Issue #90, 31, 2021

Contents: • Book: The Struggle is Eternal: Gloria Richardson and Black Liberation, by Joseph R. Fitzgerald • Women’s History — Voting in Still Pond, 1908 • The Fenix Youth Project, Inc. — Empowering Youth; Creating Leaders • Commentary: Birds of a Feather-ism — Will that Darkness Destroy the American Dream? • 11 Facts About Salt Marshes and Why We Need to Protect Them • Trying to Keep its Head above Water

To read online, go to https://www.CommonSenseEasternShore.org/

*****

Book: The Struggle is Eternal: been out of the spotlight, but Gloria Richardson and Black nevertheless exerted considerable Liberation, by Joseph R. influence as an Eastern Shore civil Fitzgerald rights leader in the 1960s and 1970s. By Jim Block The Struggle is Eternal: Gloria A deliberate, resourceful woman, Richardson and Black Liberation, Gloria Richardson may often have by Joseph R. Fitzgerald (Kentucky,

_____ Common Sense for the Eastern Shore, Issue #90, 3/31/21 © 2021 Image: Farm, Dorchester Co. Photo: Gren Whitman 2018), takes an important step in not to privilege one person’s telling her story, a story that sexuality, political, or economic assuredly belongs on the shelf with philosophy, or religion over , Henry another’s.” (Fitzgerald, 80) Highland Garnet, and Harriet Tubman. Born in in 1922, To begin their efforts, Richardson Richardson will turn 99 in May. (a sociology major) and CNAC conducted a In January 1962, Deborah needs assessment survey to Richardson, Richardson’s older ascertain what the community daughter, joined with schoolmates thought needed most attention. and some college-age members of Despite the committee’s the Student Nonviolent expectations, the survey found Coordinating Committee (SNCC) to desegregating public protest school segregation and accommodations unimportant. racial injustice in Cambridge, Instead, Black Cambridge residents Dorchester County, Md. At the cited jobs, housing, and schools as same time, some Black Cambridge their greatest needs. citizens organized the Cambridge Nonviolent Action Committee While Richardson and CNAC (CNAC). Much like SNCC, CNAC’s pushed for voter education and purpose was to engage local people voting rights, the gerrymandered directly and immediately to act on voting districts maintained the their needs as they saw them, Whites’ power. CNAC also pressed rather than slog through the legal for desegregated workplaces and system in slow-moving lawsuits for a badly needed public housing overseen by judges mired in the project. status quo. Protests were organized not by outsiders, but by In the spring of 1963, after CNAC local school and college students. presented an extensive list of demands to the Cambridge City Their efforts ceased when local Council, essentially asking for what leaders, Black and White, promised appeared in the earlier needs to desegregate local public survey, CNAC and its allies held accommodations. When this “nonviolent training promise was unfulfilled, CNAC, led sessions” (Fitzgerald, 91) to by Richardson, took over prepare for demonstrations. At the leadership of the Cambridge efforts. end of March, demonstrations Like SNCC’s operations, CNAC’s began at four locations. Richardson were run locally, free of imposition and others were arrested, but soon from the established civil rights freed. The arrests numbered more groups and churches. The than local resources could manage, egalitarian group, as Fitzgerald so the accused were tried as a writes, “made a conscious effort group in what became known as

