March 2020 Volume 30 Number 1

VA moves to replace site for nesting seabirds, but will it fly? ≈ State steps in or destruction of their nests. to create bird island But facing mounting after feds pull back pressure from environ- mental groups, Gov. Ralph By Jeremy Cox Northam’s administration When black skimmers, recently stepped in and royal terns and other migrat- promised to find an alterna- ing seabirds return to South tive to help the birds, though Island this spring, they will details remain unclear. be greeted by a fresh layer of Acting at the governor’s pavement. direction, officials from The Virginia Department VDOT and other state of Transportation recently agencies vowed in Febru- paved over the island to ary to work with the U.S. discourage the flock — more Army Corps of Engineers than 25,000 birds, most to “assess the feasibility” of representing species in building an artificial island decline — from making their for the displaced birds. In nests there. The state is claim- the meantime, they said ing the space for a five-year, they will develop temporary nearly $4 billion widening nesting grounds, including of the Interstate 64 Hampton anchoring sand-covered Roads Bridge Tunnel, where barges near the birds’ former the James River meets the summer home. Chesapeake Bay. The project The avian drama may is expected to begin later this not pack as much suspense year. as a certain Alfred Hitch- Amy Jacobs of The Nature Conservancy’s Maryland/DC chapter stands in a Delmarva bay in Under a new Trump cock movie, but it contains Dorchester County, MD. Though protected in Maryland, such “remote” wetlands aren’t regulated administration interpretation about as many twists and a few miles away in Delaware. of a century-old law, that turns. Scores of documents could have been the end obtained by the Bay Journal of the road for Virginia’s from VDOT through a New wetlands rule imperils Bay cleanup, groups say largest colony of nesting sea- public records request show Rollback leaves states “When you take away the Announcing the new rule at birds. In a reversal involving how the federal regulatory ≈ federal standard and leave that a National Association of Home one of the oldest environ- change blindsided the state’s to fend for large swaths to the states to decide, then you’re Builders trade show on Jan. 23, mental laws in the country, bridge planners. And the of wetlands and streams. going to get dramatically different U.S. Environmental Protection the federal government is no records reveal that while the By Jeremy Cox & protection in the states, and the Agency Administrator Andrew longer penalizing those who bird-preservation effort may Timothy B. Wheeler Chesapeake is going to suffer,” Wheeler said the change would take actions that lead to the The Trump administration’s said Geoff Gisler, attorney with replace a broken bureaucratic unintentional killing of birds Site continues on page 12 plans to remove federal oversight the Southern Environmental system with “certainty and from some streams and wetlands Law Center. predictability.” The EPA insists will leave those waterways In the Bay watershed, that federal controls remain without protection in some legal experts say, Maryland, strong and “among the best in of the Bay watershed states, Pennsylvania and Virginia the world.” while increasing the regulatory have state laws and regulatory Critics say that the removal burden on others, officials and programs of their own that of a federal arbiter opens conservationists say. would — at least on paper — wetland regulation to a hodge-

The net result of the rule safeguard the wetlands and podge of state-level protec-

LANC., PA 17604 PA LANC., change, they say, will be another waterways being dropped tions. That could lead to more

PERMIT 280 PERMIT setback for the multi-state under the new federal rule. pollution running downstream

PAID and federal effort to restore the Those safety nets start to from newly deregulated

U.S. POSTAGE U.S. Chesapeake Bay and the vast fray, though, in Delaware, New

NONPROFIT ORG NONPROFIT Bay Journal, P.O. Box 222, Jacobus, PA 17407-0222 PA Jacobus, 222, Box P.O. Journal, Bay watershed it drains. York and West Virginia. Rule continues on page 22 2 Bay Journal • March 2020

BAY JOURNAL is published by Bay Journal Media to inform Editor’s Note the public about ecological, scientific, historic and cultural issues and events related to the Chesapeake Bay. The Bay Journal, Welcome Mark Platts, Don Luzzatto to our board circulation 35,000, is published monthly except in midsummer and midwinter. It is distributed free of charge. Bundles are available Our nonprofit news Congress last year to highlight the for distribution. Material may be reproduced, with permission organization has a lot on river’s natural, historical and cultural and attribution. Publication is made possible by grants through its plate for the coming resources as well as its recreational the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Chesapeake Bay year. We’re planning to opportunities. Program Office, the Campbell Foundation, the National Oceanic enhance our products, A native of Pennsylvania’s York and Atmospheric Administration’s Chesapeake Bay Office, the increase our readership, County, he gained an appreciation Sumner T. McKnight Foundation, the Rauch Foundation, the boost outreach to younger for the Susquehanna by exploring its Fair Play Foundation, the Shared Earth Foundation, the Virginia readers — and begin surrounding lands as a youth. He holds Environmental Endowment, anonymous donors, and by reader planning for the 30th a bachelor’s degree in urban and rural contributions. Views expressed in the Bay Journal do not anniversary of the Bay Journal in 2021. studies from Shippensburg University necessarily represent those of any funding agency or organization. Fortunately, we have some help on of Pennsylvania, and a master’s degree the way. It’s my pleasure to welcome in urban and regional planning from For mailing list additions/changes, please use the form on this two leaders who will bring a wealth of the University of Florida. page or contact: Bay Journal, P.O. Box 222, Jacobus, PA 17407-0222 experience to Bay Journal Media’s board Mark worked as a planner in Florida E-mail: [email protected] of directors, Don Luzzatto and Mark and the District of Columbia before BAY JOURNAL MEDIA Platts. returning to Pennsylvania to head the Don Luzzatto is vice president for heritage area. He lives in Lancaster Bay Journal Media is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization with civic engagement with the Hampton County. a mission to further public education and awareness of issues Roads Community Foundation. He They join other members of our affecting the Chesapeake Bay and the mid-Atlantic environment also has an extensive background board which, besides myself, include by creating and distributing journalistic products. In addition in journalism, having worked at The Board President Mary Barber, an to producing the Bay Journal, Bay Journal Media operates Virginian-Pilot from 2000 to 2017, environmental scientist with RTI the Bay Journal News Service, which distributes Bay Journal including eight years managing the International; Vice President Bill articles and original op-eds about the Chesapeake Bay or regional paper’s editorial page. Eichbaum, senior fellow with the environmental issues to more than 400 newspapers in the region, Earlier in his career, he worked at The World Wildlife Fund; Donald Boesch, reaching several million readers each month. York Dispatch in Pennsylvania, The News president emeritus of the University of & Advance in Lynchburg, VA, and The Maryland Center for Environmental Karl Blankenship, Executive Director Gainesville Sun in Florida. 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From left: Can’t read enough about striped bass? See article on page 15; Chesapeake Challenge on page 21, Forum on page 32 and Bay Naturalist on the back page. (Dave Harp) A mother and son settle into a streamside spot to enjoy the peak spring- time bloom of Virginia bluebells. See article on page 24. (Leslie Middleton)

WHAT’S INSIDE

News 20 Thirst for protecting water supplies drives WV partnership • Panhandle coalition using easements to 4 Dedicated effort turns James River from trashed to conserve prime farm properti treasured • Once labeled ‘most polluted,’ America’s es Founding River wins international acclaim Travel 6 VA pipeline backers, opponents get their day in the Supreme Court • Ruling on Dominion permit will have implications for 24 Virginia riverside trails a rhapsody of bluebells stalled Mountain Valley project, others down the road Columns 8 Climate study predicts extent of heavier rains on Eastern MD communities planning future infrastructure to Shore • 38 Steward’s Corner • Project Clean Stream: A great way to withstand change rally local action 9 Lawsuits loom as states, CBF are fed up with PA TMDL • Atlas helps birders move beyond naming a shortfalls • Litigation a ‘last resort’ to force EPA, state to put 39 On the Wing more action, funds into cleanup bird to knowing it 10 Opposition to solar project near Gettysburg heats up • 40 Bay Naturalist • Migratory fish often face one dam barrier Some say panels would hurt agro-tourism while others cite after another benefits for farmers and local environment Puzzles & Events 11 PA, fed up with chronic litter, organizes for new attack • New report cites cost to environment, taxpayers 21 Chesapeake Challenge • Earn your stripes doing this rockfish quiz 14 MD’s consensus-based oyster management off to rocky start • Initial meeting turns into debate over more proposed 21 Bay Buddies • Anadromous! changes 34 Bulletin Board • Volunteer Opportunities • Workshops • 15 Striped bass fishing cuts leave Chesapeake anglers Events • Programs • Resources fuming • Critics question the effectiveness of MD plan for ending overfishing Forum WE’RE JUST Commentary • Letters • Perspectives A CLICK AWAY 16 DC reveals plan to clean up toxic sediment in the Anacostia • 12 locations targeted for capping, dredging and monitoring 30 MD’s proposed concessions to Exelon bad for Susquehanna, Visit us online: bayjournal.com 17 In-river pool idea floated to encourage swimming in Bay Like us on FaceBook: Anacostia • Protected section could help public to reclaim 31 Chesapeake Born • As Earth Day turns 50, it’s time to Chesapeake Bay Journal river and adjacent shore for recreation or send us a Tweet: recycle that initial enthusiasm @ChesBayJournal 18 Small PA communities say no to stormwater mandate • 32 It’s time to account for menhaden’s role in the ecosystem Municipalities say they are being asked to do more than is required – and well beyond what they can afford to pay for 33 Technology puts future of conservation in all of our hands 4 Bay Journal • March 2020 Dedicated effort turns James River from trashed to treasured ≈ Once labeled ‘most polluted,’ ciation. Kepone was America’s Founding River wins one of many reasons international acclaim they organized, but not the only one. By Whitney Pipkin Growing environ- For a generation, when Richmond mental concerns residents said they were going “to the were birthing river river,” they weren’t talking about the groups across the James River that bisects the heart of country in the wake Virginia’s capital city, roaring over hulk- of the passage of ing rocks and under bridges. They were the Clean Water Act planning a drive to the Rappahannock or in 1972, and local Potomac, rivers that through much of the action helped point ’60s and ’70s were less beset by pollu- the James toward a tion than their local waterway. cleaner future. But, after decades of work and regula- tion to clean up “America’s Founding 45 years of change River,” the stigma has begun to fade. A James River While still in need of continued work, the advocate from the river is becoming prized for its recre- ’50s and ‘60s might ational offerings and resources as much have helped to pave as for its history. (The explorer Capt. John the way for such Smith first wrote about these waters after legislation and the traversing them as far as Richmond in the benefits it brought 1600s, encountering native communities for the James. that had thrived along the shoreline for Newton thousands of years.) Ancarrow had a In 2012, when Outside magazine prominent boat- named Richmond America’s best river building business in town, it referenced residents’ relation- Bill Street, CEO of the James River Association, said the river’s recovery from a much-polluted past has Richmond, selling ships with the James. And, late last year, been remarkable, but work remains to be done. The association works both to improve water quality and luxury speedboats the James River received its biggest help more people develop a personal connection to the river. (Dave Harp) to patrons such as accolade yet: the top Riverprize from the the shipping tycoon International River Foundation at a gala ing into the Chesapeake Bay. release. Aristotle Onassis. But test-driving fancy in Australia. Forty-five years ago, an environ- Street, who grew up in Richmond boats on a dirty river — chemicals in the Over the last 20 years, the award has mental disaster made the James River and returned after a decade at the water once reportedly stripped the paint recognized the Danube River in Eastern nationally synonymous with pollution. Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s Annapolis off a boat’s hull — turned Ancarrow into Europe, the Thames River in England In 1975, investigators found that an office, said he didn’t know of any other one of the river’s early champions. and the Charles River in Boston. The insecticide called Kepone, which had river with the kinds of restrictions the At the time, Richmond’s combined foundation said its decision to honor the given workers troubling symptoms such James had at the time. The fishing ban sewer and stormwater system routinely James was a nod to its transformation as tremors, had been discharged for nearly that began in the mid-1970s lasted for 13 dumped billions of gallons of raw “from one of the most polluted in the a decade into the years, costing many sewage into the river when heavy rains country to one of the most improved.” James River. There, their livelihoods and overwhelmed its treatment plant. To Bill Street, who received the River- state officials found leaving a legacy that demonstrate his point that the river had prize as CEO of the James River Associa- the ant-killing chemi- would be hard for the become the city’s dumping grounds, the tion, agreed that the river he’s focused cal, also known as river to overcome. Richmond Times-Dispatch reported, on for the last 15 years has come a long chlordecone, had been But the national Ancarrow once appeared before the city way. But there’s still work to be done to accumulating in the attention the Kepone council with a jarful of the James that return it to full health — and to get local river’s sediment and disaster garnered included a condom and a dead rat. residents to fully embrace its charms. in fish tissue. Kepone also fueled budding Ancarrow eventually teamed up with Now, “when people say they’re going was later classified as environmental Ralph Nader in a suit to force President to the river, we want that to be the James a likely carcinogen activism in Virginia Richard Nixon to release billions of River,” he said. that persists in the and helped spur the dollars that had been appropriated to environment for passage of national upgrade wastewater treatment plants. Disaster spurs action years. legislation to regulate “As I understand it, that lawsuit was The 348-mile-long James River is The disaster, cov- toxic chemicals. one of the things that led to the passage contained entirely in Virginia, winding ered by Dan Rather Rafting is now a popular way to “It truly was one of the Clean Water Act,” Street said. from its headwaters in Botetourt County in a 60 Minutes experience the James River in of the most polluted Because of population centers that north of Roanoke through Lynchburg episode, became the Richmond. (Dave Harp) rivers in the whole drain into the James watershed, the river and then Richmond. The river seems in local equivalent of the country,” Street said. receives about 70% of the state’s waste- no hurry once it’s left the state capital, Cuyahoga River catching on fire in Ohio. “So, it’s an incredible story that, now, water discharge, Street said. That’s one making lazy oxbow turns south of the It was a turning point for an industrial it’s home to one of the highest con- of the factors that left it more soiled than city that were shortened by cut-throughs swath of the river where, as Rather said, centrations of bald eagles, some of the others by midcentury. But it also stood to carved by Union soldiers. From there, pollution had become “a way of life” for strongest sturgeon populations and that it benefit more from the Clean Water Act, the James balloons and constricts, like many of the chemical companies located means what it does to the communities. which established permits and standards a snake swallowing its prey, as it curves on its shores. It’s pretty amazing.” for wastewater discharge. past Charles City, Jamestown and The entire tidal portion of the river — In 1976, one year after the Kepone But the James River still routinely Williamsburg before reaching Newport from Richmond to the Bay — was shut investigation, a group of concerned News, Hampton and Norfolk and spill- down to all fishing except catch-and- citizens formed the James River Asso- James continues on page 5 Bay Journal • March 2020 5

James from page 4 ing “play” cues an underwater tour of the river — not of its length, but of its received sewage-tainted stormwater history. It starts before colonization, a through combined sewer systems, a cost- time of underwater abundance: verdant lier, more complicated problem to address. underwater grass and oyster beds, crabs, More recently, the state General Assembly shad, flounder — and lots of sturgeon. has given the cities of Lynchburg and It’s an immersive experience, with fish Richmond grants worth tens of millions of and grasses on every side and the water’s dollars to help overhaul those systems. surface above. Meanwhile, groups like the James Then the water gets murky and oyster River Association — which has grown beds and fish begin to disappear as the from five people when Street started to narrator describes a period of overhar- 25 full-time employees — have been vesting and pollution. chipping away at the river’s recovery Cue the concerned citizens, restora- for the last 45 years. Five years ago, the tion efforts and pollution reductions, and organization established a lofty vision for the scene starts to improve. The video its upcoming 50th anniversary in 2026: a brings the viewer to modern times and Grade-A, swimmable, fishable river. into a future with more sparkling grass “There’s been a renaissance of beds, abundant fish and plenty of people concern for the James,” said Joe Maroon, out taking advantage of the water. executive director of the Virginia Envi- “That’s how we answer the question, ronmental Endowment, a grant-making ‘What would the river look like?’” Street organization that was created with funds Kayakers enjoy a serene section of the James River with the dramatic backdrop of said. “We use this to cast a vision.” from a settlement after the Kepone catas- the Richmond skyline. (Dave Harp) One creature that’s deliberately trophe. “Over the last 40 years, we’ve missing from the vision is the nonna- seen how much people have begun to since 2013. And, the James River Park to get waste out of the city. tive blue catfish, which has become a embrace the James as a connecting river System that cozies up to the waterway “What millennials expect now is top predator in the James River after rather than as something that separates. in Richmond saw more visitors than good jobs in an urban environment being introduced in the mid-1970s. That’s wonderful to see.” ever, tallying nearly 1.8 million hikers, with natural resources and clean water,” Taking its place is the unmistakable The endowment is managing a $15 runners and bikers in 2018. Brunkow said, summarizing the change. Atlantic sturgeon, which has become million grant program focused on water “I feel like we’re in this interesting Now that the river is clean enough to the mascot of the river’s comeback. quality improvements in the James period of time where there’s a lot of love support fishing, boating and even swim- Harvested to the brink of extinction in River. So far, nearly $9 million of that for the river,” said James Riverkeeper ming in some areas most of the time, it’s the late 1800s, the prehistoric-looking fund has helped plant streamside buffers Jamie Brunkow. “Whereas, 50 years hard to keep reminding residents that fish has staged a fragile but steady and living shorelines, reduce polluted ago, it was where you’d see waste and there’s still progress to be made. comeback in the river where in the stormwater runoff and curtail sewage pollution, today it’s where people go to When asked what a “Grade-A” James spring and fall, boaters can now often discharges. recreate and have fun.” River looks like, Brunkow reached for a see them breaching. Businesses in and around Richmond ski mask-like set of goggles. Those sorts of comeback stories Getting there from here now see the river as an economic asset, “Right now, we’re calling it the James are a big reason the James landed an Last year, the river held steady with one that brings young-and-hungry kay- River virtual reality experience,” he said. international award — which came with a B-minus grade in the James River akers to town and into the city’s bumper “This is how we explain to somebody $135,000 for the James River Association Association’s biennial State of the James crop of breweries. A major cultural what an A river looks like if they’re to continue the work toward its resiliency. report. The report cited progress in shift has occurred since the days when already happy with a B.” “I think,” Street said, “it was high time reducing sediment and bacteria pollution industry saw the river as the fastest way Putting on the goggles and press- a Chesapeake tributary got recognized.” despite record rains in 2018, when most measurements were taken. Bald eagle and smallmouth bass populations remained strong, but American shad continued to dwindle. Still, compared with the shutdown of river fisheries in the ’70s, the James River’s haul of more than 6 million pounds of seafood worth $21.4 million in 2018 is a dramatic improvement. “Now, it’s about how do we move from the B-minus we scored in the latest State of the James report to that A?” Street said. As the James River turns a corner from eyesore to resource, advocates have continued changing their tack. In 2012, the river association teamed up with the Chesapeake Conservancy and National Geographic to help people Envision the James. The project, which includes James a 360-degree virtual map, focused on Riverkeeper promoting heritage tourism and getting Jamie people on and along the water. Brunkow Also in 2012, the association set a collects goal to get more people personally con- water nected to the waterway. samples from The James and its tributaries now the river in offer more than 250 public access Richmond. points, with almost 40 of them added (Dave Harp) 6 Bay Journal • March 2020 VA pipeline backers, opponents get their day in the Supreme Court ≈ Ruling on Dominion permit ties on its land. will have implications for stalled Arguing on behalf of the U.S. Mountain Valley project, others Forest Service, Andrew Yang, assistant to the U.S. Attorney General, aimed down the road to distinguish between the trail that By Whitney Pipkin traverses the surface of the land and Will a historic footpath running the land under which a project would through Appalachia be the final barrier be built. to an $8 billion pipeline project? The “It’s a difficult distinction to wrap one’s decision is now in the hands of the U.S. head around,” said Justice Elena Kagan. Supreme Court. “You’re saying that the trail is distinct… The country’s highest court heard from the land that is the trail.…Nobody oral arguments on Feb. 24 about whether makes this distinction in real life.” a federal agency has the authority to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg began grant or deny permission for the Atlantic with a similar line of questioning about Coast Pipeline to be built under the the lawyers’ efforts to draw distinc- Appalachian Trail. The court’s decision, tions between the agencies’ authorities. expected by June, could decide the But most of the judges seemed more fate of the long-contested project that concerned about the broader implica- winds across the southwest corner of the An aerial photo taken by a volunteer pilot shows construction of the Atlantic Coast tions of a decision to uphold the Fourth Chesapeake Bay watershed in Virginia. Pipeline in West Virginia in 2018. Construction on the pipeline has been halted as Circuit’s decision to revoke the Forest Dominion Energy, the project’s judges have revoked or questioned key federal permits for the project. (Pipeline Service permit. backer, petitioned the court to consider Compliance Surveillance Initiative) Eventually, Chief Justice John the case after the Fourth Circuit Court Roberts, Jr. asked whether such a of Appeals in late 2018 revoked a by the court is whether the U.S. Forest ally owned land that the trail travels. decision would essentially create “an permit from the U.S. Forest Service. Service has the authority to grant the The Forest Service and Park Service impermeable barrier” for pipelines and The permit would have allowed pipeline a permit to tunnel under the have different charters when it comes projects like them trying to cross the construction to cross the Appalachian Appalachian Trail. The trail crosses to allowing major infrastructure proj- Appalachian Trail to the East Coast. Trail and George Washington National through national forests, as well as ects, such as pipelines, across federally The Mountain Valley Pipeline, Forest. It is one of seven federal permits other public and private lands, but is owned lands. The Park Service seeks another natural gas pipeline being built related to the project that have been managed by the National Park Service. to “preserve unimpaired” the lands it across southern Virginia (outside the overturned by the courts, resulting in a The case is not about which agency is charged with managing, while the Chesapeake watershed) by a different construction stoppage since late 2018. owns the trail but rather about which Forest Service grants rights of way and The legal conundrum to be decided agency has jurisdiction over the feder- other energy development opportuni- Pipeline continues on page 7 Restoring the native balance

ernstseed.com [email protected] 800-873-3321 Bay Journal • March 2020 7

Pipeline from page 6 unlikely to go forward. “If [it] cannot cross 600 feet below developer is about 90% complete — but the trail then the whole enterprise is also needs a permit to cross the Appala- done. We’re done. They have to start chian Trail. Construction was halted as over,” Yang said during his argument. a result of the Fourth Circuit’s decision. In a statement, Dominion officials The Atlantic Coast Pipeline project has said they were “hopeful” the Supreme begun tree clearing in Virginia but has Court would decide in the pipeline’s not yet begun construction in the state. favor and that the company could resume In a preview for the SCOTUS blog, construction as early as this summer. attorney Noah Sachs noted that siding Environmental groups were less with the pipeline’s opponents could forthcoming with predictions after prevent the agencies from granting a the Supreme Court’s complex legal right-of-way for pipelines under any discussion. portion of the Appalachian Trail that “It’s so hard to read what the runs through federal land. justices are thinking, and I make it a “Because more than 80% of the trail policy not to try to predict,” said David is on federal land (the remainder is on Sligh, conservation director of Wild state and private land), this case has Virginia, after observing the argu- major implications for where pipelines ments. Still, he said in a statement that and other energy infrastructure can the pipeline “poses serious environ- cross from the Midwest to population mental and safety risks in its attempt centers on the East Coast,” Sachs wrote. to cut across Appalachia. Simply put, Dominion, in a statement released they could not have chosen a worse after oral arguments, pointed to the place” to construct it. existence of more than 50 pipeline Lines formed for the U.S. Supreme Court hearing on Feb. 24, 2020, when the court heard If the Supreme Court reverses the projects under the trail already as evi- arguments as to whether the U.S. Forest Service could issue a permit to allow a natural lower court’s decision and allows the dence that the work would not disturb gas pipeline to tunnel beneath the Appalachian Trail. (Whitney Pipkin) Forest Service to reissue a permit, public use of the trail. the pipeline project would still face “We’re avoiding any impacts to the more than a half-mile from each side under the trail is still “unresolved” and a handful of unresolved permitting trail by installing the pipeline more of the trail. “People hiking by the that the pipeline could end up being issues, many of them put on hold than 700 feet below the surface,” the crossing will not see, hear or even built much closer to the surface. while this case made its way through statement said, adding feet to the know the pipeline is there.” Either way, analysts and Domin- the courts. Lawsuits challenging 600-foot-below number that attorneys Greg Buppert, a senior attorney ion’s attorneys have said that, unless the permit from the Federal Energy used during their arguments. Through with the Southern Environmental Law the Supreme Court allows the Forest Regulatory Commission, which center horizontal drilling, the company said Center, said after the arguments that the Service to reissue the permit, the on whether demand for the project is construction would only impact land depth at which the pipeline would cross 605-mile-long natural gas pipeline is justified, are still in court. SELLER OF TUBEX TREE SHELTERS 36, 48 and 60-inch standard shelters and 30-inch shrub shelters available.*

