There is a quick update on the Smoots Bay project I wrote about back in January. The folks involved in the project held a planning meeting today at National Harbor.
The project will place artificial reef balls in an area of the Potomac River called Smoots Bay in an effort to provide habitat for bass in an area of the Potomac that has seen a major loss of submerged grasses over the last decade.
When I spoke with Joseph Love the Tidal Bass Manager for Maryland Department of Natural Resources earlier this week he also told me he received a permit from Maryland Department of the Environment and "should have a permit from Army Corps (of Engineers) within about 15 days."
Love also said funding for the $200,000 project has been secured.
"After the planning meeting, we should have a supplies list and a framework for purchasing the supplies," said Love.
The tentative timeline from earlier in the year had the reef balls being placed in the river sometime in September or October and Love is hoping to have an updated timeline after today's meeting.
* Jeff Herman is the assistant news director at WMAR | ABC2. His main passion while not at work is fishing. This column is part of a series of columns he writes for our outdoors page. You can read more of his columns here .