Common Sense for the Eastern Shore, Issue #90, 3/31/21 2 © 2021 the “Penny Trial,” because the have the power to determine guilty were each fined one cent. Blacks’ rights. The charter amendment passed, Governor In May, the conflict’s momentum Tawes lifted martial law, and increased because police arrested withdrew the Guard, and, teenage demonstrators roughly at according to Richardson’s plan, the Dorset Theater and, in CNAC resumed demonstrations the response, a crowd of protestors next day at a local restaurant. The marched on the local jail. Two subsequent all-night conflict more teenagers were arrested, and included, according to a state soon the town boiled in civil conflict. police official, gunfire “almost on Richardson telegraphed U.S. the scale of warfare” (Fitzgerald, Attorney General Robert F. 109). So, the National Guard Kennedy for demonstrator returned four days later. protection, and two ministers asked for, but failed to get, The Justice Department’s Office of immediate help from Maryland Gov. Civil Rights wanted to meet with J. Millard Tawes. Eventually, a City Richardson, but she refused. She Council request brought in the also refused to speak with National Guard and martial law to President John F. Kennedy, telling make peace. the Justice Department lawyer to tell “those Kennedy brothers they In Annapolis, Richardson and some can both go to hell.” (Fitzgerald, Black and White leaders met with 110) Tawes; little came from this meeting except Richardson’s A week after martial law resumed, demonstrating CNAC’s influence Richardson and the Guard and letting state and federal commander met in a shop. When officials witness the White Richardson left the building to calm Cambridge City Council’s failures. a physical conflict outside, a Guardsman, with fixed bayonet, In June, the Kennedy tried to prevent her. She pushed administration held mediation the rifle away and continued on. An meetings with CNAC and other Associated Press photographer Cambridge civil rights leaders. In caught Richardson’s determined July, the City Council debated a face as she pushed away the rifle. charter amendment to require that His photo showed her courage and public accommodations to be open determination. The famous photo to all. Richardson found their still circulates today. amendment proposal worthless because the White majority could Attorney General Kennedy held a easily use a referendum to undo meeting in July; the attendees the charter change. She also included Richardson, SNCC argued that Whites should not Chairman , Maryland

Common Sense for the Eastern Shore, Issue #90, 3/31/21 3 © 2021 Attorney General Robert C. Murphy, Richardson in 1960) moved to New and the National Guard York and married photographer commander, Gen. George M. Frank Dandridge. According to Gelston. Cambridge city officials Fitzgerald, Richardson had were not invited. Out of this intended to lead CNAC only so long meeting came the “Treaty of as it needed her. Cambridge,” containing measures CNAC had earlier proposed from As this review has suggested, the previous community needs Gloria Richardson’s civil rights work survey. In return, CNAC pledged to was distinctive. The Cambridge stop demonstrations. Richardson movement was not connected with agreed to ending them because the older, larger civil rights she expected the city government organizations, such as Dr. Martin would not keep the agreement and Luther King Jr.’s Southern Christian thereby invalidate it. Her role was Leadership Conference. Richardson widely and highly praised. In spite wanted an operation free of the of that recognition, her role at the traditional gradualist and male- August 1963 March on Washington dominated approach. was limited, perhaps because March organizers feared In the egalitarian Cambridge controversy from her, including her movement, she, as a woman, belief that direct action should be became a key figure. She moved to carried out that day. New York, but her influence in Cambridge remains. She was That summer, as Richardson honored at a Cambridge banquet in expected, the White establishment August 2010. As a child, Victoria organized a referendum petition to Jackson-Stanley, Cambridge’s first undo the earlier desegregation Black mayor (2008-2020), revered charter change. Richardson urged Richardson and has said, “Harriet Black voters to boycott the Tubman and Gloria Richardson referendum because the charter have been my idols since I can change granted rights already remember. They set the path for guaranteed by the Constitution. me.” Voting on the charter change gave White voters unjust power over Blacks’ rights, according to Joseph R. Fitzgerald, The Struggle is Richardson. Fortunately, the Eternal: Gloria Richardson and Black Liberation (Kentucky, 2018) referendum vote defeated the amendment. John Lewis, “Her Legacy Shines on in Cambridge,” Baltimore Sun. In the summer of 1964, https://www.baltimoremagazine.com/secti Richardson’s Eastern Shore civil on/community/cambridge-riot-the-legacy- of-civil-rights-hero-gloria-richardson/ rights work ended. She left CNAC and (having divorced Harry