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*Other products may be available if ordered in advance parktonwoodlandservices.com 8 Bay Journal • March 2020 Climate study predicts extent of heavier rains on Eastern Shore ≈ MD communities planning higher tides, it will be more difficult for future infrastructure to rainfall-driven flooding to drain away. withstand change Brian Lightner, the zoning admin- istrator for Cecil County in the state’s By Jeremy Cox northeast corner, said the new rainfall Climate change will fuel heavier Jim Bass, of totals will help his department develop downpours and deeper floodwaters on the Eastern even more localized computer models, Maryland’s Eastern Shore, according Shore Land which he hopes to use to plan storm- to one of the first detailed looks at Conservan- water projects. changing rainfall patterns at the local cy’s coastal “Local governments are always level in the mid-Atlantic. resilience thinking about where we can do storm- The new report, a collaboration program, water retrofits,” he said. “With our between the University of Maryland stands in the flood vulnerabilities being predicted, and Eastern Shore Land Conservancy, rain at the [we’ll be] looking where we can try to estimates rainfall totals and intensity conservan- do some restoration to reduce some of for five towns on the Mid and Upper cy’s office that impact.” shores. It predicts that by the 2040s, in Easton, Climate scientists generally agree a 100-year storm will dump an MD. He that rainfall will continue increasing in additional 0.5-inch to 1.5-inches of said that the the Chesapeake Bay region, but projec- rainfall over 24 hours, depending on rural towns tions at the local level have only begun the location. represented to trickle in. The Maryland Commis- That might not sound like much of a in a new sion on Climate Change said in a 2008 difference. But when it comes to plan- Eastern report, for example, that winter rainfall ning for new roads, drainage ditches Shore amounts could increase up to 12% and other types of infrastructure, it is, study face by 2090, but that information applied said Jim Bass, manager of the conser- a bigger statewide. vancy’s coastal resilience program. challenge, A 2015 analysis compiled for the “This was a great opportunity to than most District of Columbia’s Department of bring some specificity to this phenom- because Energy and Environment looked at enon that everyone agrees is going on,” their public a variety of storm scenarios, finding he said. “You can’t plan for what you works staffs greater intensity and frequency with don’t know.” and budgets each. For instance, it showed that the Many coastal communities across are smaller number of days per year with 1 inch of the country are struggling to get ready than most of rainfall would increase from an aver- for rising seas, greater storm frequency their coun- age of 10 to 13 by the 2080s. and other climate-related impacts. The terparts. In Virginia Beach, a 2018 study rural towns represented in the Eastern (Dave suggested that 100-year storms would Shore study face a bigger challenge, Harp) typically produce 13.3 inches of Bass said, because their public works rainfall over the span of 24 hours by staffs and budgets are smaller than Assessment Program and used a statis- 100-year storm can strike more than 2075, up from the historical average of most of their counterparts. tical process called “downscaling” to once every 100 years; to say it only has 9.4 inches. Such results prompted the In anticipation, his organization make forecasts at a more-precise scale. a 1% chance of arising per year is better, report’s author, the Dewberry consult- formed the Eastern Shore Climate “It’s almost like zooming in onto an but it’s still possible for such ferocious ing firm, to recommend that the city Adaptation Partnership in 2016. The image,” she said. “As you zoom out, you storms to pop up once every few years or increase rainfall intensities by 20% in network’s six participating counties see very coarse pixels, and when you even within days of each other. its design calculations. and three municipalities work to share zoom in the pixels get finer and finer.” “It’s like you’re rolling a 100-sided In its report, the Eastern Shore costs and resources as they plan for cli- The study forecasts rainfall for the die. Your probability of coming up Land Conservancy lays out several mate change. Their goal, according to period between 2041 and 2070, assum- with a 1 is one in 100. But there is a policy recommendations of its own, the partnership’s website, is to create ing a scenario in which relatively little possibility that you could roll it two emphasizing the use of “green infra- “America’s Most Resilient Region.” is done to combat global greenhouse times in a row and a 1 would come structure,” such as rain gardens and The rainfall study, funded by a gas emissions. For a 100-year storm — up,” Brubaker said. wetlands, to absorb additional water. $60,000 grant from the New York- the sort with a 1% chance of occurring Those labels, though, are critical for It is the second climate change based Rauch Foundation, brings a level during any given year — the study engineers trying to decide how high report produced by the organization in of scientific understanding to those foresees the following rainfall totals to build bridges and how wide to dig as many years. Its sea-level rise study communities that many larger cities over a 24-hour period: stormwater ponds. If the calculations last year estimated a 6-foot increase on still don’t have, its backers say. ≈ Elkton: 9.3 inches (1.6 inches for a newly constructed highway don’t the Shore, a swell that would put nearly Climate scientists typically use greater than the National Oceanic and account for the shifting definition of 6,000 buildings at risk of becoming broad brush strokes when predicting Atmospheric Administration currently a 100-year storm, it may be in danger flooded. rainfall patterns decades into the charts for such storms in that com- of flooding more often in the future, Brubaker said that her use of a future, said Kaye Brubaker, a Uni- munity) Brubaker said. higher-emissions scenario was a fea- versity of Maryland researcher who ≈ Denton: 9.9 inches (1.2 inches “If the rain falls slowly, it can ture of the study, not a fault. It is better co-authored the report. Even with the greater) trickle off somewhere,” she said. But to plan for a worse scenario and wind aid of supercomputers, they can only ≈ Cambridge: 10.1 inches (1 inch “if the rain falls intensely very fast, up with dry roads than to hope for the pin down results to square-shaped greater) where’s it going to go? It’s going to pile best and end up under water, she said. blobs with boundary lines stretching ≈ Easton: 10 inches (1 inch greater) up in your pipes and on your street.” “I think we all need to pay attention more than 30 miles apart. ≈ Centreville: 9.2 inches (0.5-inch Another symptom of climate to what we’re doing to the planet,” Brubaker and her team took just greater) change — rising seas — could compli- she added. “This [analysis] is a hint such information from the North Brubaker said the labels used to cate things for local planners, Brubaker of what global-scale change might be American Regional Climate Change describe storms can be misleading. A said. If coastal areas become inundated by bringing to our neighborhood.” Bay Journal • March 2020 9 Lawsuits loom as states, CBF are fed up with PA TMDL shortfalls ≈ Litigation a ‘last resort’ to quality goals aimed at money away from the state Department of force EPA, state to put more clearing its algae-filled Environmental Protection to other agencies action, funds into cleanup waters and eliminating and organizations that were better able its oxygen-starved “dead to get projects implemented. By Karl Blankenship zone.” Servidio also said the EPA is commit- A winter of discontent over Chesa- Those concerns spiked ted to providing more money and techni- peake Bay cleanup progress appears after the state submitted cal assistance to help control runoff from likely to turn into a spring of lawsuits, an updated cleanup plan the state. But, he said, the EPA would as states, environmental groups and the last summer that fell not discuss any other potential actions in U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 25% short of its pollution public. increasingly point fingers at one another. reduction goal for nitrogen Maryland Environment Secretary At issue is whether the federal agency and $324 million a year Grumbles acknowledged the federal is doing enough to prod Pennsylvania, short in funding. agency would want “some degree of which is the largest source of water- An EPA review confidentiality” when considering fouling nutrient pollution to the Bay, to Bass fishermen head back to the ramp at Conodoguinet released in December enforcement. But, he said, other states — accelerate its efforts. Creek, across the Susquehanna River from Harrisburg. acknowledged the which have invested huge sums to meet The Chesapeake Bay Foundation, the Pennsylvania submitted an updated cleanup plan in 2019 shortfalls, but the agency cleanup goals and committed more in region’s largest environmental group, that fell 25% short of its pollution reduction goal for nitro- declined to take any of the future — need assurance that the announced in January that it and other gen and $324 million a year short in funding. (Dave Harp) the regulatory actions it EPA will take tougher regulatory actions groups would soon file a formal “notice had repeatedly threat- against Pennsylvania. of intent” to sue the EPA for failing initiate legal action against Pennsylvania ened, such as ratcheting down on the “The gist of it is really trying to get to enforce the Clean Water Act. Such and the EPA. Virginia Gov. Ralph discharges allowed by industries and specificity and enforceability for an a filing is required as the first step to Northam has said his state may take wastewater plants. intervention,” Grumbles said. formally file a suit against the agency. action, too. At a meeting of senior state and Some have hoped that the threat of “For CBF, litigation is a last resort,” While Pennsylvania trails only federal environmental officials in late litigation would spur Pennsylvania’s said Jon Mueller, the foundation’s vice Virginia in the amount of nitrogen it January, Cosmo Servidio, administrator legislature to provide more money, but president for litigation. “However, with has controlled since the Bay “pollution of EPA Region III, which includes most Pat McDonnell, secretary of the state Bay restoration and clean water for diet,” or Total Maximum Daily Load, of the Bay watershed, told state officials Department of Environmental Protec- future generations at risk, we have no was implemented in 2010, it remains that, “we are fully committed to working tion, said the threats of legal action could alternative due to EPA’s failure to act. far off-track for meeting 2025 cleanup with this partnership to meet the goals of have the opposite impact. We must hold EPA accountable now if goals. Because it contributes so many 2025. Nothing has changed.” “We have a number of legislators who we are going to save the Bay.” nutrients to the Bay, and its shortfall is He noted that the EPA has taken have been very actively trying to work to Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan has also so large, Pennsylvania’s failure ensures actions against Pennsylvania, including the get funding,” he said. “This conversation called for his state attorney general to the Chesapeake would not achieve water recent rerouting of $4 million of unspent has not been helpful.” Want a diversified investment portfolio with a low carbon footprint? Environmental Quality Resources Your Money, Your Values. 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Valliant Wealth Strategies is not a registered broker/dealer and is independent of Raymond James Financial Services, Inc. Securities offered through Raymond James Financial Services, Inc., member FINRA / SIPC. Investment advisory services offered through RJFS Advisors, Inc. 10 Bay Journal • March 2020 Opposition to solar project near Gettysburg heats up ≈ Some say panels would hurt Park, some say hundreds of acres agro-tourism while others of glass panels glinting in the cite benefits for farmers and sun is not a suitable frame for the famous historic site. local environment “Part of what draws visitors By Ad Crable to the battlefield and other tourist Pennsylvania, like other states in the destinations time and again is Chesapeake Bay region, wants to combat that bucolic traverse from all climate change with more renewable directions to reach the jewel of energy. But, as happened with some national battlefield parks that is recent solar proposals in Maryland and Gettysburg,” Britt Isenberg, an Virginia, going green has some people Adams County resident, said in seeing red. a letter to the editor to the local Such is the case near the Civil War newspaper. mecca of Gettysburg, where a proposal to “Now replace that visual build Pennsylvania’s largest solar project aesthetic on the drive in with across nearly 1,000 acres of farmland thousands of solar panels. The has been met with detractors. The project possible detrimental economic would include 530 acres of swiveling solar impact to history and agri-tour- panels — 275,000 of them, in 12-foot high ism needs to be fully explored, arrays — on 18 farms. comprehended and documented.” An initial hearing on the proposed The proposal from NextEra Energy Resources to build a solar energy site near Gettysburg, PA, Wolf added, “Tourism is such Brookview Solar Energy Center on Jan. has met with controversy. If built, the solar project would apparently be Pennsylvania’s largest, a driver of the local economy. 15 drew more than 300 people to a fire eclipsing a 500-acre site that is scheduled to open this summer in Franklin County. The com- Gettysburg is one of the most hall. A second hearing on Feb. 12 by pany opened this solar farm in South Carolina in fall 2019. (NextEra Energy Resources) visited sites in the country. Will Mount Joy Township’s Board of Supervi- it have an impact on people who sors did not even finish the testimony about 20 landowners who live adjacent to And when the solar project comes to come to the area and spend money? Our or cross-examination of the applicant’s the site. “You have a lot of very frightened the end of its life, after about 25 years, proximity to the battlefield is not so far first witness. Three more hearings are people who don’t know what to expect all materials would be removed. Solar and we should look at those impacts.” scheduled through March 25. and are looking to their township to panels would be recycled, and farm soils A petition circulated by Responsible Part of the proposed project is in an protect them.” would be restored to the crop-enhancing Solar Citizens of Mount Joy Township in agriculture conservation zone where solar The 18 farm families would be paid nutrient levels found at the beginning of an effort to stop the solar project has gar- projects are allowed. But some of it lies $16 million to lease their crop fields for the project. nered 1,213 signatures. “I grew up in this in a special mixed-use zone, bordering up to 35 years. During that time, the The project application cited studies area. Farmland should be kept farmland a highway where solar projects can be noiseless, unlit (except for a substation), that suggest the solar project would not and for the animals, not solar,” wrote one permitted with conditions attached. After nontraffic-generating, odorless solar lower property values to the 114 adjoin- woman who signed the petition. the hearings, the board of supervisors will panels would quietly generate up to ing homes or produce glare problems. But NextEra’s Garner maintains that decide if that will 75 megawatts of Wolf takes the extra income happen. power. According issue with local farmers A day before the “I grew up in this area. to NextEra, that’s those studies “It’s a tough time to be a farmer would get actu- first hearing, Mount enough to power because the ally strengthens Joy Township’s Farmland should be kept farmland 15,800 homes and research was in America. Many farmers decide the chances of ag advisory planning and for the animals, not solar,” delivers a pollution done around land staying in commission recom- reduction equivalent solar farms in that dedicating all or some of their land production. mended rejecting — Petition signer to taking 26,000 the Midwest. to solar energy for a time is a great way “It’s a the permit, citing cars off the road. NextEra tough time to its scope and scale. Forest clearing has made a to diversify to keep their farm going be a farmer in NextEra Energy Resources, a Florida- would be “minimal,” it said, but gave no $1,500 dona- for the next generation.” America,” he based company that builds solar and wind figures. Native grasses would be planted tion to a local said “Many energy projects, touts the $90 million below the solar panels. food bank — NextEra Energy Resource spokesperson farmers decide project as a benign win-win for the Electricity would go into a regional and promised that dedicating environment and the community. power grid used by multiple states. to budget all or some of “The time is ripe for solar energy in The project, if built, would apparently $300,000 over the course of the project for their land to solar energy for a time is a our country and that is absolutely true in be Pennsylvania’s largest, eclipsing a 500- community needs. great way to diversify to keep their farm Pennsylvania as well,” said Bryan Garner, acre site for a 150,000-panel, 70-mega- The application included signatures going for the next generation.” a NextEra spokesman. “Solar energy watt solar farm that is scheduled to open from each of the farm families on form Others said they couldn’t support makes a good neighbor.” this summer in adjacent Franklin County. letters from NextEra stating that the sacrificing farmland to an industrial-size But some people who live near the Penn State University is buying the power project “will benefit our community solar project when the power produced proposed project and elsewhere in Adams that will be generated there. greatly” and contribute to “Pennsylvania’s would be used by customers in other County have decried the solar farm, The solar installations in the clean energy future.” states, not to generate less-polluting saying it will harm property values, ruin Brookview project would be screened by PennFuture, one of the state’s largest energy for the area. As part of the prime farmland, alter the flavor of open more than 20 miles of trees and vegetative environmental groups, endorsed the plan. regional electricity grid, the power could land surrounding Gettysburg National buffers that would add wildlife habitat to But some residents are adamantly be used anywhere among 13 states and Military Park, which lies just 3 miles the landscape, NextEra said. opposed to it. One letter-writer to the the District of Columbia. away, and deal economic blows to the The company also said it would pay local paper argued against “making an “Understandably, in today’s environ- area’s agri-tourism industry. up to $10 million in local taxes over the area rich in history and agriculture an ment, sharing resources is vital,” Isenberg “This is not the right project, the scope course of the project, and the township industrial zone in one meeting.” said. “But does the benefit outweigh the and scale for Mount Joy Township,” said would not have to provide public water or Though the solar farm would be 3 cost of permanently destroying hundreds Nathan Wolf, an attorney representing other infrastructure services to support it. miles from Gettysburg National Military of acres of pristine agricultural landscape?” Bay Journal • March 2020 11 PA, fed up with chronic litter, organizes for new attack ≈ New report cites cost to that can take a useful community projects, the study environment, taxpayers decade or more to noted. For example, the $14 million decompose. PennDOT annually spends cleaning up By Ad Crable Plastic film trash from roadsides is money that could Just how big is Pennsylvania’s litter- is the next most be used to improve roads and bridges. ing problem? ubiquitous form of The study recommends increased At any given time, there are more litter, most of that public outreach, more funding for clean- than half a billion cigarette butts, plastic from food packag- ups and litter awareness, better enforce- packaging from mostly fast-food restau- ing and plastic ment of litter laws and more accessible rants, plastic bottles and sundry other beverage contain- trash receptacles and disposal sites. items lying along the state’s 124,000 ers. On a typical Shannon Reiter, president of Keep miles of roads. day, more than 40 Pennsylvania Beautiful, agrees with that That’s about 2,018 unwanted items million beverage plan. The group has been fighting litter for every mile of road, according to a containers and since 1990, organizing nearly 80,000 first-ever statewide litter study released fast-food products community cleanups in which nearly in February by two state agencies and line Pennsylvania 2.5 million volunteers have removed 141 the nonprofit group Keep Pennsylvania roadways of all million pounds of trash. Beautiful. Volunteers pick up litter along a Pennsylvania street. (Keep types. Ultimately, she thinks society needs The study concludes that litter in Pennsylvania Beautiful) To demonstrate to move away from its throwaway Pennsylvania is chronic and accelerat- the cost to taxpay- economy. “It’s a disposable society, and ing. It affects economic development, that cleanup efforts alone can’t solve,” ers, the study looked at how nine cities in we need to get by that,” she said. the environment and human health — said DEP Secretary Patrick McDonnell the state deal with litter. But in the meantime, she wants and cleanups are costing taxpayers a lot in a press release. “Litter undercuts Lancaster, Allentown, Altoona, people to see littering as the harmful act of money. our quality of life and the health of our Reading, Philadelphia, Erie, Harrisburg, it is and have receptacles in plain sight. After a “litter summit” attended by waters and soil. It shortchanges com- Pittsburgh and Scranton collectively “We need to be outraged that we’re 124 people from state and local govern- munity improvements and economic spend nearly $69 million annually on spending millions and millions of dollars ments, citizens groups and industries, development as funds that could litter and illegal dumping cleanups, street cleaning up litter and illegal dumping.” the state Department of Environmental otherwise be spent more productively sweeping, unclogging grates, extra trash Ultimately, she thinks the solution Protection, Department of Transporta- instead go to trash cleanup.” and recycling receptacles, anti-littering is society moving away from its throw- tion and Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful The study found that 37% of all education and enforcement. away economy. “It’s a disposable society, announced they would use the data to pieces of litter were the filters of Approximately 80% of that money and we need to get by that,” she said. launch a new statewide plan to combat cigarette butts, about 186 million of them is spent on cleanups, rather than But in the meantime, she wants litter. at any given time. Most cigarette butts prevention. people to see littering as the harmful act “Pennsylvania has a littering problem are made up of cellulose acetate, a plastic That money could be used for more it is and have receptacles in plain sight. LEADING THE NATION WITH CLEAN WATER SOLUTIONS

The CWP assists local governments with: Watershed and TMDL Planning BMP Urban & Agricultural Crediting MS4 Permitting Water Monitoring DesignResearch Stream Restoration Green Jobs Training Program Join our CWPA network today and receive: Access to the online watershed library Webcasts & PDH’s Networking events Conference discounts Discounted services Join online at cwp.org or contact Karen Titus at [email protected] or 443-392-7836 Mention the Bay Journal and receive a complimentary gift. 12 Bay Journal • March 2020

Site from page 1 A colony of royal terns once found have surmounted a Trump administra- nesting grounds tion roadblock, it still faces several on this sandy spit critical obstacles. in the Chesapeake Traffic on the 3.5-mile bridge and Bay, which is now its two parallel tunnels is notoriously dominated by bad. Backups around Hampton on the pelicans. Terns north shore and Norfolk on the south lay eggs in open can stretch up to 6 miles during com- sandy or gravelly muting periods. Summer’s peak season areas and need a brings more than 100,000 vehicles landscape free from across it per day. raccoons, foxes and The state’s strategy to alleviate the other predators. In bottleneck at the existing two tunnels Virginia, an island largely rests on digging a third beneath built from dredged the river. The finished subterranean sediment had highway will grow from four to eight become their last lanes. stronghold until it The bird flap centers on about 5 was paved in prepa- acres of dredge spoil constructed in ration to expand 1957 as the southern landing spot for the Hampton Roads the tunnel portion of the crossing. Bridge Tunnel. Where it wasn’t paved, the piece (Dave Harp/2004) of land known as South Island was covered in sand. Jetty stones ring the common terns, have seen declines of islands for preservation purposes. Department’s legal counsel decrimi- perimeter. And, from the 1980s to last more than 50%. At the beginning, the bridge nalized that category of bird deaths, year, it was alive with thousands of Seabirds once nested across coastal project’s leadership made it clear that declaring that its application “hangs adult birds and their nests from April Virginia. But as their habitat dwindled their motivation wasn’t driven by sheer the sword of Damocles over a host to August. elsewhere, the flock continued to grow altruism but by the mandates of the of otherwise lawful and productive None of the South Island species at South Island. In recent years, it had migratory bird act. actions.” are listed as federally endangered become their last “stronghold” in the “We cannot take the position that Within months, the U.S. Fish and or threatened, although one of the state, said Sarah Karpanty, a Virginia the agreed upon conservation mea- Wildlife Service, the agency charged inhabitants, the gull-billed tern, is Tech bird researcher who has studied sures (or mitigation) are ‘voluntary,’” with enforcing the act, notified VDOT considered threatened at the state level. the colony. an official in VDOT environmental officials that any “continued conserva- Because of their status as migratory To be successful, a seabird colony office implored in an email to col- tion efforts” for migratory birds on birds, though, they are protected under requires a ready supply of fish for leagues in September 2017 as the their part would be “purely voluntary.” one of the earliest environmental laws feeding, sandy or gravelly terrain for South Island bird plan was taking The new federal interpretation ham- in the country: the Migratory Bird nesting and a landscape free from rac- shape. strung the state by removing “some of Treaty Act of 1918. coons, foxes and other predators. But soon, the state would have to do our ability to force certain behaviors Congress passed the law at a time “South Island has all those things,” just that if it was going to preserve the and took our ability to fund those in when the biggest threat to the birds Karpanty said. colony at all. some circumstances,” said Josh Saks, was ladies’ hats. The plume trade has To complete the third tunnel, The migratory bird law makes it deputy secretary of Natural Resources. long since diminished, but new threats though, engineers say they needed to illegal to kill any migratory bird or Without a federal mandate hanging have emerged. Today, ornithologists develop the rest of the island. destroy its nest. Such intentional bird over their heads — like a certain say, migratory birds face a deadly mix- In 2017, VDOT commissioned deaths, though, are rare. Far more are sword — state officials found their ture of pressures, including an expand- Karpanty and her colleagues to ana- wiped out unintentionally by oil spills, hands tied when it came to spending ing population of animal predators as lyze the colony and evaluate nearby wind turbines and other industrial money for habitat construction. well as habitat loss to development and alternative nesting sites that could activities. For decades, one admin- It appears that the state shelved sea level rise. be transformed into South Island’s istration after another interpreted any large-scale conservation efforts Scientists estimate that Virginia’s replacement. State officials knew it such “incidental takes” as criminal after receiving that all-clear. But after seabird population has plummeted would probably be a costly commit- violations of the law unless they were a December 2019 New York Times 36% since the early 1990s. Certain ment to save the birds; other states allowed by a permit. species, including black skimmers and have paid nearly $10 million to create In December 2017, the Interior Site continues on page 13

