Eastern Shore students tour the lab that grows Chesapeake Bay oysters

Schools looking to give students a hands-on environmental education experience would be hard pressed to find a better field trip than one to the Horn Point Laboratory, where the region’s top scientists are growing juvenile oysters used in Chesapeake Bay restoration. 

Located in Cambridge, Maryland, Horn Point Lab is an 800-acre research facility run by the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (UMCES). Researchers from across the country come to Horn Point to study oceanography, marsh restoration, oyster reproduction—issues relevant not only to the Chesapeake Bay, but ecosystems across the globe. 

“So much research happening here is applicable all over the world,” said ShoreRivers Director of Education, Suzanne Sullivan. 

For over a decade, ShoreRivers has been leading field trips to this unique campus situated right on the Choptank River. The field trip is part of a larger Meaningful Watershed Educational Experience (or MWEE) in which students investigate and offer a solution to an environmental issue. At Horn Point, students follow up on classroom projects related to Chesapeake Bay oysters. 

“Students in 9th grade are studying how oysters impact the Chesapeake Bay ecologically, economically and culturally,” said Sullivan. 

As part of the field trip, students tour the Horn Point Oyster Hatchery, the largest oyster hatchery on the East Coast. ShoreRivers educators take students through a series of facilities to see tanks where oysters spawn, larvae are grown and food for the oysters is created. 

“Not only are [Horn Point scientists] growing oysters but they’re trying to figure out how to grow oysters more effectively,” said Sullivan. 

At another part of the campus, students take part in a fun, competitive challenge to build model buoys similar to those used to collect water quality data in the Bay. High-tech buoys are used to send scientists water quality data like oxygen levels so they can keep track of which parts of the estuary are improving or falling behind. 

Lastly, students strap on waders and get into the Choptank River to gather water quality data of their own. Students drag a large seine net through the water to collect wildlife samples like crabs, insects and small fish, and then use specialized equipment to test the water’s salinity and turbidity. 

“We’re learning to assess the health of our ecosystem to see if oysters can live here,” said Morgan Buchanan, senior educational programs coordinator at ShoreRivers. 

For decades, the Chesapeake Bay Program has been coordinating environmental education across the region. The partnership’s Education Workgroup helps educators prepare for environmental literacy education and facilitate MWEEs, in order to meet a region-wide Environmental Literacy Planning Goal. Recent data show that progress toward the goal improved from 2022 to 2024, following a slow down in environmental educational programming and training due to the Covid-19 pandemic.