The Puglisis are handy - they've done renovations on their home - but they had no idea what to do for their shoreline. Then a conversation with a neighbor sent them down a path that ultimately led to a complex and ambitious shoreline replacement with the help of several government agencies and even a gaggle of kids.

"We noticed the shore erosion. It was a big project and we didn't know where to begin," Mrs. Puglisi said.

Enter Valerie Fellows, the neighbor, who happens to work in communications for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

She took one look at the eroding beach and the expansive field of invasive phragmites plants and knew the Puglisis could use her agency's help.

Three years and $140,000 later, 680 feet of shoreline have been redone and a marsh of nearly three-quarters of an acre has been created. This week, students from nearby Matapeake Elementary School planted thousands of tiny plugs of marsh grasses in the sand during a work party at the site along Shipping Creek off of Eastern Bay.

The students were all members of the school's Environment Club or the fifth grade science enrichment class.

Nancy Crim, an enrichment specialist at the school, said the work day allowed kids the chance to learn about the environment first-hand.

"We get to make a difference right here on our island," she said.

David Sutherland, a coastal expert at the Chesapeake Bay office of the wildlife service, explained the natural or "living" shoreline will provide habitat for all kinds of critters, while also protecting the land from eroding away.

To combat the strong wave action, piles of large rocks called "sills" were out into the water, parallel to shore. They're submerged at high tide, but poke out of the water at low tide. The rocks will slow down the waves without blocking off the beach.

Then the beach is planted with marsh grasses - Spartina patens and Spartina alterniflora. Beyond that, seeds of switchgrass and other plants are beginning to sprout from dry land.

Animals including horseshoe crabs, terrapins, snakes and shorebirds use the sandy beach and damp marshes.

Mr. Sutherland surveyed the work-in-progress and imagined an expanse of flourishing grasses and sandy beach.

"This is going to be a beautiful scene here," he said.

Most of the work was paid for by a pair of grants from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Mr. Sutherland said. The Puglisis kicked in some money and manpower, too. The Maryland Department of Natural Resources sprayed herbicide to get rid of the phragmites field, and other agencies and contractors were involved. The nonprofit Chesapeake Bay Environmental Center coordinated the whole thing.

At a cost of about $200 per linear foot, the project "is about as cost effective as you're going to find," Mr. Sutherland said.

Mr. Sutherland acknowledged that spending public money on private property is a rare occurrence and can be a touchy subject, but he said the Puglisi project can serve as a demonstration for other homeowners.

He hopes the project will show that even areas with strong waves can make use of living shorelines.

Soon Maryland law will require that property owners install living shorelines when they do work on their waterfront, unless they can prove the waves are too strong for it to work properly.

While traditional walls of rock "riprap" or wooden bulkheads do keep land from eroding away, they do nothing to encourage wildlife. Living shorelines attract wildlife, often hold up better in strong storms and allow a gradual, natural interface between land and water.

The Puglisis appreciated the financial help and expertise from the government agencies. As they prepared to serve lunch to volunteers this week, they said they never would have been able to undertake such a large project on their own.

"It was wonderful," Mrs. Puglisi said. "We had no idea what to do."

The Maryland Department of Natural Resources offers free technical assistance to property owners who want to install living shorelines. Call 410-260-8797.