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Site from page 12 article highlighted the about-face in southeastern Virginia, Northam’s administration emerged two months later with its own proposal. “This plan demonstrates that infrastructure and development can and must be compatible with wildlife conservation,” Northam said. “It also shows that Virginia is stepping up when federal policies change environ- mental protections.” Environmental groups lauded the state for going forward with the conservation work, even though it was no longer federally required. “We’re very pleased to see the [state] administration taking leadership and taking care of what is in many ways an external threat” from Washington, said Christy Everett, the Hampton Roads regional director for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. For his part, Mike Parr, president of the American Bird Conservancy, said that he is relieved that state officials have had an apparent change of heart. “They came up with a lot of things Aerial view high above the Interstate 64 Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel shows in the middle South Island and, connected by a in a fairly tight timeline on this,” he jetty, Fort Wool to the right. (Virginia Department of Transportation) said. “There may be a slight loss [in bird numbers] in the short term, but acceptable trade-offs to overcome the birds could become a flight hazard ing ground for the colony. Although they’re taking steps they can take.” quandary, Saks said. for passing jets and helicopters, the her report dismissed Fort Wool as a Still, if the challenges that loomed “Obviously, if we’re going to build Navy said. permanent home for the birds, Kar- during the earlier round of planning an island, there are a lot of equities “You have an aircraft flying at a panty said she supports the plan in are any indication, those steps may not we’ll need to balance,” he noted. high rate of speed. An impact with combination with the other proposed be easy. When it became apparent that even a small bird can lead to signifi- measures, such as the barges. The Virginia Tech report recom- creating new land wasn’t feasible cant damage to an aircraft,” the Navy’s When it comes to preserving the mended expanding South Island or because of concerns over the loss Steve Jones said in an interview. “Life colony, she added, “all efforts should creating a standalone island for birds. of fish habitat, the state considered comes first.” be made.” The state is pursuing that idea again, transforming a small peninsula called After moving on from Willoughby In January, the Trump administra- according to the governor’s office. Willoughby Spit into bird habitat. Spit, VDOT advised Fish and Wildlife tion moved to solidify the migratory But the National Oceanic and VDOT had bought a portion of the spit that all other land options “were fully bird opinion into a regulation, making Atmospheric Administration quashed as a staging area for the construction evaluated and vetted” but ultimately it more difficult for future administra- the state’s previous island-making project. “eliminated from further review.” tions to undo. plans in their infancy. The federal VDOT asked Fish and Wildlife That list included Fort Wool, a Virginia leaders, meanwhile, are agency is charged with protecting early that year to give its opinion on peninsula connected to South Island moving in a different direction.In his “essential fish habitat.” NOAA argued the site, calling it “the most biologi- by a strand of jetty stones, but was February announcement, Northam that filling in nearly 7 acres of the cally effective option.” But before fed- rejected because the presence of a said that the Department of Game and river’s bottom adjacent to South Island, eral biologists could respond, VDOT decommissioned military building Inland Fisheries has begun developing as the state had proposed, may not be called off the plan over new concerns on the site was likely to repel certain a state-level “incidental take” regula- necessary when other options on exist- raised by the Navy. birds. tion for the birds. ing dry land might be available. The new location was 1.5 miles But that small piece of land is now A draft of the state rule is expected The state will likely need to find closer to Naval Station Norfolk. The being developed into a short-term nest- to be released in coming weeks. 14 Bay Journal • March 2020 MD’s consensus-based oyster management off to rocky start ≈ Initial meeting turns into debate over more proposed changes By Timothy B. Wheeler With an override of a veto by Gov. Larry Hogan, Maryland lawmakers in January ordered a fresh, consensus- based approach to the state’s fractious management of oysters. But the new approach looked a lot like the old one when the reconstituted Oyster Advisory Commission of the Department of Natural Resources convened in early February. The panel, expanded to 28 members, had been called together to discuss how it would proceed under the new law. But the meeting, in a classroom at Anne Sen. Sarah Elfreth, D-Anne Arundel Arundel Community College, quickly County, one of the new oyster manage- veered off into an argument between ment law’s chief sponsors, said “a new watermen and environmentalists over approach was needed” with oysters more changes in oyster management Lewis Carter culls oysters he tonged from Maryland’s Broad Creek in 2013. The languishing at historic lows and chronic that lawmakers are considering. state’s new oyster management law aims to create policies by building greater conflict between environmentalists and “They’re not even giving the consensus between watermen and environmentalists. (Dave Harp) watermen. (Dave Harp) [commission] they created a chance to work,” said Kent County Commissioner The DNR is directed to work with for the removal and replanting of any conservation-minded sports anglers. Ron Fithian, a former waterman. “We the panel and the University of Mary- juvenile oysters spawned in them. Chris Judy, the DNR’s shellfish pro- haven’t even had one full meeting yet.” land Center for Environmental Science Jeff Harrison, a commission member gram director, said that although it was The new law is the latest round in to come up with a set of “consensus” who is president of the Talbot Water- “just not organizationally possible to a years-long tug of war between the recommendations for increasing oyster men’s Association, also pointed out that vote” at that time, he pointed out that Hogan administration and legislators abundance while achieving a sustain- recreational anglers and environmental- DNR Secretary Jeannie Haddaway- over oyster management. It directs the able harvest. To bridge the rift between ists are pushing a bill to bar the state Riccio and other DNR officials were DNR to work with scientists, media- watermen and environmentalists, the from dredging any old oyster shells from there and had heard their concerns tors and an expanded roster of stake- plan would have to be approved by Man O’ War Shoals, a moribund reef at about the legislation. “Consider DNR holders to seek agreement where little 75% of the members. the mouth of the Patapsco River. The old well-informed and notified,” he said. has existed to date on how to increase The legislature ordered the DNR DNR advisory commission debated that With the meeting’s final minutes the abundance and sustainability of the commission to submit a final report of issue repeatedly, with watermen insisting opened to comments from the audi- Chesapeake Bay’s keystone species. its recommendations by July 1, 2021, oysters need shells to grow on and conser- ence, Robert Newberry, head of the Hogan had complained that law- with interim progress vationists opposing Delmarva Fisheries Association, a makers were making an “end run” on reports along the way. the disturbance of watermen’s group, complained about his administration’s efforts to forge The Feb. 10 the reef. the way in which he contended oyster “thoughtful and science-based” oyster meeting of the “There is zero trust coming Harrison said management has been politicized. management policies. He noted it would Oyster Advisory he thought the “We always had a smidgen, or a block the DNR from acting on a rare Commission started out of this room” purpose of the glimmer or a little flicker of light, of agreement reached in 2018 between calmly, with James — Robert Newberry new oyster man- hope,” he said. “With this group here watermen and environmentalists over McKitrick, the Delmarva Fisheries Association agement law was ... we ain’t got nothing.” tweaking oyster management in the DNR’s legislative “about building With legislation pending that would Choptank River and its tributaries. director, explaining trust” between affect the industry and the commission But environmentalists contended the new law. watermen and unable or unwilling to ask that it be that the administration has favored But then Robert T. Brown, a com- environmentalists. “We’re not starting shelved, Newberry said, “there is zero watermen’s interests, particularly in mission member and president of the off on the right foot,” he said. trust coming out of this room.” seeking to open the state’s extensive Maryland Watermen’s Association, Though not mentioned, yet another bill Quinn Fowler, one of two mediators oyster sanctuaries to harvest. They also pointed out that other legislation had has been introduced that would tweak the hired by the DNR to try to guide the argued that the DNR was not moving been introduced to limit the number of new oyster management law. It revises group to consensus, acknowledged the forcefully enough to end the overfishing oystering licenses the DNR could issue. the dates by which the commission must frustration expressed by some commis- found in a 2018 scientific assessment. “This undermines everything that file its reports and removes a provision sion members. She pledged to bring a Sen. Sarah Elfreth, D-Anne Arundel we’d be trying to do,” Brown complained. allowing it to meet behind closed doors. set of proposed operating procedures to County, one of the law’s chief sponsors, He called for a vote to ask the bill’s spon- Environmentalists on the commis- the next scheduled meeting March 9 for said “a new approach was needed” with sor, Sen. Paul Pinsky, D-Prince George’s sion said the panel wasn’t set up to com- the commission’s approval. oysters languishing at historic lows and County, to withdraw it so the commission ment on legislation, but rather to advise “We will continue the path for- the chronic conflict between environ- could consider whether that or other the secretary of natural resources. ward,” she vowed. “Trust us, because mentalists and watermen. oyster management changes are needed. Others pointed out that the new group we do know what we’re doing.” The law requires the DNR to expand Commission member Allison hadn’t even established ground rules yet After that, Keith Busick, a Baltimore and reorganize its Oyster Advisory Com- Colden, a fisheries scientist with the for how it would operate or take votes. County waterman and a newcomer to mission, with nearly 60% of the members Chesapeake Bay Foundation, countered “To start off like this is a mistake,” the commission, asked: “If we’re not from the seafood industry. Some of the that the panel should also consider said David Sikorski, executive director doing anything, why are we here?” new commission members are veterans of asking for another bill to be withdrawn of the Coastal Conservation Asso- With that, the meeting ended after the old panel, but many are new. that would open some sanctuaries ciation Maryland, which represents barely an hour. Bay Journal • March 2020 15 Striped bass fishing cuts leave Chesapeake anglers fuming ≈ Critics question the its spring trophy season for striped effectiveness of MD plan for bass last year shortly after the sci- ending overfishing entists’ warning came out. The state commission also adopted recreational By Timothy B. Wheeler rules last summer limiting all anglers, Anglers in the Chesapeake Bay including charter customers, to one and its tributaries will be limited to fish per day year-round, down from landing just one striped bass a day two before. under new rules approved in February Sikorski questioned the overall by East Coast fishery managers. adequacy of the DNR plan, particu- The only exception is in Maryland, larly its proposal to close the fishery where state officials plan to let those for two weeks in late August, rather who can afford to pay for charter fish- than for a longer period in July, when ing trips bring home two of the highly the DNR’s own data show fish are prized rockfish, as they are known in more likely to die even if released. the Bay. That’s upsetting to a lot of “You’ve got to close during the time anglers, who complain it’s not fair. you’re killing the most to have the But that’s not the only controversy most positive conservation impact,” over Maryland’s plan to stem the Sikorski said. slide of the East Coast’s most popular He also complained that it doesn’t finfish. The state has shortened but really help the striped bass population not closed its spring “trophy season,” by outlawing catch-and-release fishing when anglers can go after the biggest in April, when better conditions mean of the species, even though those that few fish die after being returned to happen to be the most productive the water. spawners. It’s also planning to crack The DNR’s Luisi acknowledged down on anglers who “target” rockfish there’s little release mortality in April, for catch-and-release during times The new harvest limits for Atlantic striped bass come a year after scientists but he said officials wanted to mini- when it’s illegal to keep them. warned that the population was overfished, with the number of spawning age mize disruption of striped bass on their On Feb. 4, the Atlantic States females at a worrisome low. (Dave Harp) way up the Bay to spawn. Marine Fisheries Commission, which At the same time, he defended not regulates fishing for migratory species their rules reduced overall fish losses in landings by the state’s watermen. completely shutting down the state’s in near-shore waters, authorized a by the same amount. That bothers some anglers, but many spring trophy season. That’s the only patchwork of catch restrictions to be Most of the states from Maine to North more seem upset with how recreational opportunity Maryland anglers have to imposed along the coast and in the Bay Carolina took advantage of that “conser- fishing is being curtailed. catch the really large fish that leave the aimed at halting a troubling decline in vation equivalency” provision, submitting Under the DNR plan, Maryland’s Bay after spawning and can be caught the species. They did so only after a dozens of varied options for regulating trophy season remains in place, the rest of the year up and down the lengthy and at-times querulous debate recreational fishing in their waters. though it will be delayed to May 1 and coast, he explained. about the efficacy and fairness of Fishery managers in Maryland shortened. There would be a roughly Lastly, DNR officials decided to states’ varied rules. and Virginia proposed curtailing two-week closure in late August when help out the state’s 600 licensed charter Maryland’s proposed catch restric- the recreational catch more than the no striped bass may be kept, and the captains after they complained “very tions came in for particular scrutiny commercial harvest, even though the fall season would close for the year aggressively,” Luisi said, that they’d from critics who questioned the sci- commission had called for both sectors five days early in December. be put out of business if forced to limit ence behind the proposal and whether to be cut back by equal proportions. Anglers also will be forbidden to their clients to one striped bass a day. it would actually meet the commis- In Maryland and in the Potomac “target” striped bass for catch-and- Charter customers pay hundreds of sion’s requirements. River, regulators proposed shaving release during the late summer closure dollars each for half- or full-day fish- The catch curbs come a year after the commercial harvest by only 1.8%, and throughout April, just before the ing trips, and many captains warned scientists warned that the Atlantic while aiming for a recreational catch trophy season starts on May 1. that no one would do that if they are striped bass population was overfished, 20.6 % below 2017 levels. The Virginia The interstate commissions techni- only able to bring home one fish. with the number of spawning age Marine Resources Commission, cal experts questioned the enforce- “The one fish [limit], it would have females at a worrisome low. meanwhile, acted last year to reduce ability of Maryland’s plan to ban been a death sentence for us,” said In response, the commission last the commercial catch in the Bay by catch-and-release at certain times of Ken Jeffries, acting president of the fall called for an 18% reduction in the nearly 8%, while going for a 24% year. But Luisi pointed out that the Maryland Charter Boat Association. coastwide catch of striped bass, as well overall reduction in recreational losses state has had a no-targeting rule for The Maryland DNR has already set as in their deaths after being caught in both the ocean and the Bay. years in part of the Bay and has cited the rules for the spring season, which and released. Fish returned to the water Michael Luisi, the Maryland anglers for violating it. runs until May 16. But the DNR is because they are too small to legally Department of Natural Resource’s Others question allowing the about to begin taking comments on its keep or are caught out of season often director of fishery monitoring and trophy season to continue targeting plan for summer and fall. Luisi said die anyway. In fact, scientists estimate assessment, defended requiring a large spawning striped bass, and the officials will weigh the feedback it gets that in 2017, more died coastwide after greater reduction from anglers than preferential treatment given to charter when deciding whether to go ahead as being released than were kept. watermen. About 90% of the striped fishing parties. proposed or shift a few things around, The panel proposed that all anglers bass mortality coastwide occurs in the David Sikorski, executive director including the summertime closure. be limited to catching one fish a day. It recreational fishery, he noted. of the Coastal Conservation Associa- “The private anglers are upset, and also set uniform size limits for keeping Now, because the commercial tion Maryland, complained that the I understand why they are,” he said. fish caught along the Atlantic coast harvest was cut 20.5% five years ago DNR, by allowing charter fishing “If we just went to one fish for every- and in the Bay, a major spawning and and has remained well below its man- clients to keep more fish than private one, we would have no summertime nursery ground for the species. dated quota, ratcheting down the catch anglers, “pits portions of the recre- closures, no adjustments needed. But States were permitted, however, to limit by just 1.8% in Maryland would ational fishery against each other.” that’s probably not the right thing to do deviate from those cutbacks, as long as actually allow for a slight increase Virginia, in comparison, eliminated either.” 16 Bay Journal • March 2020 DC reveals plan to clean up toxic sediment in the Anacostia ≈ 12 locations targeted for acres — would reduce the capping, dredging and monitoring. impact of contaminated sediment. That effort By Whitney Pipkin would require federal After eight years of investigating authority to reduce the what lies beneath the water’s surface, depth of the river’s main the District of Columbia now has a plan channel to make dredg- for treating and removing “hot spots” of ing and capping more toxic contamination from the Anacostia feasible. At the meeting, River. The effort is one of several under DOEE officials respond- way to make the river running through ing to questions from suburban Maryland and the nation’s recreational boaters about capital a safe place to swim and fish in how the depth would be coming years. impacted assured them The District’s “early action” plan that it would still be calls for a combination of capping, sufficient for the river’s dredging and monitoring contaminated current uses. sediment at nearly a dozen locations In Kingman Lake, along a highly urban and historically where the water is much industrial 9-mile stretch of the river. shallower and flows at a Decades of activity along the Ana- slower pace, the plan calls costia’s shores have left a suite of toxic for applying activated chemicals accumulating in the river carbon to about 6 acres bottom. Efforts to reduce the amount of contaminated sedi- of pollution entering the waterway — Signs warn anglers on the Anacostia River to limit their consumption of locally caught fish, especially ment. The process, called including a $2.7 billion project to curtail bottom-feeders from some portions of the river. Many residents eat what they catch anyway. The “enhanced monitored natu- the city’s sewage overflows — can only District hopes cleaning up the river sediment will make the fish safe to eat. (Dave Harp, 2013) ral recovery,” should reduce go so far if sediment continues to leach pollutants in the sediment pollutants into the water and to wildlife. work up into sections.” DC Appleseed representatives expressed while avoiding the need for removal. People are mainly exposed to these These priority areas contain the concern over some vague aspects of the “The way I look at it, the river is contaminants by wading or swim- highest concentration levels of poly- cleanup timeline and asked the agency naturally healing itself and has gotten ming in the river or fishing and eating chlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), now- to further explain its methodology for better since we started this process,” the contaminated fish tissue. It is currently banned chemicals once widely used determining cleanup standards. DOEE’s Jackson said. “The key is, how illegal to swim in District waters except as coolants or insulators in electrical “There’s so much modeling and so do we help it heal itself?” during special events. Anglers are equipment, that are now associated with many assumptions being made at differ- In the Washington Channel, the plan advised to limit their consumption of cancer and other health effects. Other ent steps. I need to sit down with the calls for capping contaminated sediment locally caught fish, especially bottom toxics of concern found in the sediment feasibility study longer,” said Trey She- in areas totaling 28 acres. The DOEE’s feeders from some portions of the river. include polycyclic aromatic hydrocar- rard, interim Anacostia Riverkeeper, at Murali said at the meeting that a cap But a 2013 report found that many bons (PAHs), dioxins and pesticides. a public meeting in January. placed decades ago in another part of the residents consume significant amounts Agencies involved in what will likely Sherard also sits on community river has weathered the elements well, of fish caught in the Anacostia. Fish, be a years-long cleanup effort will moni- groups that have been overseeing the adding that the department is confident aquatic insects and other wildlife are tor how water quality and fish health beginnings of land-based cleanups the cap design would “do its job.” also impacted by the chemicals in the respond to determine whether more at industrial sites along Anacostia’s The work will not take place all at river’s sediment, which can become action is needed. The plan predicts the shores. About a dozen such sites along once, leaving the majority of the water- resuspended in the water when the work in these hot spots will yield a 90% the river are the subject of their own way open at any time to regular access. bottom is stirred up. reduction in people’s risk of exposure to environmental cleanups based on The cleanup would begin in Kingman That’s why, in 2012, the District PCBs from eating contaminated fish. historical contamination of ground- Lake, where construction is more easily began investigating the possibility “The idea here is that if we clean water or river sediment. These include staged away from more populous areas. of removing, capping and otherwise up the most contaminated areas, the the Washington Gas Light Company’s When asked how the Anacostia’s treating the pollutants that are there. presumption is you’re reducing the former coal-gasification plant and the cleanup compares with similar efforts The information that underlies the overall risk,” said Dev Murali, remedial Washington Navy Yard, located on in other industrial or urban rivers — plan came from around 4,000 samples project manager with the District. either side of the 11th Street Bridge, a such as the Elizabeth River in Virginia looking for the presence of toxins in The work laid out in the plan, which is demolished Pepco plant on Benning or the Hudson River in New York — sediment, surface water and living subject to public comment, is estimated Road and federal sites like the Bureau Wells said his department has looked organisms taken between 2015 and to cost about $30 million. The District of Engraving and Printing. to those projects for inspiration. An 2018, said Richard Jackson, a senior is funding the first steps of the sediment Tommy Wells, director of the DOEE, ongoing cleanup effort in an 8-mile deputy director at the District Depart- cleanup and will seek to recover costs said at a meeting that the proposed plan stretch of New Jersey’s Passaic River, ment of Energy and Environment. from companies and federal agencies “does not trump” the actions going on for example, has a lot of parallels to the Based on those studies, the depart- that contributed to the pollution. at those other sites but is “intended to Anacostia, he said. ment’s proposed plan maps out 11 prior- Many of the advocacy groups that harmonize with those other efforts.” “We have used [those river cleanups] ity areas in the river’s main stem, as have been keeping close tabs on the The DOEE said it will issue by as best we can as models in trying to well as Kingman Lake and Washington cleanup effort had not yet waded through September an interim record of decision understand how to set standards,” Wells Channel, where sediments containing the plan enough to comment on its details. regarding how the work will proceed. said. “What should the standard be in an toxic contaminants will be removed, The DC Appleseed Center for Law The agency plans to hire contractors to urban setting? What’s the expectation of capped or treated with activated carbon. and Justice received a grant to comb begin the work sometime this year. speed in a cleanup? And then, each area “We have a large elephant,” Jackson through the District’s plan for remediat- The most intensive work would take has its own particular challenges.” explained at a public meeting in Janu- ing sediment and to provide comments place in the river’s main stem, where a Find documents related to the ary, “and the way you eat elephants is on behalf of several groups. In letters to combination of dredging and capping Anacostia River Sediment Project at one bite at a time. So we’ve broken this the DOEE during the comment period, in a half-dozen areas — totaling 44 anacostiasedimentproject.com/library. Bay Journal • March 2020 17 In-river pool idea floated to encourage swimming in Anacostia ≈ Protected section could help feasibility report is public to reclaim river and the story of Dennis adjacent shore for recreation Chestnut, a longtime By Whitney Pipkin river advocate who learned to swim in An idea to make the Anacostia the Anacostia while River swimmable — by putting a pool growing up in the in it — is far from dead in the water. District during an era But that doesn’t mean residents will be of segregated pools in diving in right away, either. the 1950s and ’60s. A 78-page feasibility study, com- The quality of life pleted by the consultant SmithGroup for residents who in 2018, demonstrated the in-river pool live near the river concept could be a fit for a number “is directly impacted of locations along the nearly 9-mile by the condition of stretch of the Anacostia in the District the natural environ- of Columbia, where government work- ment,” he said in the ers and river advocates first started report, and having huddling over the idea a few years ago. it accessible to all A protected swim area in the river people opens up new could be set off by floating docks or recreational oppor- enclosed with a lined bottom to protect tunities. swimmers from sediment and detritus. In a survey In Copenhagen, Zurich and Paris, conducted by the in-river pools have cropped up as District in 2019, 92% a way of reclaiming long-polluted of respondents said waterways for recreation. Typically, they would swim in a protected section of river is opened the Anacostia River if when the water quality is safe for This ‘bath’ in Copenhagen, Denmark, is an example of what a river pool in the Anacostia River might it were made safe and swimming. Adjacent amenities, such look like. (Merrill St. Leger, SmithGroup) accessible. as boardwalks or beach areas can be Concepts initially added. New York, Boston, Melbourne dards on some days. But at present, it “We’re getting there with water floated for an Anacostia pool include and London also have proposed is not legal to swim in District water- quality, so it’s time to start thinking surrounding a swimming area with in-river pools in recent years, some of ways except during special events. about the future and envisioning what floating docks, creating a boardwalk- which would use filtration methods to The city also has spent millions we want for it,” said Erin Garnaas- like border around a wading or swim- further clean the water. of dollars to curtail polluted sewage, Holmes, an ambassador for the ming area on the shore or building In the Anacostia, the main goal stormwater overflows and litter, all Anacostia Watershed Urban Waters a portable pool perimeter that could would be to access the river’s increas- toward a goal of making the Anacostia Partnership at the Clean Water Fund. pop up in different parts of the river. ingly improved water while protecting fully fishable and swimmable by 2032. Garnaas-Holmes worked on a A living shoreline that helps filter swimmers from the still-contaminated The Anacostia Watershed Society gave similar pool concept in Boston’s water in a pool along the shore is also sediment. Regular monitoring in the the river its first passing grade in 2018 Charles River as an urban designer and an option being considered for one of Anacostia shows that water quality and would like to see the waterway made planner until 2017. When he arrived the nine river locations detailed in the already meets safe swimming stan- swimmable a few years earlier, by 2025. in the District to join the now-defunct feasibility study. Anacostia Waterfront Trust, he kept Mikeska, who is active in the Dis- the concept in his back pocket. trict’s effort to clean up toxic sediment Gretchen Mikeska, Anacostia in the river, thinks there could be syn- coordinator for the District Depart- ergy between that cleanup effort and the ment of Energy and Environment, also pool concept. The cleanup will likely was interested in the idea, and the two involve dredging at several locations asked the SmithGroup, a consulting in the river, which is shallow in places, firm whose local branch has interests and the pool probably would, too. in the Anacostia waterfront, to donate a One of the strongest contenders feasibility study. After several months, for a location is near Kingman Lake, the firm found that, yes, such a pool is where a local events organization possible and could take several forms. could be interested in running with the For Garnaas-Holmes, having a pool concept. The feasibility report doesn’t in the Anacostia River — not next to specifically address the pool’s potential it or nearby — is as important as it is cost, which would vary based on scope symbolic. and location, but Garnaas-Holmes said “The idea is that we’ve invested a lot it could cost a few million dollars to in cleaning up our river and, because of make the project a reality. that, we get to jump in,” he said. “River “My goal is to bring this to frui- swimming is different than pool swim- tion,” Garnaas-Holmes said. The pool ming because it’s a natural waterbody, “is something I feel very attached to just like summer camp on a lake is and have carried with me, so I hope we different than swimming at a rec center.” can continue moving it forward one The designs of some river pools incorporate floating walkways, like this one in Being able to swim in the Anacostia way or another.” Copenhagen, Denmark. Others have beach areas or boardwalks as adjacent River is also an environmental justice See renderings and the feasibility amenities. (Merrill St. Leger, SmithGroup) issue, advocates say. Included in the study at AnacostiaRiverPool.com. 18 Bay Journal • March 2020 Small PA communities say no to stormwater mandate ≈ Municipalities say they are Some state soil conditions, landscape features and being asked to do more than legislators are estimates of annual rainfall. They do not is required – and well beyond cheering their include before-and-after sampling of water stance. quality from local streams and rivers. what they can afford to pay for Also, officials feel they are being By Ad Crable “I applaud them for that,” forced to underwrite a costly conserva- This is the way the 4,000 residents in said state Rep. tion initiative that will, in the end, not the small borough of Greencastle, PA, Dan Moul, who significantly help Pennsylvania meet its figure it: They occupy a mere 1.6 square derisively refers huge nutrient-reduction pollution com- miles. They have a state-of-the-art to MS4 as a mitments made under the Chesapeake sewage plant. There are no farms in the “rain tax. This is Bay cleanup agreement. town. Almost all of the housing develop- one of the most And many believe that Pennsylvania ments have rain-catching basins. A street flawed regula- is forcing municipalities to do more than sweeper cleanses streets frequently. tions that [PA is actually required under federal law. They say they are not sending a lot of Department of The MS4 initiative under the federal polluted stormwater into the lone small Environmental Clean Water Act has applied to cities in stream that runs through town, later Protection] has Bay drainage states since 1997 and to joining the Potomac River and, ulti- ever put forward. smaller municipalities since 2003. Any mately, the Chesapeake Bay. The stream, I have no desire municipality with an “urban area” with Moss Spring, trickles less than a mile to see communi- separate storm sewer systems has to through the town, and half of it moves ties piss their comply. underground through protected pipes. money away like Yet, as part of the Bay cleanup effort, that, and that’s A costly problem they have been ordered by the state to what they are When rain and snowmelt flow over cut 94,000 pounds of sediment from area doing.” asphalt, roofs, parking lots, roads and streams by 2023 to make up for the town’s “I thought other hard surfaces, it whisks trash, dirt, contribution to stormwater runoff. it was a very oil, pet waste, lawn fertilizer and other “Ninety-four thousand pounds,” reasonable pollutants into local waterways, degrad- scoffed Lorraine Hohl, Greencastle’s thing for those ing water quality and eroding banks. manager. “We would be sinking if it was municipalities In addition, runoff from farm fields that amount of sediment.” to do,” added and lawns carries nutrients, one of the Town officials estimate it would cost state Rep. Paul biggest problems affecting the Bay. nearly $2 million to accomplish the Schemel, whose Housing developments and suburbs reductions, and the municipal budget district includes have made stormwater a significant would soar by 90%. Greencastle source of pollution in some rivers and in Already, angry officials say, they are and Antrim the Chesapeake Bay. Stormwater is the spending more on stormwater controls Lorraine Hohl, manager for the borough of Greencastle, PA, Township. “It’s only source of Bay pollutants that is still than police and other public services. stands along Moss Spring, the town’s lone stream. Local officials appropriate for on the rise, according to the state-federal Churches, schools, the Little League, resi- are fighting a state stormwater program that requires them to municipalities Bay Program partnership. dents, seniors and people on fixed incomes reduce sediment pollution to the stream by 94,000 pounds. They who are forced Far from the days when stormwater — even a homeowner with a shed on the estimate it would cost nearly $2 million and cause the municipal to implement control meant shunting it to the nearest lawn — are facing significant stormwater budget to soar by 90%. (Ad Crable) this to hit the ditch, communities with systems that fees based on impervious surfaces. And pause button so manage stormwater and sewage sepa- most of that, they say, is going to engineer- Brad Graham, Antrim Township adminis- we can catch up and make sure we are rately must reduce the overall amount of ing consultants and attorneys. trator. The township must reduce sediment not doing more than is required.” stormwater runoff and improve its quality. The state and federal government’s by 245,000 pounds. It had requested a State Sen. Doug Mastriano said Each must manage stormwater in new stormwater requirements on nearly 1,000 waiver from the state, but it was denied. bluntly, “I tell them to resist. It’s a bunch developments, have public education municipalities in Pennsylvania are an Graham said the decision to stop work of baloney. Impervious surface is not about stormwater, detect and eliminate unfunded mandate that simply is not on the stormwater project wasn’t made included in the Clean Water Act. It was illicit discharges, control runoff from sustainable, they say. flippantly, and officials realize they could added in Harrisburg by bureaucrats. And construction sites and prevent runoff So, they’re not going to do it. be found in noncompliance. I say no, this is out of line.” from municipal operations. On Nov. 20, after their request to Added James Wheeler of the Pennsyl- But in 2018, after a settlement with meet with state officials to discuss a Seeking better solutions vania Association of Township Supervi- a state environmental group, and under more “common sense” approach fell on The requirements are part of a state per- sors, “We’re not encouraging resistance, pressure from the U.S. Environmental deaf ears, officials from Greencastle and mitting process that applies to some towns but it is happening. It may be what’s Protection Agency, Pennsylvania added surrounding Antrim Township pulled and cities that discharge stormwater runoff needed to bring attention to EPA that a Chesapeake Bay Pollution Reduction the plug on their work. into local streams and rivers. The MS4 they are being a little hard-headed. We Plan that, for the first time, required At a joint public meeting, officials permits — for municipal separate storm have to back off, and let’s come up with municipalities to reduce a specific agreed to suspend paying for engineering sewer systems — regulate the discharges another solution.” amount of sediment. and bidding work on a planned joint $2.3 and can set conditions that jurisdictions Outcries against one of the nation’s DEP said the new permits would million stormwater project until state envi- must meet to help protect water quality toughest stormwater regulations are not better clean up local streams and help the ronmental officials, as well as Gov. Tom from pollution. just over busted budgets. state gain ground in its large shortfall to Wolf, answer questions. They also urged “We’re not saying we’re not contribut- There is widespread suspicion about the reduce nutrients flowing into the Bay. the six other townships and boroughs in ing. We want to do the right things. We computer modeling that is used to estimate Municipalities now have to calculate Franklin County to join the mini revolt. just need to have a reality check and the amount of sediment and nutrient their sediment loads, then reduce dis- Greencastle suspended its collection make sure it’s done on a firm scientific pollution generated by different parts of the charges by 10% over five years. Popular of stormwater fees, and Antrim Township basis,” said Steve Miller, president of Bay watershed. In the case of stormwater measures include stream restorations delayed its planned fee collection. Greencastle Borough Council. “Right runoff from developed areas, the model “We don’t like to waste money,” said now, I see a plan based on hope.” uses satellite views of impervious surface, Mandate continues on page 19 Bay Journal • March 2020 19