Common Sense for the Eastern Shore, Issue #90, 3/31/21 4 © 2021 Seventy-two men also cast ballots Jim Block taught English at in that municipal election, Northfield Mount Hermon, a according to the Ballot & Beyond boarding school in Western Mass. website. He coached cross-country, and advised the newspaper and the While these three Still Pond debate society there. He taught at residents were the first women to Marlborough College in England vote in Maryland, the push for and Robert College in Istanbul. He woman suffrage — as it was called and his wife, Penny, retired to then — began long before that. In Chestertown, Md. in 2014. fact, it can be traced back to Colonial times, according to the Maryland State Archives. As early ***** as 1648, Margaret Brent appeared before the governor and General Women’s History — Voting in Assembly, asking to be admitted Still Pond, 1908 with two votes — one as a landowner, the other as an By Peter Heck attorney for Lord Baltimore. Her actions make her the first recorded A state historical marker stands at suffragist in America, a distinction Maryland Route 292 and Old Still she undoubtedly would have Pond Road in the village of Still considered inadequate Pond, Kent County. The sign compensation for the Assembly’s commemorates a significant event denial of her request. in this sleepy little town more than a century ago. It wasn’t just women who were denied the vote in the colonies’ The marker reads: “In the village early days. Only white men who of Still Pond, twelve years before owned property could vote in the 19th Amendment established Maryland until 1802, and it took a women’s suffrage, Mary Jane Clark special act of the Assembly in 1825 Howard, Anne Baker Maxwell, and to extend the franchise to Jews. Lillie Deringer Kelley cast their Only after Congress passed the ballots in the municipal election of 14th and 15th Amendments to the 1908. That year, an act for Constitution in the late 1860s were incorporation of the town had African-American men given the provided the right to vote to any right to vote – although in too male or female resident taxpayer many jurisdictions, it took many over age 21. Fourteen women were more years before other barriers to registered to vote, two of them their doing so began to come down. African American.” Meanwhile, half the population — women — continued to be denied the right to vote, although there

Common Sense for the Eastern Shore, Issue #90, 3/31/21 5 © 2021 were more and more who asked, took advantage of the right. And in “Why?” 1900, women property owners in Organizations promoting women’s Annapolis were allowed to vote in a rights spread and grew, especially municipal bond election, a right in the 1840s, notably at the 1848 they continued to have although Seneca Falls Convention, where a they were not given a vote in other formal resolution demanding matters. And then there was Still suffrage for women was passed. Pond in 1908, which granted The quest for women’s suffrage women the right to vote in all really took off after the Civil War. municipal elections. It was supported by a number of organizations, both state and Still Pond soon changed its charter national, including the influential to retract the women’s right to Women’s Christian Temperance vote. It was only with the passage Union. In 1875, the Supreme Court of the 19th Amendment that ruled that a woman’s right to vote women won the right to vote in all was not included in the jurisdictions and in all elections. Constitution, at which point And still, the Maryland General women’s efforts turned to Assembly dragged its feet. It voted obtaining an amendment to against ratification of the establish the right. amendment in 1920, and only a Supreme Court decision in 1922 Not all states were rigidly opposed finally slapped down the anti- to giving women the vote. suffrage activists who attempted to Wyoming extended them the keep women in their place. Even franchise in 1869, and Utah then, it took until 1941 for the followed in 1870. But the all-male General Assembly to ratify the Maryland legislature continued to amendment, although women had oppose the call for equal rights. been legally voting in the state for The Republicans, then as now the two decades by that point. minority party in the state, supported giving women the vote But it’s timely and appropriate to — after all, the new voters might take a moment to recognize show their appreciation by voting Maryland voting pioneers Mary for the party responsible for Jane Clark Howard, Anne Baker extending them the franchise. Maxwell, and Lillie Deringer Kelley for stepping forward to cast their That didn’t stop some local votes in Still Pond all those years jurisdictions from making their own ago. They made history on the decisions. In 1896, the town of Eastern Shore — and paved the Loch Lynn Heights in Garrett way to an era when women can County passed a charter granting not only vote, but can aspire to the universal suffrage; however, there highest offices in the land. is no evidence that any women

Common Sense for the Eastern Shore, Issue #90, 3/31/21 6 © 2021 Peter Heck is a Chestertown- fuller lives, and develop the critical based writer and editor, who spent learning and life skills they need to 10 years at the Kent County News become active contributors to their and three more with the communities.” Chestertown Spy. He is the author of 10 novels and co-author of four A large part of the project’s work is plays, a book reviewer for Asimov’s in identifying and engaging and Kirkus Reviews, and an homeless youth in Wicomico incorrigible guitarist. County. Through hosting outreach events, conducting surveys, and spreading awareness about youth ***** homelessness, they work to “empower marginalized youth to The Fenix Youth Project, Inc. — use their creative talents to impact Empowering Youth; Creating social change within their Leaders community.”

