Carol | Foxwell

Even as Carol Foxwell steps back from daily field work (moving into a mentorship role), her legacy is etched into the coastline. The water clarity in the Sinepuxent Bay has improved by roughly 20% over the last decade—a statistic directly tied to the septic and agricultural runoff programs she designed.

Furthermore, the "Foxwell Fellowship" was recently established at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES), a scholarship aimed at funding minority students pursuing marine restoration careers. It ensures that her philosophy of inclusive, pragmatic conservation lives on.

While privacy is paramount to her high-net-worth clients, local lore credits Carol Foxwell with handling the sales for several notable figures: carol foxwell

She is the go-to agent for "The Dunes" and "The Peninsula" —two of the most exclusive, gated communities on the East Coast. If you want to buy in those neighborhoods, you eventually have to sit down with Carol Foxwell.

To understand Carol Foxwell, you have to look at the geography of the Eastern Shore. Born and raised on the Delmarva Peninsula, Foxwell grew up with saltwater in her veins. For decades, she worked not as a distant academic, but as a hands-on restoration practitioner. Even as Carol Foxwell steps back from daily

Foxwell is best known for her tenure with the Maryland Coastal Bays Program (MCBP) , where she served as a key restoration coordinator. But her title never fully captured what she actually did. To the watermen, she was a fair negotiator. To the farmers, she was a bridge to understanding runoff regulations. To the school children, she was the enthusiastic woman with the minnow traps who taught them why sea grass matters.

In 2023, the conservation world took notice when Carol Foxwell was awarded the prestigious “Coastal Steward Award” by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. The award cited her "relentless pursuit of pragmatic solutions to nitrogen pollution and her unique ability to align disparate community interests." She is the go-to agent for "The Dunes"

Writing a tribute to Carol Foxwell would be incomplete without addressing the friction. The Eastern Shore is a place of deep tradition, including the poultry industry. For years, environmentalists and poultry farmers were at war over manure runoff.

Foxwell navigated this minefield by focusing on practicality. She worked with the Delaware-Maryland Agribusiness Association to create manure transport programs—moving excess chicken litter from the densely packed watershed to inland farms where it could be used safely without drowning the bay.

She also faced the "sea level rise deniers." As a coastal scientist, she knew the Atlantic was rising. Rather than argue climate models, she focused on resilience—building living shorelines (using plants and stone) instead of bulkheads, which she famously called "the walls of defeat."

One of Foxwell’s major victories involved the upgrade of failed or failing septic systems in older waterfront communities. She understood that in towns like Ocean Pines and West Ocean City, traditional septic tanks were leaking nitrates directly into the water table. Foxwell lobbied for the installation of Best Available Technology (BAT) septic systems, which remove 90% more nitrogen than conventional tanks. She personally knocked on doors to explain the technology, securing grant funding to offset the $20,000 cost for low-income homeowners.