Mandate from page 18 Brad Graham, administrator of that repair eroding banks and restore Antrim Township, floodplains as well as retrofits for old PA, looks over a flood control ponds to make the water stream that the infiltrate into the ground. township and But, even if achieved, those reduc- adjacent town of tions will only result in a 1% decrease Greencastle had in the state’s nitrogen goal, according to eyed for restoration the Pennsylvania State Association of as part of state Township Supervisors. requirements to “What I’m afraid of is we are spending reduce sediment pol- billions of dollars to treat a small part of the lution from storm- problem,” said state Sen. Gene Yaw, who water. The munici- is one of Pennsylvania’s representatives on palities dropped the the Chesapeake Bay Commission, a body project to protest of legislators from across the Bay region. the requirements DEP acknowledges that MS4 require- that officials say ments won’t resolve the state’s considerable are too expensive, nutrient runoff problem. But, said DEP unjustified and not spokeswoman Elizabeth Rementer, “The based on water principal reason for the MS4 program is to quality sampling. address local water quality improvements.” (Ad Crable) That means 962 communities in the Bay drainage area of Pennsylvania will Using computer models to estimate business he owns and an anticipated raised questions with DEP, said that he have to spend an estimated $74 million sediment loadings rather than sampling hike in school taxes. hopes the state will request an extension annually to reach the 10% reduction. The the water quality in local streams was “I feel like I’m being quadrupled- for implementing the tougher MS4 regula- supervisors association warned that it roundly attacked. bit,” lamented Brian Harbaugh, owner tions “and set a time to work out the kinks would bankrupt communities and shut “Impaired waters are not in our of Precision Manufacturing & Engi- and make these municipalities part of it.” down economic growth. DEP said the municipality,” said Sylvia House, zoning neering Co. “I have no problem with Asked about the widespread average cost per municipality is $683,585. officer for Antrim Township. “We are saving the Bay. But what determined criticism of the MS4 program, an EPA To date, 92 municipalities without using formulas and modeling software that a small borough like Greencastle spokesman said the agency has met urbanized areas have been granted waiv- programs to give us assumed data. We should be classified as a MS4 district? with local officials and legislators over ers to the regulations. Others, such as cannot show progress if we do not know “Drive the back roads and see where the last two years “to address their Antrim Township, have been denied. what our starting point is. We need to the sediment comes from,” added concerns and clear up misunderstand- know what the value and quality of the Harbaugh, referring to farmland. ings regarding stormwater fees. Frustration & concerns water is with real analytical testing so we Echoing the sentiment often expressed “EPA helped DEP develop a Frequently The two upstart Pennsylvania com- have a baseline to work with.” at the hearing, Harbaugh said, “I believe Asked Questions document to answer munities have been the squeaky wheel When an official from another county most townships and boroughs don’t have questions by the regulated community for a while. in Pennsylvania testified that they sampled the ability to decipher what is being and offered technical assistance as well In September, the state Senate Envi- a stream above and below a restoration site asked of them. No instructions are passed as support to DEP to train inspectors and ronmental Committee came to Antrim before beginning to document progress, to them from EPA or DEP on what to fix hold forums for the regulated community Township to hold a public hearing on Rep. Moul leaned into the microphone and and how to fix it. They just pass this man- to understand permit obligations,” said statewide MS4 complaints. The hearing said, “God, that makes common sense. date down along the line and leave it to spokesman Chad Nitsch. filled a church. Pass that on to the DEP guy in back. That’s municipalities. Please ease the financial Because MS4 is an unfunded man- Local business owners, residents, the way we should be doing it, to isolate the burden that you are creating.” date, municipalities have had little help in officials and legislators criticized the problem and attack the problem rather than Summed up Rep. Moul: “The common financing projects other than forcing fees program nearly nonstop for more than just spending money throughout the state.” denominators that I’ve heard today are: too on property owners. Just before Christ- three hours, pressing two DEP repre- DEP defends sediment load computer vague, too costly, no empirical data and mas, Congress approved $24 million to sentatives for answers and change. modeling, saying isolated stream samples calculations based on assumptions.” be spent on grants to communities for don’t give a clear “There needs to be some kind of final stormwater control and other programs in picture of a stream’s decision on how much, how fast,” said states in the Chesapeake Bay region. health over time. Wheeler supervisors association. “Our Some Pennsylvania municipalities Instead, approved guys are saying it’s too much, too fast.” have joined together to form regional models take into In response to the criticisms, DEP’s municipal authorities to reduce costs. And account the variability Ramez Ziadeh said the department was increasingly, adjoining municipalities in water quality and implementing a federal mandate from have undertaken joint stream restoration downstream bank EPA. He said DEP has fought for and projects in shared watersheds. DEP has erosion from flooding. gained more flexibility from EPA, such been encouraging both strategies. Instream monitoring as allowing larger MS4 projects and State legislators said they have asked is used to calibrate allowing them to be outside municipal DEP and EPA to shut down the implemen- computer modeling, boundaries. tation of MS4 permitting until relief can the agency said. But at another state committee hearing be found for financial and implementation A Greencastle on MS4 problems in December in Franklin burdens. business owner County, the barrage of criticism continued. But DEP says it won’t. “DEP continues talked about how an Mike Ross, president of the Franklin to listen to the concerns of legislators and Greencastle, PA, population 4,000, occupies just 1.6 square unexpected $18,000 County Area Development Corp., their municipalities, but there is no plan miles, has a state-of-the-art sewage plant, no farms in the stormwater fee warned legislators that the “extreme” to halt the requirements of the current town and rain-catching basins for almost all of its housing rocked the company, stormwater regulations “could cause permit,” said spokeswoman Rementer. developments. Residents say they are not sending a lot of not to mention the companies to relocate out of the area.” “Lessons learned from this permit term, polluted stormwater into the lone small stream that runs share levied on his Schemel, who has met with regional however, will inform the next permit, through town. (Ad Crable) home, another small EPA officials about the pushback and which begins in 2023.” 20 Bay Journal • March 2020 Thirst for protecting water supplies drives WV partnership ≈ Panhandle coalition using of being outside West Virginia’s vast coal easements to conserve prime country. Properties that have severed farm properties mineral rights are disqualified from receiving federal cost-share payments for By Jeremy Cox easements, making their acquisition far Jan. 9, 2014, was a watershed day in more difficult, Schiavone said. West Virginia history. What the Panhandle’s land trusts That’s when 10,000 gallons of and farmland protection boards lacked, chemicals used in processing coal spilled though, was coordination with each other from a storage tank into the Elk River, and the area’s water suppliers, Haid said. the drinking water source for 300,000 Fast forward to 2017, when the Rivers residents in a nine-county region, includ- Coalition first assembled a network of ing Charleston, the state’s capital and Eastern Panhandle community partners. largest city. The contamination forced the Dubbed the Safe Water Conservation temporary closure of schools, businesses Collaborative, the membership consists and the state’s highest court. of more than 20 entities, including five of Six years later, the spill and the uproar the area’s six water utilities. it caused have dissipated. But in a far In 2019, the initiative received $30,000 corner of the state that was spared from from the Land Trust Alliance and the incident’s effects, an environmental Chesapeake Bay Funders Network. The group is trying to make sure that what funding is aimed at helping the collabora- happened to the Elk River doesn’t repeat tive compile an inventory of properties itself elsewhere. whose preservation is most critical for The West Virginia Rivers Coalition Fog begins to lift on a West Virginia farm where suburban sprawl is prohibited protecting drinking water. They also is testing an approach that involves because its owners sold the development rights to the Berkeley County Farmland hope to develop a five-year action plan by protecting farms from converting to new Protection Board. (Michael Whalton) the time the grant expires in April. roads, subdivisions and industrial parks. The collaborative doesn’t have And, all of that work is taking place The law set a 2016 deadline for The region’s developed area grew enough money to buy conservation in the Eastern Panhandle, one of the utilities to update their plans. The West from 77 square miles to 133 square easements itself. For now, the members fastest-growing parts of the state and the Virginia Rivers Coalition, a group miles during that span, the report found. are measuring progress by the number of Chesapeake Bay region. formed by outdoors enthusiasts three Because the metro’s developed terri- conversations they have with landown- The group has brought together land decades ago, didn’t want the momentum tory expanded at a higher rate than its ers. But a possible early sign of success trusts, local governments and conserva- to stop there. population growth — 74% urban land is that Berkeley’s Farmland Protection tion groups to identify prime parcels for In 2017, the coalition began turning expansion versus 52% more people — Board has received 22 easement applica- conservation easements. A conservation the plans into action in select parts of the the result was urban sprawl. tions this year alone. Going back to its easement is a voluntary agreement state. Most of its efforts have centered ‘It’s not only that you see this rapid founding in 2001, the board had only attached to the deed of a property. The on Berkeley and Jefferson counties, development,” said Mark Schiavone, acquired 55 easements. easement limits certain kinds of activities which jut out from the state’s eastern executive director of the Berkeley Haid said he hopes that other entities or land use, with terms that vary depend- flank between Maryland to the north and County Farmland Protection Board. “It will use the land inventory developed ing on the landowner’s goals. In some Virginia to the south. just sprawls.” by the collaborative to guide their ease- cases, governments and other organiza- The westward march of the Baltimore The frequent earth-turning affects ment purchases. tions offer payments as an incentive for and Washington, DC, metro area has local water supplies, said Barbara The effort also includes contacting farm establishing an easement. transformed the Eastern Panhandle’s Humes, a Harpers Ferry councilwoman owners who have already sold easements The West Virginia transactions cornfields into hot real estate, Haid said. and representative on the local water about the best ways to maintain their prop- would allow farmers to voluntarily sell “That’s where we’re seeing the growth system’s advisory panel. Sediment erties for the protection of water sources. the development rights to their land and development happening,” he said. often clogs the machinery at the water Susan and Michael Whalton moved while retaining the property for grow- “That’s where our land use is changing treatment plant, creating a costly and from Key West, FL, to a sprawling farm ing crops, raising livestock and other the fastest from agriculture and forest time-consuming cleanup. along the Back Creek about 20 years agricultural uses. fields to roads, buildings, highways and “We find at the water utility [that] ago. They were looking for a rural para- Tanner Haid, the Rivers Coalition’s other impervious surfaces.” what happens upstream has a definite dise, and they found it, Susan Whalton local field coordinator, said he hopes that Since 2010, Berkeley County has impact on the downstream cleansing said. Not long after, they agreed to put preserving farmland will ward off pollu- experienced the fastest population growth at the water works,” Humes said. ”You their 147-acre property under a conser- tion emergencies like the 2014 incident and among the state’s 55 counties, rising 12% have to use more chemicals and man- vation easement. ensure that everyday stormwater runoff to more than 117,000 residents, according power to keep the pumps operating and “For us, it was a desire to protect is safe for municipal water supplies. to a Bay Journal analysis of U.S. Census running smoothly.” something we found so extraordinary,” “It shouldn’t solely be on water utili- Bureau data. Jefferson was the third- As Haid and his colleagues saw it, the she said. “We just couldn’t believe they ties to make sure our water resources are fastest growing, adding 6% to reach more Panhandle would be a good laboratory would offer you money to purchase clean and safe,” he said. than 56,000 residents. for enhanced land conservation because your easement and protect it forever. But that is largely the case. Within The Eastern Panhandle’s evolution it already had success in the field. In just For us, it was you can really have your weeks of the Elk River spill, state from a sleepy farming outpost to a less than 20 years, the state farmland cake and eat it, too.” lawmakers passed a law requiring bustling suburb is even more profound protection boards in the two counties But she soon learned that not all of her 125 public water systems that rely on when viewed at ground level. have spent $34 million to purchase more neighbors shared that sentiment. They surface waters — those most vulnerable Research conducted by the Caca- than 10,000 acres of easements from were uneasy about the government or to contamination — to overhaul their pon Institute, a West Virginia-based farmers. That adds up to about 7% of the anyone else having control of their land. source water protection plans. Among conservation group, estimates that the farmland in the two counties. Whalton decided to become a other things, the new plans had to three-state metro area that includes the It’s a start, conservationists say, but member of the collaborative’s education catalog potential contamination sources Panhandle saw its development spread much more land needs to be saved to workgroup to help protect her modern- and draft response protocols in the event at a faster rate than anywhere in the Bay benefit water resources. day Eden beyond her fence line. “We all of future spills. watershed from 2000–2010. The counties also have the advantage are united by a watershed,” she said. Bay Journal • March 2020 21 Earn your stripes doing this rockfish quiz! Striped bass or rockfish? Call ‘em what you want, this fish is Bay Buddies delish! Sink your teeth into this quiz. Answers are on page 33. Anadromous! 1. Once striped bass reach adult- hood, they are too large for most Striped bass live most of the year in the ocean, predators (humans are an exception) but migrate to freshwater to spawn. The word to prey on. Which of these prey on used to describe these fish is anadromous. Other juvenile striped bass? anadromous species found in the Chesapeake A. Bluefish region include the alewife, American shad and B. Dolphin Atlantic sturgeon. Can you match these fish with C. Larger rockfish their descriptions? Answers are on page 33. D. Osprey E. All of the above 1. This fish has been around for more than 120 million years – when dinosaurs roamed the Earth. 2. When can you find striped It can grow more than 14 feet long and weigh bass in the Bay? more than 800 pounds, making it the largest fish A. Fall & Winter native to the Chesapeake. One of the amazing B. Spring things about this fish is its ability to leap totally C. Summer out of the water. Early settlers regarded this fish D. Year-round a navigational hazard because they sometimes 3. The striped bass is the state landed on a boat, occasionally injuring or killing fish of one Bay State and the state a person in it. This fish may stick around in the saltwater fish of two others. Which river it was born in for as long as six years, not to states are which? return to spawn until it matures 15 years (female) A. Delaware or 20 years (male) later. When this happens, every B. Maryland three to five years, the female will lay approxi- C. New York mately 2 million eggs or more. D. Virginia 2. The species part of this fish’s scientific name 4. More Atlantic striped bass is sapidissima, which means “most delicious.” At spawn in the Chesapeake than least 8,000 years ago, the appearance of service- anywhere else. What percentage of berry flowers alerted Chesapeake’s native people the fish’s Atlantic population use the that this fish’s spring spawning run was near. This Bay as a nursery? led to another name for the serviceberry: shad- A. 50–70% bush. George Washington’s fishery operation on B. 65–85% the Potomac River captured more than 11,000 of C. 70–90% these species in 1772. In 1789, a new community D. 75–95% at Otsego Lake at Cooperstown, NY, was saved 5. As a rule, adult striped bass from near starvation when an early spawning run are 2–3 feet long and weigh 10–30 by this fish and/or its cousin, the river herring, pounds. The record for the Chesa- Striped Bass (Dave Harp) swam up 444 miles to their settlement at the peake was set in 1995 off Bloody B. 2 million river’s headwaters. Point in Maryland. How much did C. 2.5 million this fish weigh? D. 3 million 3. Theis thin fish with a chubby belly shares its A. 52.3 pounds name with a 15th-century plump tavernkeeper. B. 67.5 pounds 10. Striped bass eat all of the fish This fish is silvery with a grayish green back C. 84.7 pounds listed below. Which one is their except when it spawns. At that time, it can D. 106.9 pounds primary prey along the coast? become darker or lighter to blend in with the bed C. They have no eyelids and A. Atlantic menhaden of the river where it spawns. 6. Weight and length vary widely must avoid the sun’s glare. B. Eels among striped bass and are not D. They get sunburned in shal- C. Herring 4. The Chesapeake’s anadromous fish popula- reliable indicators of the fish’s age. low water or water near the surface. C. Mummichogs tions are near historic lows. This is due to: What is the best way to tell how old A. The construction of dams, which prevent the fish is? 8. Striped bass get their name 11. Striped bass often ambush from the dark stripes running along their prey. Why? them from reaching spawning habitat A. Count the stripes on its sides, B. Overfishing multiply by 3 its side. How many stripes do they A. They don’t swim very fast. have? B. They like being sneaky. C. Pollution B. Count the rings on its scales D. All of the above C. Count its teeth A. 6–7 C. Turbulence makes prey taste B. 7–8 better. D. Count the dorsal spines 5. Fish that live in freshwater but must return C. 8–9 D. Scientists aren’t sure. 7. Striped bass, as a rule, hunt to the ocean to spawn are catadromous. North D. 9–10 prey from dusk to dawn, but head 12. Which of these are a threat to America’s only catadromous species is found in for deeper waters during the day. 9. Female striped bass can spawn striped bass in the Bay? the Bay watershed. It is the… Why? more than once in a season. The A. Lack of habitat & prey A. American eel A. They have learned to avoid older the fish, the more eggs she B. Disease B. Cownose ray boat motors. lays. How many eggs can an older C. Hypoxia & pollution C. Oyster toadfish B. They follow their prey, which female lay? D. All of the above D. Yellow perch also seek deeper water in the day. A. 1.5 million — Kathleen A. Gaskell — Kathleen A. Gaskell 22 Bay Journal • March 2020

Wetlands from page 1 we can achieve.” Spencer Rowe, a wetlands wetlands and streams. consultant based near Ocean City, “Not all waters end at state borders,” MD, said backers of the Obama said Roger Adams, a top wetlands official era rule were asking too much with the Pennsylvania Department of of the Clean Water Act and its Environmental Protection. The federal underlying constitutional author- regulation had served as a “common ity. As the WOTUS definition denominator” that standardized the level kept expanding over the years, it of protection for interstate waters, he said. became harder to legally justify Now, he added, “There could be more protection of those newly added disparity between us and our neighbors.” types of waters, he said. Under the change, protections remain “It needs to be based on a clear- in place for the Chesapeake Bay, the eyed view of what’s going on” to permanent streams that feed into it and avoid further litigation, Rowe said, the wetlands bordering those waters. But echoing one of the EPA’s arguments it strips away protections for wetlands for the change. visibly cut off from navigable waterways, Abigail Jones, a lawyer with the as well as “ephemeral” streams, which environmental group PennFuture, are dry most of the time and only get their said she and many others who sup- water from rainfall or snowmelt. ported the Obama administration’s The rulemaking reversed an Obama rule believe that the Trump adminis- era rule that clearly included those water tration has not clarified anything. bodies under federal authority. “They have not created a bright The federal government’s retrench- line rule on what is or what is not a ment comes as the Chesapeake Bay’s water of the United States,” Jones cleanup struggles to reach its 2025 said. “A farmer cannot look [at his cleanup goals and wetland restoration land] and know if that water running targets. Wetlands play a critical role in Spencer Rowe, a wetlands consultant based near Ocean City, MD, says the rule change through his back field is ephemeral filtering nutrients, which have triggered gives states the opportunity to enact stronger controls on their own. (Jeremy Cox) or intermittent. You’re still going to oxygen-starved “dead zones” for decades. need to pay attorneys and experts According to various estimates, the land area in a typical watershed. They administration rule would significantly whether you’re a farmer or a big developer region has lost half of its wetlands since also supply water to one-third of the U.S. narrow the scope of federal oversight. or someone just looking at their backyard.” colonial times. The state-federal Bay population, according to 2009 informa- A 2017 presentation by the EPA and Program has sought to increase wetland tion from the EPA. Army Corps of Engineers, the two federal Watershed protections lifted acreage to both help clean the Bay and Perhaps because it doesn’t regularly carry agencies that regulate waterways, sug- There is no reliable inventory of the provide crucial habitat for species that water, the dry streambed Moyer walked gested that 18% of streams and just more kinds of streams and wetlands that would depend on them. Since 2010, though, down doesn’t appear on Google Maps. than half of the nation’s wetlands would be dropped from federal protection, the program has only created or restored Still, he said, “we know they’re here.” lose protection under the new rule. EPA experts say. about 9,000 acres of wetlands, far short of So do browsing deer, which have left hoof leaders later walked back those estimates, The authoritative U.S. Geological its goal of 85,000 new acres by 2025. prints in the sandy bed. saying that no accurate surveys exist that Survey National Hydrography Dataset “That number holds only assuming we Biologists, ecologists and many other would quantify the scope. maps only 5.8 miles of ephemeral streams don’t lose a whole bunch of wetlands,” said scientists warn that if those ephemeral It’s unclear how many streams and in the Bay watershed, said Kurt Fesen- Amy Jacobs, formerly the lead scientist of streams and remote wetlands in the Bay acres of wetlands would lose federal myer, a scientist at Trout Unlimited. Delaware’s wetlands assessment program. watershed are damaged or destroyed, protection in the Chesapeake Bay’s But the conservation group did its own “Now that we’re at risk of losing wetlands, waters downstream will suffer. 64,000-square-mile watershed. “back-of-the-envelope” estimate, finding it will only make our job harder.” “Generally, these waters are located Under the new interpretation, “the 111,000 miles of ephemeral streams in the in upland, headwater areas,” said Marla key is [the waterways] contribute surface watershed. The group estimates that 47% Feds, deer disagree on definition Stelk, executive director of Association water to a jurisdictional water during a of them would lose protection under the It doesn’t look like much, but the of State Wetland Managers. “So, those typical year,” the EPA’s Mindy Eisenberg new rule. shallow grassy swale skirting Terraset resources are critical for the benefits told listeners during a Feb. 13 webinar. The proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline, Elementary School in suburban Reston, they provide in terms of water filtration The agency’s own scientific advisory for example, would cross 23 tributaries VA, marks one of the headwaters of and pulling out nutrients like nitrogen panel declared that the new definition to the headwaters of Back Creek, a wild Snakeden Branch, which empties into a and phosphorus before they reach the “neglects established science.” Limiting brook trout stream in the Blue Ridge tributary of the Potomac River. downstream drinking water systems.” protection to only certain surface waters Mountains of Virginia. Five ephemeral The furrow in the ground gradually ignores recent research showing how streams would be left without federal deepens as it wends its way downhill Legal questions even remote wetlands and occasionally wet protection, the group says, although they through a patch of woods. Though it is The Trump rule is expected to unleash streams are connected to other water bodies deliver water downstream into Back clear that it has carried water at some a flurry of lawsuits once it’s published in through ground seepage, the panel said. Creek after rainstorms. point, judging from the sand and debris the Federal Register later this year. At the Farming interests and industry groups in the channel, it’s bone-dry in late heart of the legal issue is how to define applauded the administration’s move. States step into the void February. This is what scientists call an “Waters of the United States,” the term “As a whole, the agricultural industry With the federal government pulling “ephemeral” stream. employed by 1972’s Clean Water Act to was asking for some clarity,” said Jamie back from regulating certain wetlands “Every stream has these,’’ said Steve describe all water bodies falling under Tiralla, a member of the Maryland Farm and streams, their protection falls to the Moyer, a nearby resident and vice president federal oversight. Bureau’s board and a livestock farmer in states. of government relations for Trout Unlim- In response to a series of conflicting Calvert County. “The new rule does make Overall, officials in Virginia, Mary- ited, the conservation-minded anglers’ court rulings, the Obama administration it clearer for us.” land and Pennsylvania say they have group. “They’re really not that remarkable. sought to clarify the WOTUS definition. Its States are better at regulating at the laws and regulatory programs that will But collectively, they do a lot of good.” rule, finalized in 2015, outraged farmers, local level, and Maryland’s wetlands still protect their states’ waterways and Nearly 80% of a river is typically home builders and energy companies program is proof of that, she said, adding wetlands. But in Delaware, West Virginia made up of headwaters. Such off-and-on who contended it overly expanded the that “this is an opportunity for other states waterways drain more than 70% of the reach of the federal government. The new to step up and look to Maryland at what Wetlands continues on page 21 Bay Journal • March 2020 23

Wetlands from page 20 An aerial Over 20 years, that pollution could shows one of cost Maryland $1 billion to treat, said and New York, regulations range from the largest Ben Grumbles, Maryland’s environment less stringent to nonexistent. Delmarva secretary. Not to be overlooked: Wetlands on fed- bays, a Maryland officials also project that up eral lands, which account for 7.8% of the unique to 36% of the Delaware wetlands that help Bay’s watershed, could lose protection in feature to the reduce flooding and nutrient pollution in states that don’t have permitting authority peninsula the Nanticoke River, which winds from over such properties, land use experts say. that stands to Delaware through Maryland into the Bay, Here’s a look at how each Bay-region lose federal would be left unprotected. state is affected: protection The change also will pose “logistical because challenges” and impose costs for the state Delaware it lacks a because the state now reviews wetland and Delaware is the only state in the mid- surface con- waterway permit applications jointly with Atlantic without its own law to protect nection to a the Corps of Engineers, Grumbles added. freshwater wetlands, so those losing “navigable” federal oversight will be vulnerable to waterway. West Virginia damage or loss. (Dave Harp) A 2013 study by the Environmental Shawn Garvin, secretary of the Dela- Law Institute found that West Virginia ware Department of Natural Resources law contains a broad definition of “waters and Environmental Control, said his of the state,” so that regulators there can agency is considering reviving efforts require permits or approvals on a case-by- to implement a state-level freshwater case basis for disturbance or the discharge permitting program. of pollutants. “We’re considering if that’s an effort But Jim McElfish, senior attorney with we need to take another look at,” Garvin the institute, said that West Virginia has said. “We often describe wetlands as not been routinely requiring state permits nature’s kidneys. It’s how Mother Nature for activities affecting those wetlands addresses water quality.” and headwater streams that now may fall Marla Stelk, with the Association of outside the new federal rule. State Wetland Managers, warned that “There is the need for the state to say, Delaware is in danger of losing up to ‘Yes, this time we’ll require an application 20,000 acres of headwater protection and a permit from someone because we under the new rule. think it may affect our waters,’ and then “The state is going to have to pick up to do so,” McElfish said. the slack there,” she said. “There’s the Terry Fletcher, acting communications potential those areas could be developed director for the West Virginia Department until Delaware steps up and gets its of Environmental Protection, said that programs in place.” the agency “will develop a path forward” Delaware is part of the Delmarva once the final rule is published in the Peninsula, which is home to a unique Federal Register. water feature known as a Delmarva bay. There are nearly 5,000 of these inland New York shallow depressions scattered across the New York only protects streams that tri-state region, and many stand to lose are used for drinking water or designated federal protection because they are fed by Steve Moyer visits the ephemeral headwaters of Snakeden Branch near his home clean enough for swimming. It regulates rainwater alone. in Reston, VA. (Dave Harp) the disturbance of wetlands, but only Amy Jacobs, the former Delaware those that are at least 12.4 acres in size state biologist, tromped into the sodden reviewing permit applications. So, practi- will not be evident here in Virginia,” — and only if they have been officially center of one of the largest Delmarva bays cally speaking, there shouldn’t be any said Dave Davis, Virginia Department mapped. recently. The 10-acre property is owned hiccups in the protection of waterways of Environmental Quality’s wetlands Legislation moving through New by her employer, The Nature Conser- in Pennsylvania, said Andy Klinger, program director. York’s legislature would expand the vancy’s Maryland/DC chapter, but she chief of the Pennsylvania Department Some environmentalists, though, stream protection to cover those waters said it represents what could be lost under of Environmental Protection’s wetlands worry whether the state will have the staff that support fisheries or are clean the new rule: the chirp of chorus frogs, encroachment and training division. and resources to provide same level of enough for boating or wading. That the deer footprints, the waving stalks of But federal regulation has also served as protection. measure recently passed the State yellow-eyed grass and maidencane. a backstop against states like Pennsylvania Assembly. It still needs the approval of “I find it hard to believe there are any weakening their own laws and regulations, Maryland the Senate, but passage is considered truly isolated wetlands,” Jacobs said. said Jones, the PennFuture attorney. Maryland officials say they have likely, said Maureen Cunningham, “Our water systems between the surface “We’ve seen bills recently that are laws and programs to protect the waters clean water director with Environmen- water and the shallow groundwater are trying to limit DEP’s authority to review dropped from federal oversight. tal Advocates of New York. intimately connected.” permits, to hamstring them,” Jones said. A Maryland Department of the Bills have also been introduced in the Environment analysis, though, contends state legislature that would greatly expand Pennsylvania Virginia it could lead to more nutrient pollution protection to all wetlands of at least one Pennsylvania’s Clean Streams Law Virginia’s nontidal wetlands law, flowing into the Bay from the Susque- acre. But lawmakers have yet to act on covers all surface waters, even those enacted in 2000, gives the state authority hanna River from upstream states just those, Cunningham said. that appear to be cut off from navigable to regulate wetlands that lack a surface by the change in defining what wetlands In the meantime, Gov. Andrew Cuomo waterways. It also protects groundwater, connection to navigable waterways. And would be federally protected. The report has proposed regulating all wetlands which the federal government didn’t do, ephemeral streams are covered as long as estimated it would yield an additional larger than 12.4 acres, not just those even before the new rule. they flow often enough to create a high- 2.3 million pounds of nitrogen per year identified on outdated maps. That alone State and federal regulators regularly water mark along their banks. and up to an additional 57,000 pounds of would protect an additional 1 million share information and cooperate in “The rollbacks of the federal position phosphorus per year. acres, according to the governor’s office. 24 Bay Journal l Tr avel l March 2020