By George Shivers The program has a Youth Drop-in Center available to young people Fenix Youth Project, Inc., has a from 13 to 24 in the Wicomico mission: to encourage youth to use County or Salisbury area who are their creative talents to impact homeless or at risk of becoming social change. homeless. At the Center, they can • Meet or fill immediate needs for Fenix Youth Project is a 501(c)3 laundry and food nonprofit organization based in • Receive personal care items Salisbury, Md. They host creative such as shampoo, toothpaste, arts and youth development etc. programs throughout the Lower • Get help with school work Eastern Shore. • Have a personal locker for the security of their items The project began in the spring of • Have access to experts on 2014, after a local Town Hall relationships, friendships, and meeting in Salisbury to address sex youth issues. Amber Green is the • Receive help from counselors in founder and executive director. dealing with loss, sadness, or conflict The motto of the Fenix Youth • Consult with advocates for help Project is “Empowering Youth; with establishing life goals and Creating Leaders.” The program is connecting with housing and based on the belief that “all young jobs people should have equitable access to opportunities to develop All the services are provided free of their creative potential, live richer, charge.

Common Sense for the Eastern Shore, Issue #90, 3/31/21 7 © 2021 The Fenix website states: focuses on writing, collaborating, “Homelessness looks different for accepting and giving feedback, and young people than for adults. learning how to perform personal Some are homeless as a result of work to have an impact on the the death, incarceration, or audience. Students compete at substance abuse of a parent, or poetry slams to win a place on the overcrowding in their homes. team and then undergo intensive Others run away, age out of foster writing and performance care, or leave a juvenile justice workshops in order to represent facility with nowhere to go. the Eastern Shore at the Brave Disproportionate numbers are New Voices International Festival African-American or gay, lesbian, that happens every summer. bisexual, or transgender.” The Youth Organizing programming The Adulting 101 program offered includes the Bars Project, a by the project provides courses multimedia storytelling and such as: humanities collaboration with • Healthy Cooking and Grocery StoryCenter. The Bars Project Shopping on a Budget provides a way for minority youth • Job Applications and Interview affected by the juvenile justice Tips system to use digital storytelling • Rights of Minors and public forums to spread their • Eco-Conscious Living lived experiences, and bring their • Budgeting and Saving story to community leaders and decision-makers. The project also provides a teen workshop about safe sex More offerings are expected in intervention for youth between spring 2021. ages 14 and 19. It is open to all genders and is virtual. The City of Salisbury partnered with the Fenix Youth Project in The Fenix Youth Project sponsors February to cast light on Black programing in the Arts and Media history and to give the youth an and in Youth Organizing. In the opportunity to share what it means first category are the following: to them. When Amber Green asked • Rize Youth Poetry After School youth to identify those on the Black Program history mural on Church St., many • Rize Youth Poetry Team had no idea. The mural was • Salisbury Youth Poet Laureate painted by Paul Boyd III and Program completed in 2020. Green went on • Youth-Led Open Mics to pay tribute to historian Clara L. Small, PhD, quoting her as saying Through team meetings, the Rize that “we must reclaim our history Youth Poetry Team program so that we do not repeat past

Common Sense for the Eastern Shore, Issue #90, 3/31/21 8 © 2021 mistakes.” Students were invited https://www.wmdt.com/2021/02/city-of- to write testimonials and to record salisbury-partners-with-fenix-youth- project-for-black-history-month/ conversations. https://www.delmarvanow.com/story/new The mural depicts five prominent s/2019/07/30/mural-salisbury-history-art- African Americans who were artists/1805434001/ important to the history of Salisbury: Sgt. William Butler, a World War I hero and recipient of A native of Wicomico County, the American Distinguished Service George Shivers holds a doctorate Cross and French Croix de Guerre; from the University of Maryland Charles P. Chipman, respected and taught in the Foreign educator and principal of Salisbury Language Dept. of Washington Industrial High School; Elaine College for 38 years before retiring Brown, a Salisbury High School in 2007. He is also very interested teacher; James Stewart, mortician in the history and culture of the to Salisbury’s African American Eastern Shore, African American community; and Dr. G. Herbert history in particular. Sembly, who practiced medicine in Salisbury for over 60 years. ***** It is clear that during its brief history the Fenix Youth Project has Commentary: Birds of a accomplished a great deal and is Feather-ism — Will that providing valuable services to the Darkness Destroy the American youth of Salisbury and Wicomico Dream? County. Those who wish to support the organization in achieving its By Sherwin Markman goals should visit the website. America now is — no doubt about it — a nation that is becoming. Sources: That is to say, we are no longer a society that is overwhelmingly http://fenixyouthproject.org/ white, Eurocentric, Christian, and comfortably English speakingly https://static1.squarespace.com/static/54 homogenous. Instead, we are, with d12d22e4b09fd8a17294ab/t/5e91f544212 1991619d278e2/1586623816629/Rize+Yo increasing rapidity, racing toward a uth+Poetry+Program+%281%29.pdf heterogeneous mixture of colors, worldwide ethnicities, and religions. https://www.delmarvanow.com/story/opin Unique in human history, America ion/2017/09/15/bars-giving-voice- now has an extraordinary hopeless/670945001/ opportunity: We can, as one of the

