Our Work

Our History. Our Future.

A grassroots idea that quickly became restoration at scale.

WROP was initiated in May 2025 by a small group of neighbors concerned about the Wye River’s declining water quality. ShoreRivers’ 2024 report card underscored the need for action and the 2025 report reinforced our commitment.

2025

21 million oysters

Community donations funded one barge of spat-on-shell planted across 3 acres of historic reef just six weeks after launch.

2026

60 million+ more

Growing community support and local grants helped fund more than 60 million additional spat-on-shell across 9 acres.

2027 Goal

80 million spat-on-shell

WROP’s goal is to plant approximately 80 million spat-on-shell oysters across 12 acres of oyster reef habitat in the Wye River Oyster Sanctuary.

Our Activities

There are 23 historic oyster reef locations in the Wye River Oyster Sanctuary. We have planted SOS on 5 of these so far and hope to plant on 5 more in 2027.

Dozens of community members who made it happen attended...

This is what a planting looks (and sounds) like.

...on the water

...and on land

In 2026 we took some videos of the river bottom before planting.

We had a diver bring up samples from the reefs we planted in 2025...

…grew into oysters

...and saw how our tiny spat (brown spots)...

The average size was 1 ½ inches!

We are excited to be continuing to develop our reef monitoring program in 2027

Program Founders

Bruce Abel

47 years on the Wye

Served on several environmental non-profit boards. Retired prior COO and VP of a midsize manufacturing company.

Ann Gray

15 years on the Wye

After a career in Operations as a business owner, consultant, and professor, led an all-volunteer STEM non-profit for many years. Currently assists non-profits with strategy and board development.

Steve Burleson