Virginia riverside trails a rhapsody of bluebells recent. Here and there, I saw patches of blue flowers, but as the trail approached Bull Run, the clumps thickened into the blue fairyland I’d been expecting. The water level in the river was low, weaving its way between coarse sandbars with small chutes rippling over coarse gravel. Signs along the path urge visitors to stay on the trail but, like the river, the paths are braided, as though visitors might have wandered absently, intoxicated by the blue. But in truth, the repeated river flooding makes the task of designating and maintaining just one path nearly impossible. Those winter and spring floods leave behind the layers of moist, rich silt that help the bluebells thrive. I knelt for a close look at the inch-long, trumpet- shaped flowers, hanging in clusters from 1– to 2-foot stems that rise from small, oblong leaves. The blue flowers first emerge as pink buds, whose petals unfold and fuse into trumpet-shaped blooms that resemble little bells. From a distance, the flowers appear sky-blue, but they actually range from pink to purple to indigo, darkening as they mature, and returning to pink once pollinated. The most common color of the mature flower, though, is blue. Park manager Schuster said, “Part of the fun, for me, is to see how many different colors I can find.” Bumblebees, honeybees and butterflies feast on blue- bells’ fragrant blossoms, and the plant — whose stamen and pistil are spaced too far apart for self-fertilization— Virginia bluebells bloom along the relies on these pollinating insects. Most common are the Stone Bridge at Manassas Battlefield At Bull Run Regional Park in Northern butterflies and butterfly moths that perch on the edges Park in Northern Virginia. of the flowers while dipping deep into the funnel-shaped (Brian Gorsira / National Park Virginia, the staff starts fielding questions in centers. Service) Bluebells, members of the borage plant family, propa- February. “When will the bluebells peak?” gate by small seeds that fall to the ground before the plant “What if I come next Thursday morning?” goes dormant in late May. Seed-spreading ants help with the final cultivation — but bluebells also spread via thick It’s impossible to predict that far out, said park manager rhizomes that trap stream sediments. Megan Schuster. But it’s safe to say that sometime in the The trail here forms a 2-mile loop. Here and there, the last week of March or the first two weeks of April, millions acres of blue flowers are interrupted by patches of other By Leslie Middleton of bluebells (Mertensia virginica) will be coming into full spring ephemerals — the cheerful yellow-blossoming bloom at the park and paint the floodplains of its streams trout lily and the white pendulous flowers of Dutchman’s a luminescent blue. breeches. While the bluebells’ deep purple leaves are pushing up I also spotted a mother and her son sitting on the through the warming soil, Schuster and her staff prepare, stream bank in a dense stand of bluebells. I passed another posting updates on the park’s FaceBook page and on signs directing visitors through the Bluebell Trail loop along Bull Run. When the bluebells peak, the people will come. And on a lovely April morning, so did I. I headed toward the creek on a wooden boardwalk that weaves through the moist and messy wetlands, searching for the blanket of blue. The bright spring light illuminated the furrows of ash and willow. The understory was a palette of pale pink dog- wood flowers and tiny green maple leaves. While the foliage had just begun to emerge, the delicate white blush of spring beauties (Clayton virginica) brightened the dark winter duff and tangle of brown leaves on the forest floor. Their blooms are among the earliest — and longest lasting — of the spring ephemer- als. These native flowering plants race to grow, flower and reproduce before the sunlight is dappled, then shaded, by forest canopy. Mature Virginia bluebells are usually blue, but the color of The boardwalk gives way to a wide, hard-packed trail of the flowers ranges from pink to purple to indigo, darkening river silt, where I traveled the path through the tangle of as they mature, and returning to pink once pollinated. tree limbs left akimbo by floodwaters, long past and more (Leslie Middleton) 25 Bay Journal l Tr avel l March 2020

field. ful, quiet moments along a trail that “We come mainly for the blue- is never very crowded. “I’m in no bells,” Jeanette said. “And it’s just so rush to go anywhere, I’m just capti- peaceful here.” vated by the quiet and the sound of Indeed, the former battlegrounds the wind and the river.” are peaceful and, at this time of year, The leaves of Virginia bluebells reliably blue. The path winds upriver, turn yellow soon after the flowers bluebell clumps snugged next to tree have finished blooming and are gone carcasses stranded from another by late June, so you’ll need some year’s flood. Budding spicebush and advance planning and flexibility to redbud trees race the flowering dog- witness the showy peak of these wood to bloom. Across Bull Run, the springtime blossoms. floodplain is a phosphorescent sea of Though the loss of wildlife species bluebells. Canadian geese honk their and their habitat can overtake one’s way upstream before settling in the sense of optimism for our natu- shallows, as hikers slowly make their ral world, visiting an extravagant way upriver, heads pivoting up and expanse of bluebells offers a perfect down for close-ups of the flowers and antidote. wide views of the masses. Forty-five minutes by car to the Resources northeast, David Garcia, natural- ist for the Northern Virginia Park Bull Run Regional Park: The spring peak of bluebells draws many visitors to Bull Run Regional Park l System, climbs the ridge at Ball’s facebook.com/ and the nearby Manassas National Battlefield. (Leslie Middleton) Bluff Battlefield Regional Park. Stalk- ing bluebells, he says, is “not always BullRunRegionalPark hiker, who nodded and murmured, snake, just inches from his hand, that about hiking and covering a lot of l Bull Run-Occoquan Trail: “Pretty amazing.” The beauty of the he didn’t see while taking the photo. ground,” though plenty of folks along novaparks.com/parks/ cloudless morning had merged with Just upstream from Bull Run Re- this section of the Potomac Heritage bull-run-occoquan-trail the acres of blue flowers and the gional Park, the Manassas National Trail may do just that, unaware of the timeless sense of spring. Battlefield Park offers easy access magic unfolding at river’s edge. l Trail map at Manassas The Bull Run–Occoquan Trail fol- to more floodplain trails — and On the ridge overlooking National Battlefield: lows Bull Run and the Occoquan Res- bluebells. Some come to the park, Hutchinson Island, a sliver of land nps.gov/mana/ ervoir downstream to Fountainhead just off Virginia Route 29, to recol- that slices the Potomac in two, Regional Park, and bluebells can be lect the first major battle of the Civil Garcia comes for a whole different planyourvisit/maps.htm found all along this trail as it weaves War in July 1861, when Confederate perspective. From his perch above l Ball’s Bluff Battlefield through neighborhoods and smaller soldiers sent Union forces in chaotic the floodplains, he sees the bluebells Regional Park: novaparks. stream corridor parks that enjoy wide retreat toward nearby Washington, below, but he’s also at eye level with com/parks/balls-bluff- local use, local protection and habitat DC, dashing Northern hopes for a the treetops and the raptors soar- restoration efforts. Many of these trail quick victory over the South. Here, ing the updrafts from the river. This battlefield-regional-park sections are part of the Virginia Bird- too, northern and southern forces lends itself, he says, to some wonder- ing and Wildlife Trail system. met a second Keith Freeborn, an amateur pho- time in 1862. A tographer, lives between the Bull Run temporary bridge tributaries of Cub Run and Big Rocky over Bull Run- Run in Centerville, VA. As a member was destroyed by of the Cub Run Stream Valley Vol- Union forces once unteer Team, he’s on the trail system again in retreat. multiple times a week, documenting Today, the replica the domestic lives of resident barred stone arch over and great horned owls and captur- Bull Run leads ing on film river otters, snakes and to a boardwalk multiple bird species. through the The volunteer team’s FaceBook floodplain full of page is flush with Freeborn photos, flowering blue- which burst with activity in the early bells in season. spring. Palm warblers, chipping spar- Bill and Jea- rows and other early spring migrants nette Linkons show up just as the bluebells are start- have a clump of ing to flower. bluebells in their As the days become longer, wildlife garden in Spring- activity changes. Goldfinches’ drab field, VA. “They winter plumage brightens and turtles usually bloom emerge, basking photogenically above a bit before the the water on sun-drenched logs. ones here at Bull “But when the bluebells start to Run,” Jeanette peak, that becomes my priority for said, which is about a week, and that’s what I focus their clue that on,” Freeborn said. After one outing, it’s time for their he went home to inspect his shots yearly ritual of Virginia bluebells thrive in the floodplain of Bull Run, a tributary of the Occoquan River in and saw in one of his images a water visiting the battle- Northern Virginia that flows into the Potomac River. (Leslie Middleton) 26 Bay Journal • March 2020 Your gifts allow us to scratch below the surface on Bay issues Elizabeth Barber Clark John Beach There’s no greater Saint Mary’s City, MD Chesapeake Beach, MD sign of the Bay Journal’s Judy & Dave Mauriello In memory success than the compli- Severna Park, MD of Edwin B. Hoeck, Jr. ments and donations from Anne Belanger received from readers Sponsor Ottawa, ON like you. Your gifts to Vincent Daly Bruce & Mary Josie Blanchard the Bay Journal Fund Baltimore, MD Washington, DC continue to make our John A. Hugya, USMC (retired) Kevin Boyd Natural- work possible, from cov- Hollsopple, PA Perryville, MD ist Nick Joan W. Jenkins Foundation Nola Clark & Tim Brady Carter erage of the Bay restora- Brookeville, MD tion and the health of its Ocean City, MD points out Martha Lawrenz Bill Cole some of rivers, to the impacts of Denver, CO Fredericksburg, VA climate change, toxics, the insects David Levy Paul T. Collins III growth and invasive Alexandria, VA Norfolk, VA that live in species on the region’s Susan Macfarlane Joan M. Comanor a rotting ecosystem. Our staff Baltimore, MD Woodstock, VA log to Finn works every day to bring Kurt Schwarz Helen Connon Falk, 8, you the best reporting on Ellicott City, MD Chesapeake City, MD center and environmental issues in Gregory & Patricia Sonberg Betty Cooke his 4-year- the Bay region. We are Crownsville, MD Baltimore, MD old cousin grateful for your dona- Jeffrey Wright Clay Coupland Cullen Norfolk, VA tions. Please continue to Oak Hill, VA Bailine, Patricia Young Tina & Harry Critzer support our success! Fredericksburg, VA during New Oxford, PA a hike Mrs. Paul Crowl on Wye Advocate Supporter Street, MD Robert B. Asher Douglas Herman Bruce Cumming Island, MD. Gwynedd Valley, PA Chambersburg, PA Bainbridge, NY (Dave Mary Christman Robert Cantilli James W. 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ontinued from 26 Hayden W. Mathews Michael & Carolyn Quinlan C Winchester, VA Bowie, MD Nancy Heiser Susi Mattheisen William & Joy Rains New Freedom, PA Falls Church, VA Bethesda, MD In memory Joan C. Matthews David Read of Edwin B. Hoeck, Jr. Bryans Road, MD Plumas Lake, CA from Dale & Carol Henderson Heathsville, VA Karen Mayne Dennis Rice Norfolk, VA Salisbury, MD Jerry Henger Lloyd Mcallister William Richkus Baltimore, MD Salisbury, MD Saint Petersburg, FL Bill Herrmann Katherine McAloon Theodore Ringer, Jr. Potomac, MD Alexandria, VA & Rebecca A. Ripley Joe Hickman Bernd McConnell Columbia, MD Chestertown, MD Colorado Springs, CO James B. Robertson Phyllis K. Hering & Stephen & Mary Angela McDaniel Chocowinity, NC Oscar J. Hickox, Jr. Manchester, MD J. C. Rodgers Kinsale, VA Douglas McElrath Piney Point, MD Carl Hobbs Riverdale, MD Vincent J. Rose Gloucester, VA Patrick & Mary Ellen McGrath Oley, PA Dee Hockman Churchton, MD Michael Runge Strasburg, VA Milton & Sandra Menchey Catonsville, MD Eileen Hofmann York, PA Sheila Russian Norfolk, VA An osprey Stevenson, MD returns to Wayne & Delores Mills Richard Holden & Susan Nash Hutchinson Island, FL In memory Saint Mary’s City, MD its nest on Al Minutolo of John P. “Jack” Donnelly Tom Horton Raccoon Crozet, VA From James & Christine Ryan Salisbury, MD Nottingham, PA Island in Marc Mitchell Walker Howlett Mary- Frederick, MD In memory Montross, VA of Edwin B. Hoeck, Jr. land’s Michael W. Moscatello From Jean Ryan Sam Hribal Choptank Georgetown, TX Heathsville, VA Virginia Beach, VA River. Muddy Run Recreational Park Mr. & Mrs. Edward Sabin Col. John A. Hugya, Ospreys Holtwood, PA Pasadena, MD USMC (retired) Hollsopple, PA generally George Murray Robert Saner II Wilson, NC Chestertown, MD Alexandra Ives return Macy Nelson Larry Sanford Annapolis, MD from their Baltimore, MD southern Easton, MD Bill Jenkins Waldo Nelson Royal Oak, MD Greg Santaniello wintering Waldorf, MD Conestoga, PA Grason Jones grounds Robbin M. Nighswander Crosswicks, NJ Shannon Barrett to the Grasonville, MD & Donald Sargent Richard Jones Chesa- Gertrude O’Leary Owego, NY Baltimore, MD peake Bay Ambler, PA Tom Savage Scott Jordan region in Jack O’Meara Hampton, VA Gaithersburg, MD March. Arlington, WA Joan S. Schmidt John Joyce Meg Olmert Bowie, MD Annapolis, MD (Dave Harp) Wittman, MD Marietta M. Schreiber Sukon Kanchanaraksa John Pancake Annapolis, MD Baltimore, MD Rockbridge Baths, VA Patricia Krebs David Lenker Lexine Lowe & Fred Pomeroy Walter Scott Dr. Patrick Kangas Palmyra, PA Camp Hill, PA Cambridge, MD Pennsylvania Yacht Club Richmond, VA College Park, MD Bensalem, PA Seafood Stop Kriemelmeyer Family Trust Earl & Vicki Letts E. Polk Kellam, Jr. Trust Debi & Bryan MacKay Fallston, MD Waldorf, MD North East, MD Catonsville, MD Oliver W. Perry Franktown, VA Chambersburg, PA David Secor Dr. Gordon & Janet Kellett Steve & Sue Kullen Dr. Lloyd Lewis Mary & Taylor Magnus Solomons, MD Port Republic, MD Edgewater, MD Baltimore, MD Jeff & Ida Peterson Richmond, VA Falls Church, VA Patrick Shea Jerry Kickenson Betsy Lafferty Karin E. Limburg Magothy River Association Potapskut Sailing Association Fairfax, VA Baltimore, MD Syracuse, NY Severna Park, MD Silver Spring, MD Pasadena, MD O. Shreaves Van Kirstein John D. Lahr Todd Lipcsey Jan & Rich Mallardin Potomac Vegetable Farms West Point, VA Leesburg, VA Pequea, PA Manassas, VA Monrovia, MD Vienna, VA Smalley Family Mary Kline Doug Land Michael Logothetis Keith & Sharon Malley David Power Hilton, NY Indianola, WA Alexandria, VA Newark, DE Arlington, VA Timonium, MD Ivor Knight Joseph & Jane Lawrence Lauren & Jordan Loran Bradley L. Martin Don & Debbie Pusey Hagerstown, MD Hanover, PA Idlewylde, MD Manchester, MD Centreville, MD Continued on page 28 Thank You To These Philanthropic Donors The Curtis and Edith Munson Foundation 28 Bay Journal • March 2020

Continued from 27 Annie Sanders Janet & Harold Butler Wellsboro, PA North East, MD Susan Schaefer Jim Carroll Jerry Smrchek Keedysville, MD Easton, MD Longs, SC Ted Scharf Tom & Vickie Carter Bob Smythe Bradshaw, MD Newark, DE Chevy Chase, MD R. Schoone Chesapeake Wildlife Heritage Mr.& Mrs. Robert P. Solem Easton, PA Chester, MD Laurel, MD Eric Smith James English Tanya Spano Red Lion, PA Blue Bell, PA Rockville, MD Bob Sowers Theodore Feitshans Stuart & Bonnie Stainman Beltsville, MD Raleigh, NC Baltimore, MD Charles Stamm Judith Floam Camille Steenrod Lexington Park, MD Baltimore, MD Laurel, MD Joseph Stein III Rachel Fried Evelyn & Clifford Stein Marriottsville, MD Port Republic, MD Annapolis, MD Wayne Thompson Ernest Glinka John D. Stewart Huntingtown, MD Essex, MD Norfolk, VA Steve Turnage Janet Griffith Mr.& Mrs. Jonathan E. Stine Hague, VA Chapel Hill, NC Radnor, PA Richard Urban Jack Hardy Dr. Richard Szarko Signal Mountain, TN Essex, MD Manheim, PA James W. Voshell Elizabeth & J. James Heim Charlie Taylor Parkton, MD Catonsville, MD Herndon, VA Andrea Walter Mark & Sara Hollberg Sally Thomas Hollidaysburg, PA Staunton, VA Charlottesville, VA Elizabeth Waring Leo F. Howard Stephen Tillinghast Virginia Beach, VA Linthicum, MD Bel Air, MD Alan Bull & Rebecca Wolf Frank Jennings G. Tornell Odenton, MD Saint Leonard, MD Port Republic, MD Bill Milway Verne M. Keefer Leonard & Connie Tritt Bel Air, MD Virginia Beach, VA Carlisle, PA Jean Fourcroy-Behr Michael H. Leakan Bethesda, MD Tom Tydings & Armin Behr Parkville, MD Bethesda, MD Doug Marshall Damascus, MD Laura Van Scoyoc Rick Berquist Woodstock, MD Williamsburg, VA Bernie McGurl Scranton, PA Paul & Rachel Vanden Bout John Boddie Susan, VA Onancock, VA Jim McMahon Burtonsville, MD Gary Vaughan G. Bunn Baltimore, MD Montross, VA Jessica Millstead Bowie, MD Ernest Watkins Ronie Cassilly Mifflinburg, PA Darlington, MD Fred Neighoff Ellicott City, MD Gary & Jessica Weber Guy Chalk Centreville, MD Annapolis, MD Helen Nogar Seabrook, MD Anne Weinberg Charlie & Margie Dubay Atlanta, GA Newport News, VA Richard Ochs Baltimore, MD Bill Whitman Donald & Roberta Gallagher West River, MD Lititz, PA Wallace Owings Ginger Gathings Eldersburg, MD Gerry Willse The water is on the wrong side of this canoe left upright at the James River Associa- LeMaine Payne Towson, MD Glen Burnie, MD tion’s Turkey Island Creek landing in Virginia. (Dave Harp) Susan Strasser Chesapeake Beach, MD Mark & Linda Wilson & Robert Guldin Thomas H. Pheiffer Cambridge, MD Charles Bright Arthur G. Geigley John I. Kraus Takoma Park, MD Annapolis, MD Catherine Wintermyer Leonardtown, MD Mount Joy, PA Arnold, MD Dorothy Hall Bill Ritter Cheverly, MD Dr. Kevin Brittingham Alan Grubb Gary Lentz Aberdeen, MD Millersville, MD M. Wisniewski Woodstock, MD Baltimore, MD White Marsh, MD Winona Hocutt John King Scott Conowingo, MD Eldred Cherrix James Hall Lycoming County Salisbury, MD Cabin John, MD Vincent Zabrucky Leonardtown, MD Wayne, ME Conservation District Mr. & Mrs. Wallace Lippincott, Jr. Anthony Sikorski Boonsboro, MD Montoursville, PA Sally Ann Cooper Freddi & Dick Hammerschlag Baltimore, MD Fayetteville, PA Columbia, MD Highland, MD Robert & Lynn McKinney Glenn Morrson Linda Silversmith Friend Sugar Grove, VA Quarryville, PA Rockville, MD Andy Carroll Don Cordts Dan Heacock Manasquan, NJ Marysville, PA Darlene Melcher Joanna Mullins Barry Sperling Washington, DC Middle River, MD Alexandria, VA Ellen Crenson Melvin Hess Philadelphia, PA Lorna Dempsey Ann Murray John Swartz Lewes, DE White Hall, MD Wrightsville, PA Alfred Petruccy Chestertown, MD Severna Park, MD Annapolis, MD Ernest & Marianna Cross David Hoff Tom Dulz James Muscatello Cobbs Creek, VA Chestertown, MD Charles Stegman Gordon Wilber Artemas, PA Annapolis, MD Salisbury, MD Poland, OH Kirby & Carol Keller Claudia Crusan Rodney Holloway Marilyn Phillips Baltimore, MD Salisbury, MD In honor Wilbur Wolf Myerstown, PA Westminster, MD of Earlene Walker Carlisle, PA John P. Rolfes Marion B. Davis II Dorothy Jones Tom Reed from Charles & Hilda Wilson Street, MD West Lafayette, IN David York Chestertown, MD Annapolis, MD Montross, VA Akron, PA Linda Starling Kent Edel Walt Keller James Renner Terry Wise George Nardacci Cambridge, MD Baltimore, MD Stamford, NY Port Haywood, VA Orchard Beach, MD Lancaster, PA Gary Abraham Joseph Eline C. Keller Steve Retallick B. J. Yolton Beth Aberth Great Valley, NY Reisterstown, MD Garrett Park, MD Crewe, VA Richmond, VA Rescue, VA Susan Atlas William Fleming David Kelsey Jane Roache Freeman G. Bagnall Dr. Barbara Abraham New York, NY Virginia Beach, VA Hollywood, MD Mechanicsville, MD Arnold, MD Hampton, VA Claude Bell Carl Fritz Thomas Klein Russ Russell John Buchleitner Virginia Beach, VA Camp Hill, PA Pasadena, MD Urbanna, VA Severna Park, MD Continued on page 29 Bay Journal • March 2020 29