world’s most diverse nations, blend together in peace.

Common Sense for the Eastern Shore, Issue #90, 3/31/21 9 © 2021 But what we are becoming also Shiites within the Muslim world; raises some existential questions: massacres of Armenians by the Can our dream survive life forms’ Turks; massacres of Native seeming need to seek out and mix Americans by our own forebears; only with their own kind? Can we and the enslavement, torture, overcome the need expressed by murder, and the never-ending the old aphorism: “Birds of a efforts to subjugate and diminish feather flock together”? Is that the humanity of African Americans. need so ingrained in humankind And now we are dramatically aware that it will destroy our dream? of long-standing injustices, even violence, against Asian Americans, In living things all around us we including Chinese and Japanese in observe this “we must tolerate only the 19th and 20th centuries, and our kind” complex. It exists in even today. As we know all too every species of life. Just look out well, the list goes on almost to your window. Do you see all those infinity. We love our own and fear species of birds, each flocking only “the other.” In far too many of our with its own? Here on Maryland’s own hearts, we find ourselves Eastern Shore where our beloved struggling against these “only our Canada Geese migrate each winter, own flock” urges. watch the total exclusivity of the minority white Snow Geese from The Southern Poverty Law Center the vastly greater number of grey lists 15 hate groups now active in Canada Geese. Both are here. They Maryland; 19 in the District of don’t interact. If some brave Columbia; 33 in Virginia; and 36 in biologist attempted to force them Pennsylvania. More than a dozen of together, would that be achieved? these groups participated in the Could it? Or would it cause chaos, January 6 insurrection at the anger, violence? Capitol. These included the Proud Boys, the Oath Keepers, the Three It certainly caused chaos, anger, Percenters, and many others, and violence among humanity — including some members of law seemingly forever. Throughout enforcement agencies and state humankind’s history, we have militias. The facts are still being known it in countless ways: gathered, and there are plenty of Christians and Jews through most dangerous indications that aiders of 2,000 years, excoriated by the and abettors included some inquisitions of the 15th and 16th members of Congress and their centuries and culminating in staffs, but there is no doubt that Hitler’s 20th century holocaust; great numbers acted under the Protestants and Catholics rubric of the sick fantasies of Q- throughout European history; Anon. And do we recall the Hindus and Muslims in the partition sickening chants of the of India and Pakistan; Sunnis and

Common Sense for the Eastern Shore, Issue #90, 3/31/21 10 © 2021 Charlottesville rioters: “Jews will 11 Facts About Salt Marshes not replace us”? and Why We Need to Protect Them And yet, and yet — this winter my wife, Peggy, and I saw something By Holly Binns & Joseph Gordon, amazing. There, in our back yard, Pew Charitable Trusts a single white Snow Goose peacefully grazed in the midst of a Between land and sea lie the large flock of Canada Geese, and ecological guardians of the coast— its presence was totally accepted. salt marshes. To me, as I stared out at them, it seemed so symbolic, as if the wild Their grassy and sinuous channels animal kingdom was showing us fill and drain with salt water as the that ancient patterns can be tides ebb and flow, providing food, overcome; that there exists the shelter, and nursery grounds for possibility that those who are birds, fish, and other wildlife, different can live together, love ranging from dolphins and otters to together. That is our American snails and turtles. dream, the beautiful aspiration of our nation. It is under attack. It Healthy salt marshes cleanse the bleeds — profoundly at times. But water by filtering runoff, and help — and this is my dream — it is not other ecosystems, including oyster dead. reefs and seagrass beds, thrive. And conserving salt marsh helps people, too. Marshes can reduce Sherwin Markman, a graduate of erosion, stabilize shorelines, the Yale Law School, lives with his protect against storm surge, and wife, Kathryn (Peggy) in Rock Hall, support species that are crucial to Maryland. He served as an recreational and commercial fishing, assistant to President Lyndon hunting, birding, and other Johnson, after which was a trial activities. lawyer in Washington, D.C. He has published several books, including Here are 11 things to know about one dealing with the Electoral salt marshes, and why they should College. He has also taught and be protected: lectured about the American political system. 1. The U.S. has approximately 3.8 million acres of salt marshes. Three-quarters of them are in ***** the Southeast, including a vast interconnected one-million-acre stretch from North Carolina to Florida.

