III accreditation …

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Action Alert: Do you navigate the Gunpowder and Bush Rivers under the Amtrak Bridges? Submit Your Comment to the U.S. Coast Guard by June 11th

This just in from the U.S. Coast Guard: All interested parties are notified that the Commander, Coast Guard East District has received a proposal from the AMTRAK with plans for a replacement of  existing railroad drawbridges over a navigable waterway of the United States at Bush River, mile 6.8, between Perryman and Edgewood, MD and …

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2026 Anadromous Fish Spawn Monitoring Round Up

Thanks to Maryland Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) Fish Biologists Jeffrey Horne, Marek Topolski, Marissa Ponte, and Shannon Moorhead and all of the volunteers who came out to help us collect samples and data to inform Fisheries’ study of the spawning habits of anadromous fish (those that swim upriver from saltwater to freshwater for the …

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Gunpowder RIVERKEEPER® partners with Nitrate Watch

Gunpowder RIVERKEEPER® is proud to partner with the IZAAK Walton League of America (IWLA) to join their Nitrate Watch program. Nitrate Watch is a participatory science program aimed at measuring the concentrations of nitrogen found in water bodies within the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Gunpowder RIVERKEEPER® is thrilled to expand its monitoring of the Bird, Bush, …

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