Continued from 28 Hubbard, Terry & Britt, PC Irvington, VA Kelly Adams Robert Huffman, Jr. Jarrettsville, MD Newport News, VA Lynne Ahles Michael Hunt Midlothian, VA Norfolk, VA M. Stephen Ailstock Dan Hutson Arnold, MD Stevensville, MD John Alewynse Susan Iannuzzo Williamsburg, VA Bear Creek Township, PA Maggie Allen Carlton Iddings Alexandria, VA Annandale, VA Dennis Allison Douglas Irvin Hampton, VA Sacramento, CA John Almassy Nancy & Ulysses S. James Heathsville, VA Alexandria, VA Julie & John Ambler Brent James Lancaster, PA Virginia Beach, VA Larry Anderson Ben Johns Windsor, PA Alexandria, VA Charles Anderson Katherine Jones Saint Leonard, MD Farnham, VA Sharon Andrews Marion R. Jones Sudlersville, MD Mechanicsville, VA Thomas Anglin Robert Jordan Gaithersburg, MD McLean, VA In memory of Anne & Stacy Karras Clifford G. Annis Reading, PA from Nancy L. Annis Pine City, NY Dale L. Keeny Spring Grove, PA Matthew & Denise Bach Denton, MD Lori Kenepp Graves of former inhabitants of Holland Island in the Chesapeake Bay are askew after one of the last viable Washington, DC Jurgen Balitzky hackberry trees fell on them in late 2019. The once prosperous community on the island is long gone and the Philadelphia, PA Mr. & Mrs. Michael D. Killian island, eaten away by persistent erosion, is overwashed during a high tide. (Dave Harp) Spotsylvania, VA Peter Bance Manakin Sabot, VA William Killinger Dennis Burton Colin Crozier Michael J. Filucci Gary Graybeal Berlin, MD Dr. & Mrs. Martin A. Barley Queenstown, MD Stoney Beach, MD Thurmont, MD Conowingo, MD California, MD Kevin D. King Lawrence Bush Marjorie Cspio Michael Fincham Steven Gregory Dundalk, MD Michael Barreda Frederick, MD Baldwin, MD Takoma Park, MD Richmond, VA Upperville, VA John P. Kirby Van Button Bill Cullen Ronald Fisher Edna Griffenhagen Parkville, MD Lauren Malick & Paul L. Bartlett Gloucester, VA Westminster, MD Severna Park, MD Hampton, VA Baltimore, MD Ronald J. Klauda Quint Calloway Alison Cuza-Laird William Fitchett, Jr. Ray Griffin Prince Frederickc, MD J. Charles Baummer, Jr. Rockville, MD Elkton, MD White Hall, MD College Park, MD Lewes, DE James Sarley & Gretchen Knapp Colin Campo Becky Daiss Carter Flippo Grace P. Grigg Chincoteague, VA William Baur Thibodaux, LA Arlington, VA Doswell, VA Mechanicsville, MD Wilmington, DE Brad Knopf Sarah P. Carr Frank & Faye Daniels Barbara Fogle William C. Haglan Annapolis, MD Nicholas Belitsos Tunkhannock, PA Suffolk, VA Winchester, VA Merry Point, VA Stevensville, MD Bernard & Mary Jo Kobosko Anne Charles Glenn & Helen Davis Michael Fonte Anne Hairston-Strang Reisterstown, MD Dante Berdeguez Chestertown, MD Kingston, NJ Reisterstown, MD Stevensville, MD Owings, MD Kopel’s Marina of Maryland Sara, Madison & Hank Chase Wayne Davis Helen Foster Edgar Harman Coltons Point, MD Kevin Bianca Myersville, MD Bel Air, MD Saint Paul, MN Oakland, MD Bel Air, MD Patricia Krause In memory Dennis Frazier Ebbe Hassl Fallston, MD Jim & Julia Billingsley Arnold Ching Mechanicsville, MD of Capt. Bob Evans Pasadena, MD Manassas, VA Rye, NY from John Dean Dr. & Mrs. Paul Krop MD S. C. Blakeslee Tom Christovich Scotland, MD Patrick Freeman Aimie Haupt Kilmarnock, VA Catonsville, MD Ellicott City, MD Towson, MD Kirkwood, PA Beverly Depietropaolo Charles & Eric Kubit George & Peggy Bogdan Rolan Clark Annapolis, MD Nic Galloro James E. Hausamann Monroeville, PA Adamstown, MD Havre De Grace, MD Chincoteague, VA Baltimore, MD Rita Dickinson George Kuhn Robert Bolster Doug Clark Hollywood, MD Bill Garren Susan Hauser Kingsville, MD Street, MD Greenbelt, MD Easton, MD Richmond, VA Mary A. Diegert Maria Kummerfeldt Leonard Bonn Jonathan Clarke Vestal, NY Carol Gates Edward L. Heiner Frederick, MD Adelphi, MD Media, PA York, PA Gaithersburg, MD Todd Thompson & Laura Kunkel Leslie C. Bowie John Cleary Desiree DiMauro William & Julie J. Gaynor Barbara & Randy Hendershot Annandale, VA Williamsburg, VA Worton, MD Vienna, VA Middle River, MD Clear Spring, MD Michael Lancaster Clarke Bowie Rose & David Clugh Anne Dubrow William Geoghegan Julie Hendrickson Fairfax, VA Bel Air, MD Baltimore, MD Great Falls, VA Easton, MD Heathsville, VA Lancaster County Jim Brackbill Bill Cochran Jean Duncan Trudy Gerlach Eloise G. Hendrixson Conservation District Strasburg, PA Roanoke, VA Arnold, MD Wyalusing, PA Odenton, MD Lancaster, PA Diana Breiner Susanna Collins Georgia L. Eacker William M. Giese, Jr. Carolyn Hess James Lanks Chocowinity, NC Irvington, VA Ellicott City, MD Cambridge, MD Oxford, PA Annapolis, MD Robert & Annie Brown Ellen Cooke Sheila Embrey Colleen Gleason Terry Hetrick Karen Lasley Baltimore, MD Linthicum, MD Fredericksburg, VA Selbyville, DE Boyertown, PA Virginia Beach, VA Julia & Avery Brown Donald Cooper Barbara Jean Engelke Don Goodliffe Drew F. Hoff John Latsha Coudersport, PA Gap, PA Baltimore, MD Easton, MD Chestertown, MD Lewisberry, PA Carol Brunson Scott Corbin William Evans Edwin Gosnell Ronald Holland Carol Law Fairfax, VA Union Bridge, MD Damascus, MD Pemaquid, ME Baltimore, MD Kennett Square, PA Nelson Burkholder, Jr. Troy Cowan Wayne Evans Michael Goyne Frederick Howard Elizabeth Law Harrisonburg, VA Lexington Park, MD Reisterstown, MD Leesburg, VA Mechanicsburg, PA Frederick, MD Christine Burris Howard Crawford J. Everhart Robert Grant James & Khristine Howard Ellen M. Lawler Washington, DC Baltimore, MD Washington Grove, MD Mechanicsburg, PA Tall Timbers, MD Salisbury, MD 30 Bay Journal • March 2020

Commentary • Letters • Perspectives MD’sorum proposed concessions to Exelon bad for Susquehanna, Bay By NFick DiPasquale independent third party recently selected Ever since the federal license by the state-federal allowing it to operate the Conowingo Chesapeake Bay Dam expired in 2014, Exelon Corp. has Program to write fought updated permit requirements and implement a that would better protect affected pollution control plan waterways and aquatic life for the next for the dam as part 50 years. of the overall Bay Initially, Maryland fought back cleanup effort. That against the utility that owns the third-party should be hydroelectric dam. As the Chesapeake solely responsible for Bay cleanup plan entered its final phase, selecting the type and the state asked Exelon to contribute its location of the pollu- share to reduce the 6 million additional tion control practices pounds of nitrogen and 260,000 pounds implemented. of additional phosphorus and associated The settlement sediment estimated to come through the also should include a dam annually since its reservoir became detailed schedule for filled and lost its trapping capacity. accomplishing the But Maryland has now inexplica- activities and provid- bly conceded on critical clean water ing associated funding, requirements, funding and legal as well as stipulated assurances in a proposed settlement penalties for failure with Exelon. The state’s local, state and to perform. Finally, federal representatives; conservation the agreement should organizations; and affected com- include conservation munities upstream and downstream and advocacy orga- strenuously objected and voiced their nizations as parties concerns during the public comment Exelon is seeking to renew its license to operate Conowingo Dam on the Susquehanna River. With a with full standing to period that ended Jan. 19. 50-year license, the next chance to influence the terms of the license will be in 2070. (Dave Harp) enforce terms of the This seriously flawed deal falls far agreement. short of protecting Maryland’s water- lion of the $200 million settlement, or a Susquehanna will be in 2070. How The Susquehanna River is a public ways or providing Pennsylvania with paltry $380,000 annually, would go to many of us will still be around? What resource, and Exelon profits substan- the pollution-reduction help it needs. forest buffers, agricultural cover crops, shape will the Susquehanna’s mussels tially from its use. This public resource Probably of greatest concern for clean stormwater controls and other prac- or eels be in then? How healthy will should not be sold off to a private com- water legal experts is that, as part of this tices proven to reduce pollution. The the Susquehanna flats underwater pany for exclusive use without ensuring settlement, Maryland would waive its water quality certification originally grasses be? What about Maryland’s that the public, our environment and right under the federal Clean Water Act proposed by Maryland, and challenged oysters, crabs and the Chesapeake Bay’s our economy are adequately protected. to require an enforceable water quality by Exelon, would have required the economy? How resilient will we be to The new 50-year license is our only certification for the dam, forfeiting its company to provide $127 million a year the increasing climate change impacts insurance policy that the Conowingo power to ensure compliance with water for pollution controls. we will be experiencing? Dam and Susquehanna will be healthy quality standards. Such a certification In a “trust me” kind of handshake Exelon must do much more to reduce and productive for a long time to come. is normally issued before the Federal deal, the settlement includes non-bind- pollution from the Conowingo Dam. For the benefit of Maryland and Penn- Energy Regulatory Commission would ing statements of intent that the initia- In addition to the other provisions in sylvania, for our children and future approve a new multi-decade license to tives and actions under the agreement the proposed settlement, Exelon should generations, we’ve got to get it right. operate the dam. will actually be accomplished; there are provide at least $35 million per year Nick DiPasquale is the former direc- The settlement also provides grossly no stipulated timelines for completion for nutrient and sediment pollution tor of the U.S. Environmental Protection insufficient funds to deal with the risks of the work. control measures. This funding should Agency’s Chesapeake Bay Program that the dam’s operations pose to the It also denies the public any ability to be administered and managed by the Office. Susquehanna River and Chesapeake ensure the settlement terms are fulfilled Bay — primarily from moderate and in a sufficient manner, leaving enforce- large storms that will cause the 94-foot- ment entirely up to Maryland. No other high structure to allow nutrients, parties would have standing to hold the Let Us Know debris and millions of tons of sediment state or Exelon accountable. The Bay Journal welcomes letters pertaining to Chesapeake Bay trapped behind it to flow into the Numerous organizations provided issues. Letters should be no more than 400 words. Send letters to: Editor, Chesapeake. comments on the proposed settlement Bay Journal, 619 Oakwood Drive, Seven Valleys, PA 17360-9395. The total settlement would require agreement. Bills have been introduced E-mail letters to: [email protected] about $4 million per year from Exelon in both the Maryland Senate and House Letter writers should include a phone number where they can be for environmental remediation, when of Delegates that would prevent the state reached. Longer commentaries should be arranged in advance with the vetted studies show that amount should from waiving its authority to issue a water editor. Call: 717-428-2819. be closer to $35 million a year. This quality certification for this project. Views expressed are those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect includes a mere $500,000 for address- With a 50-year license, the next those of the Bay Journal or Bay Journal Media. ing the trapped sediment. Only $19 mil- chance we’ll get to do right by the Bay Journal • March 2020 31

Commentary • Letters • Perspectives As Earthorum Day turns 50, it’s time to recycle that initial enthusiasm ByF Tom Horton Norman Where we have succeeded, common Borlaug in ingredients include leadership, “We know that our high-technology 1970 was good science that translated into society is handling our environment in awarded accountability, enforcement and a way that will be lethal for us. What the Nobel adequate funding. Where these we don’t know — and had better make Prize for lagged — well, think oysters, shad, haste to test — is whether a high- the Green agriculture, Pennsylvania. technology society can achieve a safe, Revolution, Some days, I’m tempted to say durable and improving relationship which did a we have about the environment we with its environment.” lot to feed deserve, the Bay we deserve, though That statement haunts me, for the world’s that sounds harsh. it is timely — but written 50 years hungry. But we vastly favor cure over ago, in an extraordinary issue of Those prevention, treating symptoms rather Fortune magazine, a leading journal who tout his than dealing with root causes. Fortune of American capitalism. Fortune’s achievement in 1970 said pay more attention to the February 1970 issue, just before the as proof we environmental impacts of new technol- first Earth Day that April, recognized can “invent” ogies and products before bringing a “national movement bursting our way out them to market. Say it again, Sam. with energy, indignation and new of crises Similarly, it is considered enough to members.” Environmentalism. forget the focus on the impacts of people already We’re 50 years out from Earth Day caution of on the planet while ignoring and even One now, and it’s been 42 years since his Nobel encouraging population growth. we began a study of Chesapeake Bay’s acceptance Or is our problem rooted in systemic decline that led to today’s speech: capitalism itself? Looking back at the way-unfinished business of restoring it. Higher- 1970s, the enthusiasm, the wide buy-in, I recommend finding that old yielding the good economy, the passage of Fortune. It’s a chuckle to read the crops had strong laws, you can understand why slick ads of the time: A full page, bought some environmentalists believed they could gorgeous sunset silhouetting a bathing breathing get where they wanted by working beauty on a beach, with text, WE DIG room, but within the system. Certainly, the editors JAMAICA. It’s an ad for Anaconda unless of Fortune believed that devoutly. Aluminum, bragging about expanding agencies I think capitalism as now its Caribbean ore pits. working on practiced in the United States, with And a sweet union-buster ad from feeding us began to work with those its powerful “endless growth” bias Virginia’s government — “Working is trying to control population, we would and our outgunned environmental a privilege. Not a backache. I’ve worked not be sustainable. regulators, will not likely produce in Virginia ever since Anne and I got So you look back and you think, a healthy Chesapeake. I also think married, and I’ve never been involved how did environmentalism not better environmentalists are in denial about in anything like a strike.” deliver on such a promising beginning? how radical a shift is needed to Also, the latest in fashion from How did we blow Chesapeake cleanup co-exist durably, safely, “improvingly” “McCalls, the Magazine for Desirable deadlines in 2000 and 2010 and quite with the rest of nature — and to Women.” likely in 2025? embrace limits. But the issue’s text, in article after There was a lot of pushback by a lot So we go on, endeavoring earnestly article on the environment, is anything of powerful and monied interests, from to return a Bay with 18 million citizens but dated, even after half a century: Chesapeake Born the fossil fuel industry to agriculture (the back to something like the water The automobile is a “major menace” latter was mostly exempted from clean quality and abundance it enjoyed with to the environment, from human health short-term profit. water laws). A politics that was bipartisan 8 million people — even as we push to suburban sprawl, to the quality of The issue featured side-by-side on environment has bitterly split now. toward 24 million. urban life. Public transit needs attention. pro-environment statements from President Trump, with his In an essay some 40 years ago, Coal burning is going to make President Nixon and Edmund Muskie, seemingly pathological need to repeal called Saving the Bay, I wrote this: us sorry and unhealthy. Taxing who would author the powerful Clean environmental protections, is the “Will we save the Bay? I know we will pollution is worth considering. Sewage Water Act of 1972 and run against deserving bogeyman of the moment. always be trying, but ‘saving the bay’ treatment plants had better start Nixon. Nixon had been advised not to But I’d be writing this column even can become almost a state of grace, removing nitrogen and phosphorus let Muskie “outgreen” him. with “President Hillary Clinton” in the like tithing, allowing us to proceed that are sliming our waterways with Nixon would soon appoint a blue- White House. comfortably with business as usual in algae. Agricultural runoff of the same ribbon Commission on Population And there have been plenty of the rest of our lives.” nutrients is a well-recognized spoiler Growth and the American Future, successes. Nationally, the air and water I guess you could do worse. I still of Midwest waterways. which would conclude that the U.S. are cleaner. Around the Chesapeake, hope we can do better. Business leaders see a need for population might stabilize around sewage pollution plummeted even as Tom Horton has written about stronger federal leadership on pollution 226 million, and that would be a good the population doubled. Crabs and the Chesapeake Bay for more than control. (The U.S. Environmental thing. (It is at 326 million and climbing rockfish are managed sustainably, 40 years, including eight books. He Protection Agency would soon be toward half a billion, and apparently and close to 10 million acres of the lives in Salisbury, where he is also a formed.) Pollution control was good that is now a good thing.) 41-million-acre Bay watershed is professor of Environmental Studies at for the economy if one looked beyond Coincidentally, plant geneticist protected. Salisbury University. 32 Bay Journal • March 2020

Commentary • Letters • Perspectives It’s timeorum to account for menhaden’s role in the ecosystem By CFhris Moore When it does, it should adopt eco- logical reference points without delay. There’s no question Atlantic striped Doing so will not recover the striped bass are in trouble. Stock assessments bass population on its own, but it will show the fish, known locally as rock- make sure the rockfish out there have fish, are being overfished, and East enough to eat. Coast states have agreed to implement And while there is still much more measures by April 1 that will cut the work ahead to develop a truly holistic coastwide harvest 18% this year. ecosystem approach to management We can take another step to help that accounts for the interactions of striped bass recover. Protect their food. multiple predator and prey species — A small, oily fish called Atlantic beyond striped bass and menhaden menhaden is a key prey species for alone — this is a reasonable first step. striped bass and many other top preda- Striped bass, of all the predators tors in the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem, studied, were shown to be the most including osprey and whales. Menha- sensitive to changes in the menhaden den are prized by humans, too. They population. Therefore, adopting support one of the largest and oldest ecological reference points that protect commercial fisheries in the United striped bass will also protect other States, with more than 170,000 metric predator species that rely less on tons harvested each year for use in menhaden. products like fish oil and animal feed It is also important to note that or as bait. adopting the new ecological reference Management of the menhaden points would not cause any changes fishery does not currently take into in the current harvest quota for account its critical role as a food source menhaden, though it would lower the for other species. We now have the data threshold for overfishing. and scientific models to do better. Furthermore, ASMFC received At its February meeting, the more than 150,000 public comments Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Com- on the current management plan for mission, the interstate body that sets menhaden, which was approved in fishing limits and rules along the East 2017. An overwhelming majority Coast, heard the results of a three-year, Of all the predators studied, striped bass were shown to be the most sensitive to called for the use of ecological refer- peer-reviewed effort to develop what changes in the menhaden population. Therefore, adopting ecological reference ence points to manage the fishery. are known as ecological reference points that protect striped bass will also protect other predator species that rely Adopting these reference points points for menhaden. Ecological less on menhaden, above. (Dave Harp) allows the commission to take action reference points essentially reflect how now to support the striped bass changes in the menhaden population a best guess, we can now quantitatively agement Board, introduced a motion at population, while it continues to work affect populations of the fish that eat say how many menhaden are needed to the February meeting to set ecological on bringing more species into the it — including striped bass, bluefish, feed and sustain our desired populations reference points for menhaden that equation. weakfish and spiny dogfish — based of striped bass, bluefish and so forth. would sustain the striped bass fishery. Chris Moore is a senior regional on scientific models. My colleague, Allison Colden, who The board postponed a decision until it ecosystem scientist with the Chesa- In other words, instead of relying on serves on ASMFC’s Menhaden Man- reconvenes in May. peake Bay Foundation. Letter to the Editor Offshore wind turbines energy. The transition off fossil fuels to 2.7 F. Research shows that most quality beach experience combined more beneficial than harmful is becoming increasingly urgent as sea coastal birds forage and migrate over with an intensely developed resort that The proposal to develop an offshore level rise, driven by climate change, is waters much closer to shore than 17 offers the excitement of lively bars, wind energy project in the Atlantic already being felt by the resort, espe- miles. There will be some bird impacts restaurants, arcades, racy boardwalk Ocean off Ocean City could have cially on its beleaguered bayside flank. from offshore turbines at this distance, T-shirt shops and high-rise hotels. significantly more benefits to the town Already having risen nearly a foot but we must face the fact that a rapidly While mostly invisible wind turbines will of Ocean City than drawbacks. through the 20th century in coastal Mary- warming climate is a far greater threat cause little variance to this blend of beach At 17 miles offshore, the 30 wind land, sea level is projected to rise 2.5–4 feet — to birds and people. and bustle, they could ultimately extend turbines will barely be discernible by the end of the century as temperatures Moreover, the prospect of significant the majesty of this wonderful town to from the beach, especially during continue to increase. Our actions now can blue– and white-collar jobs and a future generations. warm summer months when moisture- mitigate the severity of that rise. boon to the recreational fishery makes Kathy Phillips saturated air substantially limits The National Audubon Society’s this ethical move forward even more Executive director distance viewing. Of far greater con- recent report, Survival by Degrees, appealing. Ocean City should be lauded Assateague COASTKEEPER cern for Ocean City are the long-term finds that two-thirds of America’s for its opposition to offshore drilling but Assateague Coastal Trust impacts of sea level rise. birds are threatened with extinction mindful that the fossil fuel industry has With passions running high, it is from climate change, but offers reason consistently spread disinformation cam- David Curson Director of bird conservation important to take a broader and more for hope for 76% of these birds if we paigns against offshore wind power. Interim executive director balanced approach to this form of clean can limit global temperature increases Visitors to Ocean City enjoy a high- Audubon Maryland-DC Bay Journal • March 2020 33

Commentary • Letters • Perspectives Technologyorum puts future of conservation in all of our hands ByF Joel Dunn leveraging this opportunity in Most of us are deeply concerned the Chesapeake by the recent news of dramatic Bay watershed. changes involving the Amazon Our Conservation rainforest, Greenland ice sheets, Innovation Center loss of bird species and massive recently analyzed the population declines in bees. We wake change in tree canopy up to headlines about massive fires in for Anne Arundel Australia and weather extremes. County, MD, with Here in the Chesapeake Bay region, 1-meter resolution where we have seen good progress in aerial imagery from our efforts to restore our ecosystem, 2007 to 2017 — and we continue to face daunting issues it showed a startling like sea level rise, pollution, land use 5,500-acre loss of change and invasive species. trees. With this Fortunately, the future of the analysis and strong conservation movement and use of public support (81% technology provides great hope that of county residents, we can address these issues and save according to a poll by the planet. A comparison of conventional 30-meter resolution land cover the Arundel Rivers How can I possibly say that with all (left) and the Chesapeake Bay Program’s new 1-meter resolution Federation), County of this terrible news? Because I have land cover data (right) over the same area of Eastport in Annapolis. Executive Steuart seen how technology is democratizing Land cover classification maps divide the landscape into different Pittman worked with conservation and empowering people categories to quantify how land is used. The higher resolution data the County Council to act. enables analysts to pick out small-scale features such as patches of to pass a major Take for example a remarkable trees, driveways and docks that are otherwise lost. revision in their project from the Amazon rainforest: (Chesapeake Conservancy Conservation Innovation Center) forest conservation A study released by Rainforest law. Howard County Foundation US and its partners shows quickly followed suit how near-real time deforestation data now — you and me. leveled the playing field of knowledge with even tougher changes. empowered indigenous community The Internet, satellites, aerial for individual landowners, indigenous The famed conservationist Aldo members to report threats quickly imagery, smartphones, Geographic peoples, nonprofit organizations, Leopold once remarked that “one and achieve “measurable reduction Information Systems (GIS) and corporations and government of the penalties of an ecological of deforestation.” The alerts were Artificial Intelligence (AI) are putting agencies. education is that one lives alone in a delivered by the University of the power to protect the environment Scientists have known for world of wounds. Much of the damage Maryland’s Global Land Analysis into the hands of everyone. These tools decades how land use change and inflicted on land is quite invisible to and Discovery Group using a field provide high-resolution, near-real time deforestation negatively impact laymen.” application from Global Forest Watch. information about what is happening animals, plants and ecosystems. But Fortunately, as a result of new This is the democratization of on the ground and in the water. until relatively recently, the tools by technology, this is changing. It comes conservation, empowering people This technology is having a which scientists could monitor natural just in time, as there is widespread everywhere to protect the environment profound impact on efforts to protect areas and inform the public about their recognition of detrimental changes where they live. It is literally up to us natural systems. And, it has effectively observations were limited. that are happening to the entire planet Vitally important data, such as the as a result of human activity. National Land Cover Dataset, was As a first step to address the climate collected by government agencies and biodiversity crisis, U.S. Sen. Tom Chesapeake Challenge and their corporate contractors to be Udall (D-NM) and U.S. Rep. Debra Answers to released every five to seven years. By Haaland (D-NM) have introduced the time we could identify a priority, resolutions to protect 30% of our Earn your stripes doing such as a large contiguous forest that nation’s land and ocean by 2030, this rockfish quiz! connected previously protected areas, which have been co-sponsored by Sen. on page 21. it had already been destroyed for the Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and others. 1. E 2. D 3. State fish: Maryland, purpose of development, resulting in To achieve this admirable and State saltwater fish: New York & the loss of biological diversity and ambitious result, data from individual Virginia 4. C 5. B 6. B 7. C ecosystem function. drones and global monitoring efforts, 8. B 9. D 10. A 11. A 12. D Now, the public can quickly obtain such as those of Global Forest Watch recent, highly accurate observation or Microsoft’s forthcoming planetary data and analyze it to great effect. computer, will be used to democratize Bay Buddies Conservationists can swiftly conservation. Answers to Anadromous! on page 21. provide striking evidence to advance When this knowledge is put in the 1. Atlantic sturgeon their cause, a quantum leap for hands of individuals, nonprofits and 2. American shad 3. Alewife defenders of the environment. governments, it will save the planet. 4. D. 5. A Striped Bass (Dave Harp) The Chesapeake Conservancy, Joel Dunn is president and CEO of where I work, has been relentlessly the Chesapeake Conservancy. 34 Bay Journal • March 2020