Common Sense for the Eastern Shore, Issue #90, 3/31/21 11 © 2021 2. Salt marshes, and the estuaries including popular waterfowl and that support them, provide imperiled species such as the shelter, food, and nursery Eastern black rail, wood stork, grounds for more than 75% of and saltmarsh sparrow. commercial and recreational fish 9. Salt marshes get their salt from species in the country, including the seawater that comes in with white shrimp, blue crab, redfish, the tides. They are marshy and flounder. because their ground is 3. The National Oceanic and composed of fine, muddy Atmospheric Administration sediment and decomposing (NOAA) estimates that the U.S. plant matter known as peat. loses 80,000 acres of coastal 10. Salt marshes and coastal wetlands, including salt wetlands sequester and store marshes, each year, mostly due carbon at a rate 10 times that of to development and sea-level mature tropical forests, helping rise, which can drown the to moderate the effects of marshes in places where there climate change. isn’t adequate undeveloped 11. Also known as tidal wetlands, adjacent land to allow them to salt marshes are one part of a migrate. complex coastal ecosystem with 4. On average, salt marshes interdependent habitats. For provide $695,000 of value per example, by filtering pollutants, square mile during storms by marshes help oyster reefs and reducing the impacts of surge seagrass beds, which need clean and flooding, according to a water to survive. But as salt University of California, San marshes degrade, the health of Diego study. adjacent coastal habitats and 5. During storms, salt marshes marine life suffers. absorb flood waters and wave energy, decreasing property Conserving salt marshes is damage in adjacent important to maintaining shorelines, communities by up to 20%, protecting communities, keeping according to NOAA. marine ecosystems healthy, and 6. One acre of salt marsh can helping coastal economies thrive. absorb up to 1.5 million gallons Communities can and should work of floodwater, which is together to develop plans that equivalent to more than 2.25 restore, protect, and allow these Olympic-size swimming pools. vital habitats to adapt to changing 7. By filtering runoff and excess environmental conditions. nutrients, salt marshes help maintain water quality in coastal bays, sounds, and estuaries. Holly Binns directs The Pew 8. Salt marshes provide important Charitable Trusts’ efforts to protect habitat for a variety of birds, ocean life in the Gulf of Mexico and

Common Sense for the Eastern Shore, Issue #90, 3/31/21 12 © 2021 the U.S. Caribbean. Joseph nine percent, leading to extinction Gordon directs the work along the within the next 30 years. U.S. East Coast. Rising sea levels and changing The Pew Charitable Trusts is an weather patterns caused by climate independent nonprofit organization change are effectively drowning dedicated to appling a rigorous, tidal marshes where Saltmarsh analytical approach to improve Sparrows live and raise their young. public policy, inform the public, For generations, these birds have and invigorate civic life. maintained a careful balance for nest placement: high enough to avoid the flood line, low enough to ***** avoid predators, late enough in spring to have warm weather and Trying to Keep its Head above early enough to avoid summer Water storms. But climate change has thrown all of this evolutionary by Marisa Baldine, Chesapeake Bay conditioning to the wind. The Program floods that the Saltmarsh Sparrows have avoided for so long are Saltmarsh Sparrows are small, becoming less predictable and inconspicuous birds with a quiet more severe, and each year more song. Birders sometimes catch chicks are drowning. fleeting glimpses of them gripping stems over the grass line, studying “The environment is always the marsh below for bugs and changing and birds, in a sense, are seeds to feed on. Although not always evolving through natural always seen, this bird lives selection in response to changes exclusively in tidal salt marshes that usually go back and forth, but found on the east coast of the this is a big one-directional change United States, many of which are that is happening too fast for the in the Chesapeake Bay. sparrows to evolve and respond to,” said David Curson, the Maryland Tragically, the Saltmarsh Sparrow director of bird conservation for the population is in steep decline due Audubon Society. to severe disruption to its salt marsh habitat. It is estimated that A little flooding can be managed since 1998, the population of the and has always been part of the Saltmarsh Sparrow has dropped by sparrow's life. In the past, 87 percent —meaning that more sparrows were able to keep their than four out of every five nests out of reach from the daily sparrows are lost. Their population high tides by coordinating their is projected to drop at a rate of nesting cycle with the monthly high tide lunar cycle. The cordgrass that

