Chester-Sassafras Watershed

The Chester-Sassafras watershed  drains 344,917 acres of land. This includes all of Kent County, and parts of Cecil County, Queen Anne's County and Talbot County in Maryland. It also includes parts of Chester County, PA and Kent and New Castle Counties in Delaware. Major water bodies include the Miles, Chester, Elk, Bohemia, Sassafras and Northeast Rivers. It also includes many tributary creeks and several large bays (Eastern Bay, Prospect Bay and Crab Alley Bay). The watershed is in both the piedmont and the coastal plain.

Agriculture is the predominant land use making up 58 percent of the land area in the watershed.  Forested and wetland areas are the second largest land use at 32 percent.  Around 10 percent of the basin is comprised of urban land.

There are about 1,334 farms in the watershed. The average size farm is approximately 300 acres. Primary crops include corn, soybeans, wheat, barley and vegetables.

Map of Watershed

The following document requires Adobe Acrobat

Map of the Chester-Sassafras watershed (PDF; 1 MB)

Additional Information

More information can be found at the EPA's Surf Your Watershed website.

Program Contacts by State

Program Contacts - Maryland

Patty Engler
Title:  Resource Conservationist
Phone: 410-489-7987
Email: Patricia.Engler@md.usda.gov

Program Contacts - Delaware

Paul Petrichenko
Title: Assistant State Conservationist for Programs
Phone: 302-678-4180
Email: Paul.Petrichenko@de.usda.gov

Program Contacts - Pennsylvania

Kelly Ireland
Title:  CSP Manager
Phone: 717-274-2597 x130
Email: kelly.ireland@pa.usda.gov