tours to monitor Severn’s health. Patuxent Research Refuge ≈ Water Quality Crew: 4-hour tour The Wildlife Images Bookstore at the Wednesday, Thursday or Friday morning. WorkdayMake sure that when Wisdom you participate in National Wildlife Visitor Center of the U.S. Morning river cruise collects scientific data, cleanup or invasive plant removal workdays Fish and Wildlife Service’s Patuxent Research monitors wildlife habitat. Training provided. to protect the Chesapeake Bay watershed Refuge in Laurel, MD, needs volunteers to ≈ Join the SAV Navy! Set your own hours and its resources that you also protect your- open and close the store, operate point-of- June–September. Use kayak, canoe, small self. Organizers of almost every workday sale register, help customers select merchan- boat to map SAV beds, identify submerged strongly urge their volunteers to wear long dise. Training provided. Info: 301-497-5771, aquatic vegetation. Paddlers of all skill levels pants, long-sleeved shirts, socks and closed- [email protected]. Volunteer Opportunities welcome. Training, gear supplied. toe shoes (hiking or waterproof). This helps ≈ GEMS Expedition: Explorers, natural- to minimize skin exposure to poison ivy and ticks, which might be found at the site. Oregon Ridge Nature Center Waynesboro, PA, tree planting ists, foresters needed for a land-based The Oregon Ridge Nature Center in Help the Antietam Watershed Associa- expedition to map 500 ecological features Light-colored clothing also makes it easier to Cockeysville, MD, is offering MD Master tion and Waynesboro (PA) Fish & Game throughout Severn watershed: wetlands, spot ticks. Hats are strongly recommended. Naturalist Volunteer Training: 9 a.m.–3:30 Although some events provide work gloves, p.m. Mondays, March 16–May 18. Adult Protective Association plant 2,000 trees, trees, ferns, plants, wildlife, creeks, historical not all do; ask when registering. Events near shrubs 8 a.m.–3 p.m. May 2, rain or shine, & cultural features to create GIS map of participants complete 60 hours of hands-on water require closed-toe shoes and clothing training in natural history, environmental at Waynesboro Fish & Game Association. watershed’s ecology. that can get wet or muddy. Always bring Gloves, drinks, lunch provided. Children ≈ Tell Severn’s Story? Writers, photogra- water. Sunscreen and an insect repellent interpretation, conservation stewardship. must have adult supervision. This is a PA phers, reporters, memoirists needed to record designed to repel both deer ticks and Final certification awarded after 40 hours of Chesapeake Bay 10 Million Trees project. story of river’s wildlife, people, forests, history, mosquitoes help. volunteer service at Oregon Ridge. Applica- Register/info: [email protected], rfgold- culture, sailing. SRA can create internships for Lastly, most organizers ask that tions are at nature center or [email protected], antietamws.org/events. budding journalists of all ages who want to tell volunteers register ahead of time. Knowing extension.umd.edu/masternaturalist a story, cover meetings, take pictures, build up how many people are going to show up (Use Piedmont Region link) and will be Bread & Cheese Creek cleanups their clip file. Info: [email protected]. ensures that they will have enough tools accepted until class is full. Fee: $250 upon Volunteers of all abilities are needed and supervisors. They can also give direc- acceptance into program. Info: 410-887-1815, to clean up Bread and Cheese Creek in Stream monitoring training tions to the site or offer any suggestions for [email protected]. Dundalk, MD. Help to haul trash out of Goose Creek Association is training apparel or gear not mentioned here. waterways; run water, tools to creek work- stream monitors 9 a.m.–3 p.m. April 4 at 119 Paradise Park ers; sort recyclables; set up/take down; take The Plains Road, Suite 200, Middleburg, VA. Paradise Park in Portsmouth, VA, needs photographs, videos. Events: Workshop includes training in classroom & Bull Run stream cleanup volunteers, ages 12+ (12–16 w/adult) for ≈ Berkshire Area to North Point Road: field, lunch. Free. Info: [email protected]. Join Merrimac Farm Master Naturalists, service days 9–11 a.m. March 7 & 14. 8 a.m.–2 p.m. April 4. Register at 2408 Friends of the Square, Keep Prince William Tasks include weeding, planting, cleaning, Plainfield Road. Chemical monitoring team Beautiful, Prince William County businesses pruning, light maintenance. Bring work ≈ Bear Creek & Chalesmont Park Shore- Prince William Soil and Water Conservation and partners as they clean up the Bull Run gloves, water bottle. Registration required: line: 8 a.m.–2 p.m. April 25. This shoreline District needs volunteers for its new chemical stream corridor near Costco in the Bull Run paradisecreek.elizabethriver.org. is where British and American troops set up monitoring program to supply the VA Depart- Shopping Center in Manassas, VA, 9 a.m.–12 defensive positions in the War of 1812’s Battle ment of Environmental Quality with data. p.m. March 14. Info, registration/search Cromwell Valley Park of North Point. Register at tents near intersec- Contact: www.pwswcd.org, waterquality@ engine: costco manassas bull run cleanup. Opportunities at Cromwell Valley Park in tion of Park Haven and Gray Haven Road. [email protected]. Parkville, MD, include: Cleanups are rain or shine. Lunch, Occoquan River Cleanup ≈ Habitat Restoration Team / Weed Warrior snacks, gloves provided. A few tools are Anita Leight Estuary Center Support Potomac Watershed cleanup ini- Days: 2–4 p.m. March 21; April 4, 25. All available; participants are asked to bring Anita C. Leight Estuary Center in Abing- tiatives by joining Friends of Occoquan, Prince ages (12 & younger w/adult) Remove invasive their own, if possible. Community service don, MD, needs volunteers for: William Trails & Streams Coalition 9 a.m.–12 species, install native ones, maintain habitat. and service learning hours available. Info: ≈ Marsh Bloom Time Monitoring: 2–4 p.m. p.m. April 18 at any of these sites: Town of Service hours available. Meet at Sherwood [email protected], 410-285- March 21. Ages 14+ Assist with Marsh Plant Occoquan, VA; Bull Run Marina, Clifton, VA; House parking lot. Registration required: Laurie 1202, BreadandCheeseCreek.org. Phenology Monitoring Trail. Track the timing Fountainhead Park, Fairfax Station, VA; and Taylor-Mitchell at [email protected]. of plant stages to help study climate change. Occoquan Regional Park in Lorton, VA. Info: ≈ Trail Guide Training: 10 a.m.–1 Project Clean Stream Volunteers must be able to safely paddle a friendsoftheoccoquan.org, pwtsc.org. p.m. March 25 (Marshy Point); March 26 Be part of the Alliance for the Chesapeake canoe. All monitoring is by boat. Training (Cromwell Valley); March 27 (Fort McHenry) Bay’s Project Clean Stream. Every spring, provided. 32nd Annual Potomac Cleanup Adults. Learn techniques, topics to help with thousands of volunteers in all 6 Bay states and ≈ Invasinators: 1–3 p.m. March 22. Ages The 32nd Annual Potomac River Water- programs, special events, animal care, as well the district pick up trash in waterways, parks 14+ Learn about nonnative invasive plants, shed Cleanup with Alice Ferguson Founda- as ecology of Cromwell Valley, Marshy Point. using supplies (trash bags, gloves) provided by removal & restoration strategies. Wear tion is registering Prince William County, VA, Breakfast, snacks, coffee provided. New the Alliance. Residents, local businesses, envi- sturdy shoes, long sleeves, work gloves. workdays. Pick any time or date for a nearby guides pay $5. Info: cromwellvalleypark.org, ronmental organizations, local governments, ≈ 29th Annual Marsh Cleanup at Bosely cleanup event; register the site (under the 410-887-2503, [email protected]. community groups, houses of worship, Conservancy: 9 a.m.–12 p.m. March 28. Ages county) with the foundation; pick up cleanup ≈ Drop in Gardening: 9 a.m.–12 p.m. schools, universities invited. Info: chesapeak- 8+ Meet at conservancy entrance. Clean up supplies at Prince William Soil and Conserva- March 28. Meet at Children’s Garden. Ages enetwork.org/groups/project-clean-stream/ Otter Point Creek Marsh. Wear old shoes/ tion District office. Info: 301-292-5665, water- 13+ Gloves, tools, water provided. Bring hat, [email protected]. boots, gloves. Drinks provided. Rain or shine. [email protected], potomacrivercleanup@ sunscreen. No registration. Groups welcome. Volunteer hours for schools, fergusonfoundation.org. Kings Gap bird box volunteers organizations documented. Great for com- York County, PA, parks Kings Gap Environmental Education munity service credit. Howard County Conservancy Volunteer opportunities at York County Center in Carlisle, PA, will train Bird Box Ages 12 & younger must be supervised The Howard County Conservancy in (PA) parks include: Volunteers 1–4 p.m. March 29. Volunteers by an adult at all events. Registration Woodstock and Elkridge, MD, needs adult ≈ Exploration Forest: Nature Play Area at check, record activity at assigned boxes required for all events: 410-612-1688, 410- volunteers to help lead elementary/second- Nixon Park Nature Center near Jacobus needs during nesting season, as part of PA State 879-2000 x1688, otterpointcreek.org. ary school students on hikes and/or with to be monitored regularly for hazards such as Park Cavity Nesting Program, which provides hands-on activities. Elementary volunteers thorny plants, poison ivy. Info: 717-428-1961. habitat for declining cavity-nesting popula- Mount Harmon Plantation arrive at 9:15 a.m. Secondary volunteers ≈ Project FeederWatch: 9 a.m.–4 p.m. tions. Volunteers record data on eggs, young, Help Mount Harmon Plantation in Earlev- at 7:30 a.m. Both leave in early afternoon Tuesdays and Wednesdays through April. nest building. Data sheets, guidance provided. ille, MD, with school programs: manor house Monday–Friday. Elementary training runs 9 Nixon Park near Jacobus. Project Feeder- Info: [email protected], 717-486-3799. student tours, colonial crafts, hearth cooking, a.m.–1:30 p.m. March 10 in Elkridge and 9 Watch’s volunteer citizen scientists identify, guided nature walks. Special event volunteers a.m.– 12:30 March 19 & 26 in Woodstock. count bird species visiting center’s feeders. Severn River Association assist with manor house tours, admission/ Secondary sessions run 9 a.m.–12:30 p.m. Data is forwarded to Cornell Laboratory of Volunteer opportunities with Severn ticket sales, gift shop, and auction & raffle March 17 & 24 in Woodbridge. Attendance Ornithology as part of a nationwide effort River Association include: fundraisers. Lead nature walks, work in herb at all sessions not necessary. Preregistra- tracking winter bird population trends. ≈ Project Clean Stream: 9 a.m.–12 p.m. garden. Training provided. Docents are asked tion recommended. Info: volunteer@ Beginners welcome. Volunteers are asked Saturdays, around Earth Day. Pick up trash, to commit to 8 hours of service per month howardnature.org, 410-465-8877, or Carole to commit to one hour every other week. plant trees, remove invasive species. during tour season: 10–3 p.m. Thursdays– Veihmeyer at 410-465-8877 x121, Info: 717-428-1961. ≈ Water Quality Monitoring: April–Octo- Sundays, May–October. Info: 410-275-8819, [email protected], ber. Crew needed to conduct weekly boat [email protected]. [email protected]. Bulletin continues on page 35 Bay Journal • March 2020 35

Wetlands Work website The Chesapeake Bay Program’s website, Wetlands Work, at wetlandswork.org, helps to SubmissionThe Bay Journal regrets it is not always monthsGuidelines in advance. See below. connect agricultural landowners with people able to print every notice it receives ≈ Submissions to Bulletin Board must be and programs that can support wetland because of space limitations. Priority is sent either as a Word or Pages document, development and restoration on their land. given to events or programs that most or as simple text in the body of an e-mail. closely relate to the preservation and PDFs, newsletters or other formats may Boating safety instruction appreciation of the Bay, its watershed be considered if there is space and if Boating safety classes are required for Bulletin from page 34 and resources. Items published in Bulletin information can be easily extracted. operators of recreational boats in Virginia, Board are posted on the online calendar; ≈ Programs must contain all of the Maryland, the District of Columbia and most other states. Online opportunities include: MD Volunteer Angler Survey unpublished items are posted online if following information: a phone number Become a citizen scientist. Help the MD staffing permits. Guidelines: (include the area code) or e-mail address ≈ Virginians: boat-ed.com/virginia Department of Natural Resources collect data ≈ Send notices to of a contact person; the title, time (online ≈ Marylanders: boatus.org/maryland using its Volunteer Angler Survey. Anglers use [email protected]. Items sent to calendar requires an end time as well as ≈ DC residents & nonresidents: smart phones to record information from their other addresses are not always forwarded a start time), date and place of the event boat-ed.com/districtofcolumbia catch such as species, location, size. Biologists before the deadline. or program. Submissions must state if the ≈ Comprehensive list of training options: use data to develop, implement management ≈ Bulletin Board contains events that program is free, requires a fee, has age uscgboating.org/recreational-boaters/ take place (or have registration deadlines) requirements, has a registration deadline or boating-safety-courses.php strategies. The artificial reef initiative, blue on or after the 11th of the month in which welcomes drop-ins. crab, freshwater fisheries, muskie, shad and ≈ Free boating safety tools & materials the item is published through the 11th of ≈ April issue: March 11 from the Coast Guard Auxiliary: Info/search striped bass programs now have upgraded the next month. Deadlines run at least two ≈ May issue: April 11 mobile-friendly methods, too. Participants engine: recreational boating safety outreach. can win quarterly prizes. Info: dnr.maryland. gov/Fisheries/Pages/survey/index.aspx. Watershed education capsules & 21. Learn to lead school field trips. Plants stream cleanup events the supplies, support Prince William (VA) Soil and Water Con- servation District’s Watershed Capsules, Irvine Nature Center & animals of the gardens, general ecology they need for trash removal projects. Opportunities at Irvine Nature Center in concepts, outdoor teaching techniques. Groups also receive an Adopt-A-Stream sign which teach students about the important Owings Mills, MD, include: Registration, background checks required. recognizing their efforts. For info, to adopt a functions of watersheds, are available, first- ≈ Trail Trekker Training: 9–12 p.m. Fee: $20. Info: Sheryl Pedrick at 410-557- stream or get a proposed site: come, first-served. Info: pwswcd.org/capsules. March 25. Adults. Learn to lead educational 9570, x226, [email protected]. [email protected]. Register events at trashnetwork.fergusonfoundation.org. Learn if your yard is BayWise outreaches for the general public. Trail walks, Master Gardeners in Prince George’s natural history, teaching techniques covered. Ruth Swann Park Help the Maryland Native Plant Society, County, MD, are part of Bay-Wise, a program No experience necessary. Participants are American Chestnut Land Trust offering free consultations on environmental expected to lead future trail walks. Info: Sierra Club and Chapman Forest Foundation The American Chestnut Land Trust in 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. the second Saturday in Prince Frederick, MD, needs volunteers for practices to help county residents certify Stephanie Holzman at 443-738-9221, their landscapes as Bay-Wise. Those who ExploreNature.org. March, April, May remove invasive plants at invasive plant removal workdays 9–11 a.m. Ruth Swann Park in Bryans Road. Meet at the Thursdays and 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Wednes- demonstrate healthy lawn maintenance, ≈ Weekend Weed Warriors: 10 a.m.– efficient watering, pest control, creating 12 p.m. March 21, May 2 & 30. Ages 14+ Ruth Swann Park-Potomac Branch Library days. All ages (16 & younger w/adult) parking lot. Bring lunch. Info: [email protected], welcome. Tools, water provided. Registra- habitat for native trees and plants for wildlife Remove oriental bittersweet, multiflora receive Bay-Wise signs. Homeowners can rose in/around Woodland Garden, Native 301-283-0808, (301-442-5657 day of event). tion required. Info: 410-414-3400, Carpoolers meet at the Sierra Club MD acltweb.org, [email protected]. evaluate their property online using the MD American sites. Training, tools provided. Yardstick, which tallies pollution-reducing Wear sturdy shoes that can get muddy, bring Chapter office at 9 a.m. and return at 5 p.m. Carpool contact: 301-277-7111. Magruder Woods gardening and landscaping practices. To be water, nonrefrigerated snack/lunch. Info: Ben Help Friends of Magruder Woods 9 a.m.– certified, though, a landscape must be visited Fertig at [email protected]. Creek Critters app 1 p.m. the third Saturday in March, April, May and evaluated by a Master Gardener. Info: ≈ Project Clean Stream: 9 a.m.–12 p.m. Use Audubon Naturalist’s Creek Critters remove invasive plants in the forested swamp Esther Mitchell at [email protected], exten- April 18. Irvine’s focus is on Garrison Forest app to check a streams’ health by finding, in Hyattsville, MD. Meet at farthest end of sion.umd.edu/baywise/program-certification. Road area. Info (including volunteering for an identifying small organisms that live in fresh- parking lot. Info: [email protected], Click on “download the yardstick” to evaluate event closer to home or to lead a cleanup): water, then creating a report based on what 301-283-0808, (301-442-5657 the day of a landscape and/or vegetable garden online. Ben Ferti at [email protected]. is found. Get the free app at the App Store, event); or Colleen Aistis at 301-985-5057. ≈ Naturalist Training: 9 a.m.–12 p.m. Google Play. Info: anshome.org/creek-critters. Marine debris toolkit March 10, 12, 17 & 9 a.m.–2 p.m. March To learn about partnerships/ host a Creek The National Oceanic and Atmospheric 19. Adults. Learn to lead educational events Critters event: [email protected]. Resources Administration’s offices of National Marine for students at their school. Themes, natural Sanctuaries and Marine Debris Program have history, teaching techniques covered. Little Paint Branch Park Track Severn River’s health developed a toolkit for students and educa- No experience needed. Participants Help the Maryland-National Capital Park Check the health of the Severn River tors in coastal and inland areas to learn about are expected to lead field trips in spring and Planning Commission remove invasive online at cmc.vims.edu/#/home. All of the marine debris, monitor their local water- semester. Info: Stephanie Holzman at 443- species 11 a.m.–3 p.m. the last Saturday in water quality data collected from the Severn ways. The toolkit supports efforts to reduce 738-9221 or ExploreNature.org. March, April, at Little Paint Branch Park in River Association’s network of 41 monitor- impacts on marine ecosystems through Beltsville. Sign in for a safety orientation. ing stations, from Indian Landing near the hands-on citizen science, education, com- CBL Visitor Center Gloves, tools provided. Info: 301-442-5657, headwaters to Lake Ogleton and the creeks of munity outreach. Info/search engine: marine Volunteers, 16 & older, are needed at the [email protected]. Whitehall Bay, are posted on Data Explorer, a debris monitoring toolkit for educators. Chesapeake Biological Laboratory’s Visitor data-sharing platform run by the Chesapeake Center on Solomons Island, MD. They must Become a VA Master Naturalist Monitoring Cooperative. The site also contains commit to a minimum of two, 3– to 4-hour VA Master Naturalists are a corps of SRA’s water quality monitoring data for 2018 Turf / lawn programs shifts each month in the spring, summer To learn about the Prince William (VA) volunteers who help to manage, protect and 2019 and fecal bacteria levels collected Cooperative Extension’s 12 Steps to a and fall. Training sessions are required. Info: natural areas through plant & animal surveys, by Operation Clearwater, run by Professor [email protected]. Greener Lawn / Building Environmental Sus- stream monitoring, trail rehabilitation, teaching Tammy Domansky at Anne Arundel Commu- tainable Turf BEST Lawns low-cost, research- in nature centers. Training covers ecology, nity College. Anne Arundel County’s bacteria based programs for lawn education, contact: Ladew Topiary Gardens geology, soils, native flora & fauna, and habitat reports are also posted. [email protected], 703-792-4037. Opportunities at Ladew Topiary Gardens management. Info: virginiamasternaturalist.org. in Monkton, MD, include: Severn River video library ≈ Volunteer Open House: 9 –11 Bilingual educator resources The Severn River Association‘s John Floatable monitoring program a.m. March 20 & 21. Meet Ladew staff, Educational programs are available in Wright Speaker Series presentations are The Prince William Soil & Water volunteers to match your talents, interests English and Spanish from the Interstate available online. Some of the titles include Conservation District in Manassas, VA, with Ladew’s needs. For new, current Commission on the Potomac River Basin. Oyster Farming in St. Jerome’s Creek, The needs volunteers to help assess, trace trash volunteers. Info: Sophie Wittelsberger at Info: potomacriver.org/resources/educator. Demise of Our Yellow Perch Fishery, Land in streams to reduce nonpoint source pol- [email protected], 410- Preservation: How Does it Work? and Will lutants in urbanized, industrialized areas in 557-9570, x216. Adopt-a-Stream or Pond Butterflies and Bees Survive? These, and relation to the County’s Municipal Separate ≈ Training / Teach Children about The Prince William Soil & Water other titles, are available at Nature: 9 a.m.–12:30 p.m. April 7, 9, 14, 16 Conservation District in Manassas, VA, gives severnriver.org/category/speaker-series. Bulletin continues on page 36 36 Bay Journal • March 2020

Boating safety classes Historic Places. The DNR is also interested in the nation’s best-preserved one-room African The U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary Flotilla recording stories about the monuments. This American schoolhouses and learn about its 25-08 (Mount Vernon) is offering one-day will be the first complete survey in 40 years of importance in St. Mary’s County. Staff will boating safety classes 7:30 a.m.–5 p.m. March the line, which was marked in a 1760s survey be available to answer questions. Info: 301- 21, April 18, May 16, June 20 & July 18 at the to defined the states’ border. The project is 994-1471, Facebook.com/DraydenSchool. Washington Farm United Methodist Church in slated to continue through August 2021. Alexandria, VA. Virginia, Maryland and many Maple sugaring other states as well as the District of Columbia Ladew Topiary Gardens Learn how maple syrup is made 2 p.m. require some form of certified boating safety Ladew Topiary Gardens in Monkton, MD, March 14, 15, 21, 22, 28 & 29 at Parker Bulletin from page 35 training for operators of most powered boats as part of its spring lecture series, is present- Dam State Park in Penfield, PA. Learn how and personal water craft (jet skis). Seasoned ing Exploring Native Wildflowers & Their it was made years ago, identify the right Storm Sewers (MS4) permit. Cleanup supplies boaters who took the class years ago are Habitats with plant expert and conservation- trees to tap, where to tap, how to gather provided. Info: [email protected]. also welcome to refresh themselves on boat ist Alan Weakley 10:30 a.m. March 25. sap. Taste a free sample. Meet at the Sugar handling and regulations, nautical rules of He will show photos of plants in natural Shack, near Pavilion 7, just past Cabin Baltimore Biodiversity Toolkit the road, required equipment, tips, practices habitats, demonstrate a plant identification Road. Info: 814-744-8407. To help meet habitat needs of native to help prevent accidents. Info: Ted Caliga at app, update progress on plant conservation plants, animals and people, the Baltimore [email protected]. issues. His book, Wildflowers of the Atlantic Birds homeschool class Biodiversity Toolkit identifies species that Southeast, will be for sale at the talk. Tickets Little Buffalo State Park in Newport, PA, represent habitats within and historic to a Manada Native Plant Sale are $40 and include coffee, danish (10 a.m.). invites all homeschool students, especially community. It shows how to support specific Manada Conservancy’s 20th Annual Preregistration, prepayment required. Tickets ages 5–8, to Beautiful Birds 10 a.m.–12 p.m. wildlife needs; helps citizen scientists monitor, Spring Native Plant Sale takes place 10 are sent via email or smartphone. Info: Kathy March 25. Learn about state’s birds: character- collect data; develops a culture of conserva- a.m.–3 p.m. May 2 at Boro (Schaffner) Park, Baker-Brosh at KBaker-brosh@ladewgardens. istics, migration, how to protect them. Take a tion and stewardship. The toolkit contains 20 in Hummelstown, PA. View the perennials, com, 410-557-9570 x261. short walk to look for birds, weather permit- ambassador species from four habitats. Its trees, shrubs for sale, or shop online through ting. Free. All students must be registered by multi-platform format helps to prioritize com- April 15 for pickup on May 2 at manada. Kings Gap Education Center March 23. Info / search engine: Little Buffalo munity greening projects based on represen- org/native-plants/spring-native-plant-sale. Events at Kings Gap Environmental State Park homeschool; click “buy tickets” tative species, citizen science data and spatial Event also includes art & food vendors, Education Center in Carlisle, PA, include: link. Adverse weather may cancel program, analysis that includes social, economic and children’s activities, live music, gardening- ≈ What’s in the Woods Hike: 2–3 p.m. call 717-567-9255. ecological indicators. Info: fws.gov. for-nature consultant. Free. Rain or shine. March 15. Meet at Kings Gap Hollow Day Use Area. Take a 1.5–2-mile hike on uneven Info: [email protected] or 717-566-4122. Winter eagles / homeschool Wildlife education trunks terrain (wear appropriate footwear) to look Homeschool students, ages 7–17, are MD Department of Natural Resources Dinosaur eggs & babies for signs of spring. Hike location subject to invited to Winter Eagle Life 10 a.m.–12 p.m. Wildlife Education Trunks are available to The Virginia Living Museum in Newport change. Bring water. Free. March 23 at Codorus State Park in Hanover, teachers, home-school educators and natural- News invites the public to Tiny Titans: ≈ Welcome Spring Hike: 2–3:30 p.m. PA. Discover what’s going on in the eagle ists. Free, interdisciplinary tools are designed Dinosaur Eggs & Babies through May 3. The March 21. Meet at Kings Gap Hollow Day nest. Preregistration required. Do not include to interest students in local wildlife while hands-on exhibit features authentic eggs and Use Area. 2-mile hike. Bring water, wear parents in the registration. Dress to go out- building on art, language arts, math, physical nests and includes a presentation about the appropriate footwear. Friendly, leashed dogs side. Info: Renae Weidner at 717-637-3454. education, science, social studies skills. Trunk discovery of “Baby Louie,” a nearly complete welcome. Free. No registration. contains an educator guide, lesson plans, skeleton of a dinosaur embryo. Children can ≈ Birds & Beverages / Project FeederWatch: Cook Forest State Park hands-on K–12 activities, as well as supplies, dig for eggs, dress up like a parent dinosaur 9–11 a.m. March 14, 28. Drink hot tea, cocoa, Cook Forest State Park in Cooksburg, books, furs, replica tracks, videos, other to brood their nest, feel the texture of coffee while watching bird feeders, collecting PA, invites the public to watch eagles 8:30 hands-on items. Subjects include aquatic dinosaur eggs. Related programs include: count data. Free. No registration required. a.m.–12:30 p.m. March 28. This is the invasive species, bats, black bears, furbearers, ≈ A Family of Titans: 12, 1 & 2 p.m. Road/weather conditions may change prime time to view bald eagles on their nests. white-tailed deer, wild turkeys. Trunks can Saturdays till May 2. Live animal program or cancel any of these events. Check on Bring binoculars and spotting scopes to the be borrowed on a first-come, first-served addresses What makes a family? Learn about center’s Facebook before coming. Info: park office for a driving tour to eagle hotspots basis for up to two weeks. Info/search different dinosaur families, meet live animals [email protected], 717-486-3799. along the National Wild & Scenic Clarion engine: Wildlife Education Trunks. related to dinosaurs! Included w/admission. River. Expect a long car pool and aggressive ≈ Zula Patrol - Down to Earth: 12:30 MD DNR careers camp hike to some of the better areas. Hot choco- orums orkshops The MD Department of Natural Resources late, coffee provided. Info: 814-744-8407. F / W p.m. daily till May 3. Abbitt Planetarium. invites students entering grades 9–12 next Travel back in time to learn about the Earth’s year who are interested in forestry, fisheries, Canoe Creek State Park Project Learning Tree formation and development. Fee: $4 plus wildlife, parks management to attend Natu- Upcoming events at Canoe Creek State Moraine State Park in Prospect, PA, invites museum admission. educators, naturalists, scout leaders to a Proj- ral Resources Careers Camp, July 19–25 Park’s Wentz Education Center in Holliday- Museum admission: $20/ages 13+; $15/ at the Hickory Environmental Education sburg, PA, include: ect Learning Tree Educator Workshop 8:30 ages 3–12. Info: thevlm.org, 757-595-1900. a.m.–3 p.m. March 21. This environmental Center in Garrett County. Students partici- ≈ Woodpecker Wander: 10–11 a.m. pate in hands-on classroom/field activities in March 14. Learn about woodpecker diver- curriculum is designed for grades preschool Davidsonville Green Expo through eighth. Participants receive the PLT The Davidsonville Area Civic Associa- forestry, wildlife, ecology, fisheries, watershed sity, seasonal habits while looking, listening Environmental Education Activity Guide, earn tion’s 11th Annual Green Expo takes place management, natural resources management, for them on hike. six Act 48 hours. Fee: $20. Register by March 11 a.m.–3 p.m. March 21 at Homestead conservation taught by industry professionals. ≈ Animal Adaptations: 2:30–3:30 p.m. 15. Info: [email protected], 724 368-8811. Gardens in Davidsonville, MD. The Expo Campers use GIS Mapping, GPS, computer March 14. Learn about PA animals’ weird shows how to live a sustainable life, as well as simulation, field tools used in natural resources survival adaptations. careers. Space is limited. Application deadline ≈ Vernal Pool Hike: 10–11:30 a.m. Events / Programs protect, preserve the environment, waterways and the Chesapeake. At least 40 exhibitors is March 31. The $450 tuition fee includes March 21. Take a muddy walk to investigate lodging, meals for the week. Tuition assistance pools where salamanders, frogs breed. Learn to grow oysters will demonstrate environmental programs Phillips Wharf Environmental Center on and projects: good gardening, watershed is available for MD students. Applications/ Learn about their food, communication, Tilghman Island, MD, is offering a course preservation, energy saving techniques for info: marylandforestryboards.org/nrcc.cfm. survival habits. Wear boots. on growing oysters from one’s dock 10 more sustainable living, seminars on selected ≈ Vulture Verses: 2:30–3:30 p.m. March Maryland Day 21. Listen to verses about vultures, then a.m.–3 p.m. March 21. The course will topics. Free admission, tree seedling giveaway. Celebrate the founding of Maryland – the cover oyster history, biology and regula- write poetry about your favorite PA animal. first landing of the colonists on St. Clement’s All events are free. Info: visitPAparks.com tions; gardening and equipment options Mason-Dixon Line markers Island – during Maryland Day 10 a.m.–4 p.m. The MD Geological Survey, a unit of the and sources; seed types; processing and March 25 at St. Clement’s Island Museum state’s Department of Natural Resources, is Oyster roast & sock burning harvesting techniques; ways to safely in Colton’s Point. The event includes free Gather around a bonfire 12–4 p.m. March shuck an oyster. Fee of $99 includes a leading professional surveying societies of MD admission to the museum, free water taxi and PA in a survey of original Mason-Dixon 21 at the Annapolis Maritime Museum’s shuck-your-own lunch of a dozen oysters. rides, activities. Info: 301-769-2222. 10th Annual Annapolis Oyster Roast & Sock Line monuments. Property owners are Preregistration required. To register, send a Burning, which celebrates maritime culture, check made out to PWEC, phone number, asked to allow access to site — all surveyors Drayden Schoolhouse open house all things Chesapeake and the start of boat- email & postal addresses to: PWEC Oyster will have DNR identification and documen- The Drayden African American School- ing season. Activities include oyster shuck- Gardening Class, 6129 Tilghman Island tation. Surveyors will document, photo- house in Drayden, MD, invites the public to Road, Tilghman, MD 21671. graph remaining monuments with the intent attend one of its open houses 11 a.m.–2 p.m. Info: phillipswharf.org. of entering them in the National Registry of April 4, May 2, June 6, 20 & 21. Visit one of Bulletin continues on page 37 Bay Journal • March 2020 37