Common Sense for the Eastern Shore, Issue #90, 3/31/21 13 © 2021 nests are built under forms a big responsibility for them here in protective arch that typically keeps the Chesapeake Bay and also in eggs from floating away, even the coastal bays.” when flooding occurs. However, severe storms and rising sea levels A combination of sea level rise and cause flooding mid-cycle that the development have dismantled salt birds can’t plan around, and the marsh and other wetland habitats, flooding is too significant for even which birds like Black Rails, the high-arched nesting areas. Clapper Rails, Willets, and Seaside When you’re only a couple of Sparrows also rely on. inches tall and unable to fly, a few inches of rain can be catastrophic. But salt marshes aren’t only worth An entire breeding season can be saving for the habitat they provide wiped out with one or two storms. birds. They have many other environmental benefits. Marshes Referencing a 2011 salt marsh trap polluted runoff, keeping nesting survey led by the Audubon sediment and other pollution out of Society, Curson said, “There are the Bay, which keeps aquatic life places where we found Saltmarsh healthy. During severe storms, the Sparrows in 2011 and 2012 where marshes serve as a buffer and we don’t see them anymore, so protect nearby communities from we’re really seeing the impact of flooding. And a wide variety of this change. To most birdwatchers, species are supported by the all of this is happening in places marshes which boosts the that are inaccessible to them so ecotourism industry throughout the they’re not noticing it because you region. don’t often go to places where you will see Saltmarsh Sparrows.” The Chesapeake Bay Program established a target in the most In addition to having their nests recent Watershed Agreement of flooded, Saltmarsh Sparrows are creating or reestablishing 85,000 also dealing with the loss of salt acres of tidal and non-tidal marsh habitat all together. wetlands and enhancing function of Traditionally, salt marshes and an additional 150,000 acres of wetlands have been abundant in degraded wetlands by 2025. Salt the watershed, specifically on marshes, which are brackish or Maryland’s tidal shores. saltwater wetlands, are included in this effort. According to Curson, “The regional analysis of [the 2011 and 2012 A number of Bay Program partners survey] data showed that a quarter including the Audubon Society, of the world’s population of the United States Fish and Wildlife Saltmarsh Sparrow breeds in Service, the Chesapeake Bay Maryland. Which means we have a Foundation, Maryland Department

Common Sense for the Eastern Shore, Issue #90, 3/31/21 14 © 2021 of Natural Resources, and others “If we can double-up our goals and are working extensively to make sure we have nesting sites in conserve existing marshes in areas places the sparrows use and need such as Blackwater National with the right kind of salt marsh, Wildlife Refuge, Deal Island Wildlife then that will save the sparrow.” Management, Barren Island, and James Island. By using the nesting data from the Audubon Society’s Marisa Baldine is a 2011 survey, conservationists can Communications Staffer at the target the most critically important Chesapeake Research Consortium. nesting areas. The Chesapeake Bay Program is The Saltmarsh Sparrow is the a unique regional partnership that canary in the coal mine of wetland has led and directed the climate change, and if we don’t restoration of the Chesapeake Bay listen to this warning, we risk since 1983. losing some of our most valuable natural resources of the Chesapeake region. But according to Curson, there is hope for Saltmarsh Sparrows if we can prioritize marsh conservation.

Common Sense for the Eastern Shore, Issue #90, 3/31/21 15 © 2021