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PTRC members are invited to join local native plant expert Mark Imlay on Saturday, July 14, at 9:30 a.m., for a walk at Port Tobacco River Park, 7685 Chapel Point Rd, Port Tobacco MD 20677. Mark will help us to identify invasive plants in the park and discuss strategies for their control. We will stay on the trails, but dress to protect yourself from poison ivy and insects, and don’t forget to bring drinking water.

Join us Sunday, September 9, at Chapel Point State Park, 8160 Pisces Rd., Port Tobacco MD 20677, from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. for our next shoreline cleanup. Meet us at the parking lot for the boat launch area, where we will provide bags, gloves, water, and snacks. Come out to enjoy the park and help make our river more beautiful.

Join us Thursday, August 23, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. for Port Tobacco Green Drinks at the Port Tobacco Restaurant, 7536 Shirley Blvd., Port Tobacco MD 20677. Come learn what PTRC has been up to, make new friends, and just have fun.

Ryan Abrahamson of Terrain360 will tell us how he is creating a 360 degree visual guide of the Port Tobacco River using surface-level image mapping. The project is funded through the Charles County Department of Recreation, Parks, and Tourism.

John Snow, Charles County’s Chief of Parks and Grounds, will update us on how the County is working to improve access roads, parking areas, and waterfront recreation areas at Chapel Point State Park through the Chapel Point State Park Strategic Management Partnership Plan with Maryland DNR.

The program is free and open to the public and will take place at the Historic Port Tobacco Courthouse, 8430 Commerce Street, Port Tobacco, MD 20677, from 6:30 to 9:00 pm. Complimentary beer, wine, soft drinks, and light refreshments will be served.

Pictures from Saturday’s shoreline cleanup of the Port Tobacco River at Chapel Point State Park. It was a beautiful day on the river and our volunteers made a big difference. A park visitor who would not give his name pitched in by loading all the trash we collected into his truck for disposal. We also saw some interesting native plants — rose mallow, prickly pear, and the dreaded poison ivy.

We will hold the first of our monthly shoreline cleanups at Chapel Point State Park, 8160 Pisces Rd., Port Tobacco MD 20677, on Saturday, May 27, from 10:00 am to noon. We will provide bags, gloves, water, and snacks. Come out to enjoy the park and help make our river more beautiful.

PTRC’s next public meeting on Thursday, March 9, from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Historic Port Tobacco Courthouse, 8430 Commerce Street, Port Tobacco MD 20677, will feature an all-star line-up of trash busters:

• Julie Lawson, Executive Director, Trash Free Maryland, will update us on the status of legislation to ban polystyrene food containers statewide, as well as the Trash Trawl project to gauge the prevalence of micro-plastics in the Bay;
• Hannah Seligmann, Volunteer and Outreach Coordinator, Alice Ferguson Foundation, will tell us about the Trash Free Potomac campaign, including this year’s Potomac River Cleanup;
• Frances Sherman, Recycling & Litter Control Superintendent, Charles County, will let us know about the County’s litter control programs;
• Mike Bellis, Executive Director, United Way of Charles County, will tell us about the UW’s new Watershed Discovery and Exploration grant. The grant will fund kayak outings for low-income families that increase public awareness of the value of our watersheds and how we can all protect them, with a focus on litter control.

Light refreshments will definitely not be trashy. We will offer complimentary beer, wine, and soft drinks served by Kaley, our professional bartender, as well as delicious snacks. For more information, contact us at 301 934-2025 or ptrc@porttobaccoriver.org.

The event is free and open to the public. Hope to see you there!