Hills Creek State Park ≈ Awesome Amphibians: 10 a.m.–12 Hike: 11 a.m. March 22. All ages. Hike to Hills Creek State Park in Wellsboro, PA, p.m. March 14 & 15. All ages. Search for Nature Quest markers. Quest Booklets are invites the public to its Maple Weekend amphibians. Craft, learn frog calls, meet available on site. Free. No registration. Open House 10 a.m.–3 p.m. March 21. In amphibians up close. Fee: $3. ≈ Saturday Morning Bird Walks: 8–10 about 45-minutes, participants learn how ≈ ORNC Council Speaker Series / Old a.m. March 28 through May 30. Meet at to identify maple trees, tap them to collect Growth Forests: A Journey to Preserve & sign in Willow Grove Farm Gravel Parking sap. Discover how pure maple syrup is Protect: 7–8:30 p.m. March 16. Adults. Forest Lot. Free. No registration. processed from tree to table, taste a sample. preservation activist Joan Maloof will discuss ≈ Fish Traps: 1–3 p.m. March 28. Meet Free. Large groups are asked to contact the history of this nation’s forests, obstacles of at Primitive Technology Lab. Ages 13+ Bulletin from page 36 park to schedule a private tour. The event forest preservation. Her books will be avail- Learn about these fishing devices while ing contest, electric boat tours of Back Creek, takes place in conjunction with the Potter/ able for sale, signing. Free. No registration. creating a simple basket-style trap using unlimited raw and roasted oysters, music by Tioga Maple Producers annual maple ≈ Amphibian Walk: 2–3 p.m. March 17. vine, local natural materials. Fee: $5. the Eastport Oyster Boys and Naptown Brass weekend. Info: 570-724-4246. Ages 10+ Listen to, identify calling frogs, ≈ Scrambled Eggs: 1–2:30 p.m. March Brand. Advance general admission tickets: toads. Learn about center’s FrogWatchUSA 29. Ages 5–10. Search for egg masses in the $30. ($35 at door if event hasn’t sold out). Patuxent Research Refuge monitoring efforts. Free. ponds. Wear waterproof boots. Fee: $4. Ages 3–12 / $15. People’s Choice tickets ($85) Upcoming programs at the Patuxent ≈ Shoots & Letters: 10–11 a.m. March 19 ≈ Amazing Amphibians Night Hike: include two drink tickets, 10 food tickets and Research Refuge’s North Tract [T] and (Signs of Spring); March 26 (Frogs); April 2 7–8:30 p.m. April 3. Ages 8+ Learn who is admission to a private reception featuring Best National Wildlife Visitors Center [C] in (Salamanders); April 9 (Baby Animals). Ages singing, who is egg-laying. Fee: $4. Oyster Dish competition. Sample offerings Laurel, MD, include: 3+ Indoor, outdoor adventures. Fee: $2 per ≈ Night Out with Nature / Native People from the area chefs; then vote for the winner. ≈ Night Hike: 8–9 p.m. March 13 & 14 child. No registration. of the Chesapeake: 7–9 p.m. April 10. Meet Choice tickets for ages 3–12 ($35) include [C] Ages 5+ Explore the forest, learn how to ≈ Senior Stroll: 10:30 a.m. March 21, at Sherwood House. Adults. Learn about five food tickets, plus all general admission help nocturnal animals. April 4. Guided stroll on paved Marble the native people who populated the Bay’s activities. Tickets are sold at whatsuptix.com/ ≈ Owl & Kestrel: 12:15–12:45 p.m. March Quarry Loop trail. Stay for guided reflection tidewater region from prehistory to colonial events/annapolis-oyster-roast-sock-burning. 14 & 21 [C] All ages. Learn about acrobatic activity and/or extension of hike on unpaved times. Dessert. Fee: $10. All proceeds benefit the museum’s education American kestrel, stealthy eastern screech but non-strenuous trail. Free. ≈ Children’s Garden Club: 9:30–11 programs. Information: amaritime.org. owl. No registration. ≈ Spring Night Hike & Campfire: a.m. April 11 to Oct. 17. Meet at Children’s ≈ Tiny Tots: 10:30–11:15 a.m. March 15 6–8 p.m. March 21. Ages 5+ Fee: $5. Garden. Ages 5–13 w/adult. Explore natural & 16 [C] Ages 16 months–4 years w/parent A Walk in the Park: Paradise Park ≈ 11 a.m.–12 p.m. world while growing vegetables, flowers, Upcoming free events at Paradise Park participation. Learn about wildlife through March 22. All ages. Easy/moderate hike. Free. & herbs. Club meets about twice a month. in Portsmouth, VA, include: songs, stories, activities. ≈ Critter Scene Investigation Hike: 10 Only registered children attend - no siblings! ≈ Power Walk: 8–9 a.m. March 28. ≈ Nature Tots / Spring Has Sprung: a.m.–12 p.m. March 28 & 29. Ages 5+ Fee: $50 for all sessions in the 2020 season. All ages. Walk at a brisk pace for approxi- 10:30–11:15 a.m. March 17 [C] Ages 3–4. Become a nature detective. Learn to identify Registration for this program is only available mately 1 mile on the nature trails. Wear Take a hike. animal tracks, scat. Making edible “poo.” online. comfortable shoes. ≈ Bird Walk: 8:15–10:30 a.m. March 21 Fee: $5. Ages 12 & younger must be accompanied ≈ Family Nature Walk: 14. Learn about [T] All ages. Various habitats. Binoculars ≈ Nature Book Club / The Genius of Birds: by an adult. Except where noted, programs native plants, wildlife. Look for signs of recommended. 7–8 p.m. March 30. Adults. Award-winning are free, require registration. Info: wildlife. Wear comfortable shoes. ≈ Family Fun / Habitats & Adaptations: science writer Jennifer Ackerman tours the 410-887-2503, cromwellvalleypark.org, ≈ Winter Bird Walk: 8:30–10 a.m. March Drop-in program 10 a.m.–1 p.m. March 27 globe to reveal what makes birds capable [email protected]. Online registra- 28. Dress for weather. & 10 a.m.–3 p.m. March 28 [C] All ages. of extraordinary feats of mental prowess. tion: cromwellvalleypark.campbrainregistra- Children must be supervised by adults Learn how refuge’s animals adapted in vari- Explore what it means to be intelligent. Free. tion.com. For disability-related accommoda- at all events. Registration is required for all ous habitats. Activities, games for all ages. ≈ Bookworm Story Time: 11–11:45 a.m. tions, call 410-887-5370 or 410-887-5319 events: paradisecreek.elizabethriver.org. No registration. April 3. Toddler to age 6. Nature story, activity, (TTY/deaf), giving as much notice as possible. ≈ Spring Wildlife Festival: 10 a.m.–3 p.m. outdoor experience. Free. No registration. Anita Leight Estuary Center March 28 [C] Activities for all ages include ≈ Frog Songs Night Hike: 7–9 p.m. April Irvine Nature Center Upcoming programs at the Anita C. Leight beginner archery, children’s crafts, Nature 4. Ages 5+ Listen to frog trills & peeps, learn Irvine Nature Center in Owings Mills, Estuary Center in Abingdon, MD, include: Songs with Stina/ Bird is the W.O.R.D. (12– why they’re calling. Fee: $4 MD, invites the public to: ≈ iNaturalist Trek: 10:30–11:30 a.m. 12:45 p.m.), tram tours, Rodney’s Raptors, ≈ Garlic Mustard Pull & Pesto: 10 a.m.–12 ≈ Tales & Tails: 10–11 a.m. every Friday. March 14. All ages. Use iNaturalist app while story time. Info: https://bit.ly/3b0YWFO. p.m. April 11. Ages 6+ Remove invasive garlic All ages. Story, songs, puppet show, searching for plants, animals to include in ≈ Raptors Reign: 1–3 p.m. March 28 [C] mustard at park, return to center to use it make animal. Free. center’s biodiversity data. Free. All ages. Licensed falconer Rodney Stotts, some pesto (contains nuts) to take home. ≈ Naturally Creative: 10 a.m.–12 p.m. ≈ Owl Prowl: 7–8:30 p.m. March 14. Ages will discuss, share close encounters with Fee: $5. March 14. Ages 5–10. Paint with a possum, 8+ (16 & younger w/adult). Meet at Bosely birds of prey. No registration. Events take place rain or shine. Ages 15 create edible art. Fee: $25. Conservancy. Listen, look for owls. Fee: $5. ≈ Nature Photography Workshop: & younger must be with an adult. Dona- ≈ Eat, Drink & Learn / Urban Birds & Bour- ≈ Drop-in Tails & Tots: 1 p.m. March Two-day class meets 1–4 p.m. March 28 tions welcome for free programs. Programs bons Stirred: 6:30–9 p.m. March 19. Susie 15. Ages 0 –6 w/adult. Learn about nature & 8–11 a.m. April 4 [T] Ages 14+ Local require preregistration unless otherwise Creamer, director of Patterson Park Audubon through stories, songs, movement. Free. photographer Mark Seaver will cover com- noted: [email protected], Center, will discuss diversity of bird species in ≈ To Catch a Leprechaun: 3–4:30 p.m. position, offer individual advice in the field. 410-887-1815. Programs are for indi- Baltimore. $60 fee includes dinner, drinks. March 15. Ages 6+ Build a garden. Fee of Participants will use early light to explore viduals & immediate families. Groups must ≈ Birding 101: Drop-in 10 a.m.–12 p.m. $8 includes all materials. the land, spring wildflowers, then have their schedule programs. For disability-related March 21. All ages. Self-guided activities. ≈ Drop-in Program / Critter Dinner Time: photographs reviewed. accommodations, call 410-887-1815, 401- Free. 1:30 p.m. March 21. All ages. Learn about ≈ Bicycle Ride: 10 a.m.–12:30 p.m. March. 887-5370 or 410-887-5319 (TTD/Deaf). ≈ Animal Architects: 10 a.m.–12 p.m. turtles, fish, snakes while watching them eat. 29 [T] All ages. Take in the natural area’s March 28, April 11, May 31, June 7. Ages ≈ Spring Equinox Campfire: 6:30—8 p.m. wildlife, plants, historical sites on 12-mile Cromwell Valley Park 5-10. Learn how animals construct their March 21. All ages. Meet at Pontoon Pier. guided tour. Bring a bike, snack, water bottle, Upcoming programs at Cromwell Valley homes. Fee: $25/session; $70/whole series. Listen to stories about plants, animals; eat helmet. Ride is weather-dependent. Park’s Willow Grove Nature Center in ≈ Day Off Camps: 8:30 a.m.–4 p.m. April s’mores. Bring blanket, camp chairs. Fee: $4. All programs are free, donations are Parkville, MD, include: 6 (Bugs, Bugs, Bugs); April 7 (Raging Reptiles); ≈ Promoting Pollinators: 2:30–4 p.m. welcome. Except where noted, events require ≈ Night Out with Nature / Falconry - April 8 (Scales & Tails); April 9 (Feathered March 22. Ages 5+ Learn about pollinators, registration. Programs are designed for indi- Hunters of the Sky: 7–9 p.m. March 13. Friends); April 10 (MD Mammals); April 13 how to help them, create a bee house, viduals and/or families. Let the refuge know if Meet at Sherwood House. Adults. Learn (Animal Caretakers). No school? Students, sample sweet snacks. Fee: $7/project. there are any disability-related needs that can what it takes to become a falconer, how to ages 5–7 & 8–10 can expect trail walks, ≈ Osprey Adventure: 1–2:30 p.m. March be accommodated. Info: 301-497-5887, fws. train a bird of prey. Dessert. Fee: $10. nature games, crafts, stories, animal encoun- 29. Ages 8+ Hike to spy on park’s osprey gov/refuge/Patuxent/visit/PublicPrograms.html. ≈ Plan Bee: 1–2:30 p.m. March 14. Ages ters, going outdoors. Wear nature-friendly, couple, their nest. Fee: $4. 5+ Learn about bees, how to support these weather-appropriate clothing, bring lunch. Ages 12 & younger must be accompanied Oregon Ridge Nature Center low-maintenance insects by creating a Fee: $85. Aftercare (4–6 p.m.) is an extra fee. by an adult at all programs. Events meet at Upcoming events at Oregon Ridge Nature nesting can for your yard. Fee: $5. ≈ Owl Prowl: 7:30–9 p.m. April 10. All the center and require registration unless Center in Cockeysville, MD, include: ≈ Tour the Sherwood House: 1–2:30 p.m. ages. Search for owls on trails. Meet one of otherwise noted. Payment is due at time of ≈ Morning Bird Walk: 8–9:30 a.m. March 21. Adults. Get a behind-the-scenes Irvine’s owls. Fee: $10. registration. Info: 410-612-1688, 410-879- March 13 & April 10. Adults. Bring binocu- look at this home built in 1935. Fee: $4. Info: Stephanie Holzman at 443-738- 2000 x1688, otterpointcreek.org. lars or borrow a pair from center. Free. ≈ A Walk in the Park & Nature Quest 9221, ExploreNature.org. 38 Bay Journal • March 2020 Project Clean Stream: A great way to rally local action By Lucy Heller and everything is more enjoyable Spring marks the beginning of Proj- that way.” ect Clean Stream — the Alliance for Clean Bread the Chesapeake Bay’s annual stream and Cheese cleanup program. It’s a time when the Creek has grown Alliance offers hands-on opportuni- so much that ties through our partnerships with people across residents, businesses, environmental the country organizations, local governments, want to know community groups, houses of worship, how he runs the schools and universities to help restore events. “It all local streams, creeks and rivers. comes down to Project Clean Stream started more making the job than 10 years ago as a one-day event happy and fun,” with a couple of cleanups. Today, it he said. “Thank brings together thousands of volun- people and show teers across the watershed for an entire your apprecia- season of events. tion. They don’t John Long, from the community have to be there, group Clean Bread and Cheese and they don’t Creek, has participated in Project get a paycheck.” Clean Stream and led cleanups along When I talked Bread and Cheese Creek since 2008. with John, his He got involved after purchasing passion for the his grandparents’ house, located on work was clear. the creek in Baltimore’s Dundalk “My favorite neighborhood. “I was dismayed at how part is either horribly polluted the stream had gotten how streams or since I was a child,” he said. “I used to Doug Stanley from Dundalk, MD, helps to clean up a stream. (Alexander Kellum) parks look after play with frogs in it and chase tadpoles, we leave or it’s and there was no trash in the stream “When we were first starting, we were the kids. It’s a toss-up. I mean, I love back then.” pulling out tires and refrigerators…it seeing the kids when you get kids that When John led his first cleanup in fall was just insane. Fast forward to now, are enthusiastic. ‘Oh my God, I found 2008, he and a couple of friends used we mostly find fast food debris.” this and I found that!’ They are just so trash bags left over from the Alliance’s As his group of volunteers happy to be cleaning up. Both of those spring events. They picked up trash expanded, they added a Bear Creek are just incredible.” along the first mile of the 4-mile creek. cleanup. “There is a playground and John’s advice for starting a local They filled an entire 40-yard dumpster the Bear Creek Elementary near Bear cleanup is simple: Just get started. “Even with trash just from that one mile. Creek, and you just can’t have all that if it’s just you. When people see what The next spring, John and his trash near those kids,” John said. “We you’re doing they will join, it will trickle.” friends joined Project Clean Stream also started working on Stansbury 6,045 volunteers at 80 cleanup events Project Clean Stream is just one of and have continued to lead cleanups Park, which was also in really bad and collected 286.13 tons of trash! the resources to help get started. John each year. “Each time we would pick shape. Every year, it just feels like we John said he believes in making the said people just need to start leading a new section until the stream became are adding more and more sites.” most out of his events by providing an the way in their own neighborhoods. much more manageable,” John said. Since 2008, John has recruited enjoyable experience. People often call, asking when he “My whole thing is that if I am the will bring cleanups to their communi- spokesperson for it, I have to make what ties. John explains that their volunteer can be a nasty job enjoyable,” he said. effort doesn’t have the resources and, “For example, a couch that has been sit- more importantly, local leadership ting in a stream all through the summer matters. “I tell them, ‘I can tell you and smells like death — you just have where to get resources and where you to laugh about it, and once people see can get supplies and advertise on our you laugh about it, they will help.” Facebook page for you. But I am not John said that it is all about a team going to do it for you.’ …we learned of volunteers coming together, getting a long time ago that if you do it for to know one another and having fun. somebody, then in a couple weeks it He said it’s important to keep the group will go back to the way it was before. joking and laughing so that they’ll come But if you get the community involved back. One way he does this is through a in it, and they are pulling trash out on contest at every cleanup to see who can a hot day or rainy day, then they are find the weirdest piece of debris. “We not going to let it happen again.” take [those items] up to registration, This year’s season kicks off April take pictures, post on our Facebook 4 and runs through June. To join a page and laugh about it.” cleanup or register a site in your neigh- He also emphasized the importance borhood, visit allianceforthebay.org/pcs. of how one treats volunteers. “Treat Lucy Heller is communications and Members of a Girl Scout troop from Dundalk, MD, show off some of the trash they people well and they will keep coming Maryland outreach coordinator for collected in a stream cleanup. (Alexander Kellum) back. Treat them like family and friends the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay. Bay Journal • March 2020 39 Atlas helps birders move beyond naming a bird to knowing it By Mike Burke

March is a funny month. Sometimes spring seems here to stay. Then, a cold blast barrels through, and mud puddles turn icy and warm coats are needed. It was late March 2019, and the weather couldn’t make up its mind. It started dreary and damp, but the clouds were clearing and the tempera- ture was rising. We took advantage of the brightening skies to take a walk around a local park. Thanks to “Peter-peter-peter.” The melodic data collected whistle was coming from the budding through trees on our left, but we were having eBird for the trouble finding the bird Apparently, it Breeding understood our dilemma, because it Bird Atlas, kept singing until I sang out, “Found we now know him!” For a birder like me, birdsong that the tufted seals the deal: It’s spring! titmouse is The tufted titmouse (Baeolophus expanding its bicolor) is a common and widespread range north- songbird of the Eastern United States. ward, edging Starting in early spring and con- into southern tinuing well into summer, titmice sing Canada. often and loudly. The males sing to (Laura define their territory and attract mates, Perlick / and then to tell others, “This space is U.S. Fish taken. Move on.” and Wildlife Pewter gray on top and pearl white Service) below, the titmouse has a relatively large head with a jaunty crest and thick told me that he hopes birders will use He was also trying to attract a mate. neck. It has big, round black eyes and a the app. During the last effort, the atlas Once they pair off, the female pronounced black patch on its fore- was based on a bit less than 200,000 does all of the work of building the head. Along its sides and toward the paper records. The ease and ubiquity nest. Papa is busy bringing his mate undertail, the bird has peach-to-rusty of using eBird should lead to more food while she incubates the eggs colored feathers. The sexes look alike. than a million data points for the atlas. and protects the nestlings, a process A bird singing in the spring is a Such “big data” is vital to understand- that takes more than a month. When good sign that it’s on its breeding ing abundance, distribution and timing the young fledge, most will begin to territory. And determining where of breeding. disperse. Occasionally, one young bird birds breed is immensely important We now know that the tufted will stick with its parents the following to ornithologists and backyard birders titmouse is expanding its range north- year and may help feed the next alike. The data are used to inform ward, edging into southern Canada. generation of chicks. public policy, identify birds at risk and Anecdotal evidence suggests that Birding at its best is more than even track climate change. Maryland’s state bird, the Baltimore simply seeing a titmouse. A closer Amazingly, most of this informa- oriole, may also be moving north in look, revealing mating behavior, nest tion is gathered by citizen scientists response to climate change. The atlas building, feeding and interactions, under the careful guidance of profes- should give us a clearer picture. turns individual birds into fully sionals. Right now a new, 5-year-old Birders who would like to help realized living creatures. They have effort is under way in Maryland and of volunteers to gather the data. (“We need you!” Foley said.) should their own rich lives, personalities and the District of Columbia to collect For the first time, this year the contact their county/city coordinator. quirks. breeding bird data from every corner data will be submitted through the For a complete list of coordinators, The atlas will add immeasurably to of the state and district. hugely popular eBird computer app. maps, breeding codes and much more, our knowledge of the 220 or so species Observations will be recorded in a I use this app on my cellphone when visit eBird.org/atlasmddc/. that breed in Maryland. It will also Breeding Bird Atlas. This is the third birding. It automatically tracks my Most birds in the Chesapeake breed lead inquisitive birders to look more such effort here and is often referred to location, distance traveled and time. during April and May (and a few into closely and understand more deeply as BBA3. Last March, for example, I entered one June). But there are a number of early the lives of these wonderful creatures. The Maryland Ornithological tufted titmouse. At the end of my trip, breeders. Eagles and owls start breed- That’s a great benefit to birds and Society initiated the process in January I had a complete record of every bird I ing in winter. All of our woodpeckers birders alike. 2019. In collaboration with the state’s was able to identify during our quarter start breeding as early as mid-March, So, when you’re done reading the Department of Natural Resources, a mile, 25-minute walk. as well as the tufted titmouse we saw. Bay Journal, grab your binoculars, put steering committee was formed, con- The atlas has a special portal for Chickadees and Carolina wrens may on your citizen-scientist hat, and head sisting primarily of working scientists. eBird entries. It operates normally, but even start by March 1. out birding. The Breeding Bird Atlas The group designated a person to now my data goes into the atlas, which The singing titmouse last March and more importantly, the birds need serve as county/city leader for every juris- will pinpoint my “block” as well as was establishing his territory. Titmice you. And you just may discover that diction. They further divided each county my species counts and the breeding are cavity nesters, so he was looking you benefit as much as they do. into more than 1,300, 3– to 5-square-mile behaviors I observe. for an abandoned woodpecker hole, a Mike Burke, an amateur naturalist, blocks. The atlas will rely on hundreds Gabriel Foley, atlas coordinator, natural cavity in a tree or a birdhouse. lives in Mitchellville, MD. 40 Bay Journal • March 2020 Migratory fish often face one dam barrier after another By Kathy Reshetiloff

Warmer, longer days, spring flowers and the chorus of frogs and songbirds lure me outside to get moving. And for fish it is no different. Early spring is when many fish species are on the move, migrating to other areas to spawn. The Chesapeake Bay watershed, a kind of watery interstate, is a vital cor- ridor for migrating fish. Resident fish, like yellow perch, move up and down the same river. Anadromous fish jour- ney from oceans to freshwater rivers and creeks to reproduce. Anadromous fish known for their spring spawn- ing runs include blueback herring, alewife, hickory shad and American shad. Conversely, catadromous fish, like American eels, swim downstream from freshwater to saltwater to spawn. In the last 200 years, though, popu- lations of these species have decreased drastically. Other river species are in decline as well. For example, fresh- water mussels, which require a host fish to complete their life cycle, are imperiled throughout their range. One important factor in these These photos show Clifford Branch in Frederick County, MD, before and after a culvert was removed in 2017. A dam, 2 miles declines is due to dams, undersize downstream, was removed in 2012. The two projects will allow brook trout and other native fish passage on the waterway. culverts and other barriers that prevent (Mark Secrist / U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) fish, mussels and other aquatic wildlife from moving to areas to complete their This eelway, life cycle. installed These barriers also impede natural in 2019, river flows and function. Sediments, will help once carried by rivers to coastal immature wetlands, are trapped in reservoirs American and pools above dammed rivers. The eels get past trapped sediments no longer replen- Dam #5 ish coastal marshes, which adversely near Falling affects seafood nurseries and bird providing outdoors recreational oppor- Waters, habitats along shores and estuaries. tunities. Removing or replacing bar- WV, on the Free-flowing rivers are crucial to riers and undersize culverts can also Potomac sustaining healthy fish populations. improve public safety while reducing River. And, they enable mussels, reptiles and maintenance costs and liability to the (David amphibians to reach important breed- owners. Redesigning infrastructure Sutherland / ing, wintering and feeding habitats. also provides skilled jobs in engineer- U.S. Fish Free-flowing rivers sustain important ing and construction fields. and Wildlife natural processes such as cycling Luckily, there are numerous ways to Service) nutrients, distributing sediments and improve or re-establish “aquatic con- maintaining appropriate water tem- nectivity” for fish and other wildlife. perature and oxygen levels. Many partners at the local, state and In addition to barriers, some rivers federal levels — including conserva- have been altered to the point that tion groups and private landowners — they are no longer connected to their are working together on such projects. floodplains. By reconnecting rivers to They have installed structures that their natural floodplains, floodwater get fish and eel up and around dams, can be dissipated and slowly absorbed. removed obsolete barriers such as This improves the resilience of land unneeded mill dams and upgraded and to storms and reduces damage from replaced obsolete infrastructure like floods. Floodplains also provide criti- culverts that block fish movements. cal habitat for small mammals, birds, Enter “Recent Fish Passage News” reptiles and amphibians. and “A Year of Clearing the Way For Natural, healthy free-flowing river Communities and Wildlife” into your systems are essential to the health search engine to learn more. and livelihood of all Americans by Kathy Reshetiloff is with the U.S. improving water quality, recreational Fish and Wildlife Service Chesapeake and commercial fishing prospects and Bay Field Office in Annapolis.