Severn River Advocates Earn Blue And Green Heron Awards

The Severn River Association (SRA), self-described as “the oldest organization in the country dedicated to the preservation of a river, and one of the largest civic groups in Anne Arundel County with over 70 communities represented,” recently bestowed two of its annual awards to John Wright and Pete Daly.

Earning the Blue Heron Award for his lifetime of achievement was Wright, who has worked with SRA to keep the estuary healthy and habitable for marine life. Wright was president of the organization from 2012 to 2013, and he currently chairs the education committee, which gathers knowledgeable speakers to address the SRA and any interested attendees. Recently, the SRA invited speakers with expertise on oysters, “which clean 50 gallons of river water every 24 hours each,” according to Wright.

“[That’s] one of our main topics, so we’ll invite speakers in from various organizations to speak to the general public. … The meetings are free. They’re monthly, usually held on the third Tuesday of the month. So we plan on continuing those because education is the key to getting everyone on board to make the river swimmable and fishable,” he explained.

Notching the award was “very gratifying” for Wright, who appreciates being recognized by his peers for doing outstanding work.

“John volunteers and does a great job at all he takes on,” said Lynne Rockenbauch, president of the Severn River Association. “He has helped with tree-planting events and fundraising events at Belvoir plantation. He has chaired our nominating committee and organized our extremely successful educational speaker series for several years now. He has represented SRA for planning several events with the Annapolis Climate Change Stewards. He also serves on our communications committee.

Wright hopes to continue his extensive involvement with the SRA in the future and continue improving the health of the river.

“That’s the whole idea: What can you do in your background to keep the river cleaner and fishable and swimmable,” he said.

While the Blue Heron Award recognizes someone who has spent years making efforts to preserve the bay, the Green Heron Award commemorates someone with a brief but important history of working to achieve this mission. This honor was granted to Pete Daly, a seven-year SRA member. In order to help the Severn River, Daly has incorporated his business into his volunteer work.

“Every year, the company I work for, Environmental Quality Resources, LLC (EQR), shuts down operations and the employees participate in stream cleanups in memorial for Will Bunn, a team member who passed away,” said Daly. “I coordinated with SRA to find sites that EQR could clean up. The most notable site was on Department of Natural Resources property in Crownsville, where we used our heavy equipment to remove 11 tons of trash.”

In addition to this, Daly volunteers as an assistant scoutmaster for Boy Scout Troop 804. While in this position, he has, “coordinated a number of service projects for the scouts, including assisting Arlington Echo remove phragmites and plant native species in place of the invasive one.”