Stakeholders

People and organizations that have an interest in the development and execution of the Deep Creek Watershed Management Plan are called stakeholders. Stakeholders don't necessarily have the same mutual interests but may come together on select issues. In some way they all participated in some aspect of the development of the Plan.

For issues affecting Deep Creek Lake and its watershed the following stakeholder groups and their contact information are provided here:

• The Deep Creek Lake Property Owners Association (POA) POC: Bob Hoffman - rahoffmann93@gmail.com
• Friends of Deep Creek Lake (FoDCL) POC: Barbara Beelar - contact@friendsofdcl.org
• The Youghiogheny River Watershed Association (YRWA) POC: Smoky Stanton - YoughWatershed@gmail.com
• Engage Mountain Maryland (EMM)POC: Eric Robison - engagemountainmaryland@gmail.com
• The Town of Friendsville (TOF)POC: Jesse Whittemore - townoffriendsville@qcol.net

The POA purports to advocate on behalf of the property owners around the lake. For an annual fee one receives a quarterly newsletter and various announcements regarding issues affecting Deep Creek Lake. The POA is estimated to have around 1,000 members.

FoDCL attempts to do some science, particularly with grassroots type of efforts, such as the stream waders program, small contracted studies, and lobbies the legislature in Annapolis on topics it deems of their interest, which include dredging and controlling invasive species. FoDCL is estimated to have around 500 members.

The YRWA is generally relatively quiet with respect to lake issues, although the Deep Creek Watershed is a sub-watershed of the Youghiogheny River watershed. The membership of the YRWA is estimated at about 50.

EMM is currently not much engaged in DC watershed issues but is heavily involved in anti-fracking issues, which also affect the DC watershed. Their membership is estimated to be around 500.

The TOF depends on water releases from the Deep Creek Hydroelectric Project to enhance their opportunities for white water rafting and cold-water fishing. The town has around 500 residents but is augmented by around 200 visitors during summer weekends

And then there are the State and County agencies that bring important, particularly scientific, knowhow to the issues. For Garrett County the POC is Debbie Carpenter - dcarpenter@garrettcounty.org, and for the State, from DNR, the POC is Bruce Michael - BMICHAEL@dnr.state.md.us