Toxics, Long-Ignored, Once Again on Cleanup Radar
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November 2018 Volume 28 Number 8 Gone with the waves: Storms, rising waters threaten pieces of past ≈ Archaeologists scramble to recover, study artifacts before they wash away from Chesapeake shorelines BY WHITNEY PIPKIN Climate change and erosion are taking steady punches at shorelines in the Chesapeake Bay region, slashing away soil and threatening the structures that stand on it. But resources buried within the land are at risk, too. Archae- ologists in Maryland and Virginia are racing to recover artifacts from Bay area shorelines before they are gone for good. The archaeologists worry that cen- turies of the history they’re hunting can disappear with the next big storm. And, more often, places rich with records of the region’s American Indian and colonial past are slipping away one inch at a time, lost to the gradual but quicken- ing impact of erosion and rising seas. It’s no coincidence that many of the region’s most precious archaeological sites are also located precariously on the shores of rivers, creeks and the sprawling Bay. That, said archaeologist Martin Gallivan, is where people have always liked living. “Throughout human history, the water’s edge has been an inviting place to settle,” said Gallivan, a professor at the College of William & Mary whose U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service biologist Fred Pinkney tosses a fish trap into the Anacostia River as technician Tanner work focuses on Powhatan sites on the Stoker holds the boat steady. (Dave Harp) James and York rivers. “Specifically for native history in Tidewater Virginia, the water’s edge is the location of a Toxics, long-ignored, once again on cleanup radar majority of significant sites.” ≈ After being on back District of Columbia and put wire the bodies of these fish during their One of the places at risk is the first burner behind nutrients and mesh traps in a cove near the site of a lives in the Anacostia River. And permanent English settlement in North demolished Pepco power plant. They so Pinkney’s catch was sacrificed to America at Jamestown, VA, where site sediment, PCBs are getting baited the traps with open tins of science — sent to a laboratory for managers now factor in elevation and more attention. salmon-flavored cat food. tissue analysis. water levels when considering where to BY TIMOTHY B. WHEELER Pinkney, a senior biologist with the Pinkney is specifically tracking work next on a site that is increasingly Fred Pinkney went fishing this U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, wanted levels of polychlorinated biphenyls, inundated with water. Also threatened fall on the Anacostia River, but fish the small denizens of the aquatic or PCBs, present in the tissue of the throughout the region are countless shell weren’t the real quarry. world that anglers would ignore, small forage fish. PCBs — a family middens — long-buried heaps of dis- One drippy morning in October, including finger-size mummichogs of chemicals once widely used in carded oyster shells and other items, some Pinkney and his helper, Tanner and banded killifish, which spend industry and commerce — were thousands of years old, full of clues about Stoker, seined the shallows off a their lives in one area of the river. banned in 1979 because they caused how the region’s early residents lived. sandbar near Bladensburg, MD. But his chief target were the toxic Then they boated downriver into the chemicals that may have built up in PCBs continues on page 18 Artifacts continues on page 16 Bay Journal • November 2018 2 Editor’s Note BAY JOURNAL is published by Bay Journal Media to inform the public about ecological, scientific, historic and cultural issues Thank you to all who responded to our reader survey and events related to the Chesapeake Bay. The Bay Journal, circulation 35,000, is published monthly except in midsummer The word that most the Midwest, the Bay Journal helps her and midwinter. It is distributed free of charge. Bundles are available sums up the results of children learn about the Chesapeake. A for distribution. Material may be reproduced, with permission the survey we mailed to few said they wished a similar paper was and attribution. Publication is made possible by grants through readers last summer is published where they live. the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Chesapeake Bay “Wow!” I am still stunned Wherever they reside, readers told us Program Office, the Campbell Foundation, the National Oceanic by the overwhelming they appreciate that articles are based on and Atmospheric Administration’s