Guidance on Controlling Phragmites

Tips from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources on how to control invasive phragmites wetlands grasses on your property. 

Best Practices for Ditch Maintenance

Guidance from the Somerset County Maintenance Department on how to help keep ditches on your property clean of debris to improve water flow and reduce costly maintenance repairs.

Documenting Nuisance Flooding from Tidal Ditches

Help us document nuisance flooding from ditch overflow on roadways or property by uploading a photo on the Maryland MyCoast phone app (available on Apple and Android) or website. You can also search through our collection of nuisance flooding under our Flooding and Ditch Condition Photo Collection. 

Planting Plans for Resilient Shorelines

Get landscaping tips to help reduce erosion on your property. Explore conceptual plans for both hardened and natural shorelines. Click on the plant guides below for recommended plants that grow well in areas prone to salt spray or saltwater intrusion. 

Wetland Plant Reference Tool

This Wetland Mapper is a tool to identify where on your property different types of wetlands may be located to help you identify most suitable wetland plants for reducing erosion issues. 

Native Plant Guide for Shoreline Landscaping

Plant guide for identifying plants that grow well on the Deal Island Peninsula and that can be used to reduce erosion. 

Photo Documentation: Shoreline Erosion 

Explore DIPP's collection of photos documenting shoreline erosion problem areas on the Deal Island Peninsula. Please share any photos of shoreline erosion issues that you'd like to add to this collection as part of building the case for assistance and resource needs.

MyCoast Maryland

MyCoast Maryland is a new website/app that allows residents to submit reports to help photo document local flooding issues. The platform offers three tools for document nuisance flooding, precipitation-based flooding, and storm damage. 

Project: Preparing Communities for Floods

Learn about the Pew Foundation's project to develop policy solutions to make communities and infrastructure more resilient to flooding and hurricanes. 

Faith and Flooding: How Sea Level Rise Threatens America's Houses of Worship

A report from Climate Central (2019) on how churches may be impacted by flooding in the future and learn strategies to reduce these impacts. 

Flood IQ

Tool from the First Street Foundation to help property owners better understand flood risks. Visit this link to see data for the Deal Island Peninsula zip code. 

Sea Level Rise Vulnerability Maps: Deal Island Peninsula 2015-2050

Mapping tool developed by the Eastern Shore GIS Cooperative and Maryland Department of Natural Resources that enables users to access parcel level data to assess potential flood impacts to properties, roadways, and infrastructure under varying conditions for the years 2015-2050. 

Underwater: Rising Seas, Chronic Floods, and the Implications for US Coastal Real Estate

Union of Concerned Scientists Report (2018) on the impacts of chronic flooding on property values now and into the future. 

Come High Water: Sea Level Rise and the Chesapeake Bay

A report from Maryland Sea Grant and the Bay Journal (2014) on how sea level rise will impact the Chesapeake Bay region, with special emphasis on the effects of sea level rise on livelihoods and people's way of life. 

Climate Change, Tidal Marshes & Wildlife

A report from the Lower Eastern Shore Land Trust, Defenders of Wildlife and Audubon Society that explores the impacts of sea level rise on tidal marshes and wildlife, and the value of protecting wetlands for communities.  

Photos: Local Communities and Culture

Explore DIPP's photo collection of life on the Deal Island Peninsula. Photos by Julia Keane (2016). 

Holland Island: Lost Atlantis of the Chesapeake 

A.M. Foley and P. Smith Rue (2015). A book that highlights the history and culture of the people who once inhabited nearby Holland Island. 

Linking Estuarine Research to Local Community Heritage and Environmental Values: Lessons from the Chesapeake 

Lucindea Power and Michael Paolisso (2007)

A History of the Deal Island Peninsula

William Wheatley (2000) 

Early History off Deal Island (1607-1877)

Greg Stiverson, Assistant State Archivist (1973)

Maryland Directory (1878)

Historical records of Somerset County and the Deal Island Peninsula from the late 1800s. Information includes family napes, occupations, price of land and expected crop yields, and descriptions of the communities of the Peninsula.