Chesapeake Bay Office, the 1number of results (which facts and science. “It is not ‘fake’ news!” Sumner T. McKnight Foundation, the Rauch Foundation, the are still trickling in). several wrote. Fair Play Foundation, the Shared Earth Foundation, the Virginia Approximately 3,500 of you responded While people like the Bay Journal, Environmental Endowment, anonymous donors, and by reader — way more than we expected. We’re still they also suggested some tweaks. For contributions. Views expressed in the Bay Journal do not going through the results, but one thing is instance, we clearly heard a call to bolster necessarily represent those of any funding agency or organization. clear: Readers overwhelmingly are happy our Virginia coverage, particularly in the with the Bay Journal. Richmond-Hampton Roads corridor. A lot For mailing list additions/changes, please use the form on this Many, in fact, said that they pass their of people would like to see us add a history page or contact: Bay Journal, P.O. Box 222, Jacobus, PA 17407-0222 copy on to friends or colleagues. Hundreds column, and a number said they would like E-mail: [email protected] asked us to send sample copies to friends to see more coverage of headwater areas BAY JOURNAL MEDIA (we’re in the process of doing that). And and climate change issues. many asked us to increase distribution in Some found areas they thought we Bay Journal Media is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization with areas where they live — “they all disappear could improve. A number of respondents a mission to further public education and awareness of issues each month,” one reader said of bundles thought agricultural coverage was too affecting the Chesapeake Bay and the mid-Atlantic environment delivered to her local library. negative. That is, admittedly, a balancing by creating and distributing journalistic products. In addition One of the top reasons people said they act. We certainly try to have a mix of to producing the Bay Journal, Bay Journal Media operates the read the Bay Journal is that it provides a stories that capture the complexities Bay Journal News Service, which distributes Bay Journal watershedwide perspective on issues. “I like of farming in the Bay region, and the articles and original op-eds about the Chesapeake Bay or regional the way that you cover why a multi-state difficulty of trying to produce more food environmental issues to more than 400 newspapers in the region, effort is necessary to keep the Bay healthy,” while simultaneously trying to reduce reaching several million readers each month. one wrote. runoff — a challenging issue here, and The overwhelming majority of readers globally. Karl Blankenship, Executive Director said they take some sort of action based Nearly half of the readers said they Andrew Nolan, CPA, Chief Financial Officer on what they read in the Bay Journal — or would be interested in attending a Bay STAFF that it inspires them to go outside and Journal event, so we may schedule some enjoy the region’s natural bounty. “It things next year that allow readers and Editor: Karl Blankenship ([email protected]) reminds or informs me about natural our staff to get together. That will give Managing Editor: Lara Lutz ([email protected]) resources I should make a point of seeing us — and you — a chance to talk about CONTACT US Associate Editor/Projects: Timothy B. Wheeler ([email protected]) and enjoying,” one said. these issues in greater detail. by mail: Bay Journal News Service Editor: Tim Sayles ([email protected]) Interestingly, we got replies from all We’ll continue analyzing the The Bay Journal Copy/Design Editor: Kathleen A. Gaskell ([email protected]) over the country. Many people who have information and passing on what we glean. 619 Oakwood Drive Staff Writer: Jeremy Cox ([email protected]) moved away said the paper helps them Meanwhile, thanks to all those who shared Seven Valleys, PA Staff Writer: Donna Morelli ([email protected]) stay connected to Bay issues. One reader their thoughts. 17360-9395 Staff Writer: Whitney Pipkin ([email protected]) told us that although she now lives in — Karl Blankenship Photographer: Dave Harp ([email protected]) by phone: ADVERTISING 717-428-2819 Sign Up for the Bay Journal or Change your Address Marketing & Advertising Director: Jacqui Caine ([email protected]) TheBay Journal is distributed FREE by Bay Journal Media, Inc. If you would like to BOARD OF DIRECTORS be added to its mailing list or need to change your present address, please fill out this form To inquire about Tom Lewis advertising, contact , President and mail it to Bay Journal, P.O. 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