November 2019 Volume 29 Number 8

Striped bass decline spurs new look at mycobacteria ≈ Chronic wasting disease infects most of the striped bass in the Chesapeake By Karl Blankenship When Wolfgang Vogelbein peered at striped bass sores through a microscope 22 years ago, he knew he was looking at something very different than what was grabbing headlines at the time. Pfiesteria piscicida — the so-called “cell from hell” — was being blamed for fish kills in Maryland and making people sick. But what Vogelbein saw through his lens wasn’t the result of a harmful algae toxin. It was a nasty bacterial infection, creating ugly sores on the outside of fish and lesions on the inside. The infections were caused by mycobacteria, a type of bacteria that are widespread in the environment, but not typically associated with problems in wild fish. Suddenly, though, it was turning up in large numbers of the Chesapeake Bay’s A Chesapeake logperch is gently lowered into Chiques Creek, a Susquehanna most prized finfish. River tributary in Lancaster County, PA. Ichthyologists raised 1,500 fingerlings “I thought I would be spending the rest Welcome from 28 caught in the spring as part of a reintroduction effort to keep the fish off of my career working on myco,” recalled the endangered species list. (Dave Harp) See article on page 15. to your new home Mycobacteria continues on page 22 Fox Island and its ‘magical’ classroom on stilts near their final act ≈ Education center inspired waves ity. The cause, according to the conserva- of future Bay advocates, but can no tion and advocacy group, is rising water longer stem tide of rising water that has swallowed about 70% of Fox’s land mass over the last half-century. By Jeremy Cox “It’s a really hard thing for us,” said This is the way the Fox Island Envi- Tom Ackerman, the foundation’s vice ronmental Education Center ends: not president of education. “Fox Island is the with a gale or wrecking ball, but with the heart of our program. In some ways, it’s slow inevitability of wind and waves. the heart of the organization. So, losing it After four decades of hosting students is pretty tough.” and teachers, the spartan, barracks-style According to William Cronin’s building that stands on stilts in the middle book, The Disappearing Islands of the of the Chesapeake Bay is closing its doors Chesapeake, the island group totaled 357 at the end of this season, likely in early acres in 1895. By the book’s publication December. in 2005, it was down to 67 acres. A GIS The Chesapeake Bay Foundation, survey conducted this year by the founda- which purchased the low-lying Virginia tion showed a mere 34 acres remaining. archipelago and its lone structure in 1975, Water laps at the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s education center on Fox Island. is bidding a reluctant farewell to the facil- Island continues on page 24 Rising sea level has led to a decision to close the facility. (Jeremy Cox) 2 Bay Journal • November 2019

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, Climate change increasingly lurks in shadows of Bay’s ills circulation 35,000, is published monthly except in midsummer and midwinter. It is distributed free of charge. Bundles are available Virginia’s Fox Bay region — it is one that increasingly for distribution. Material may be reproduced, with permission Island is pretty touches all others. and attribution. Publication is made possible by grants through much gone, and In our recent reader survey, climate the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Chesapeake Bay rising waters change was one of the issues most Program Office, the Campbell Foundation, the National Oceanic are forcing the flagged by readers as needing more and Atmospheric Administration’s Chesapeake Bay Office, the Chesapeake Bay attention. We also heard from a Sumner T. McKnight Foundation, the Rauch Foundation, the Foundation to number of readers who viewed climate Fair Play Foundation, the Shared Earth Foundation, the Virginia shut its education as a political issue. Environmental Endowment, anonymous donors, and by reader center there But while policy solutions might contributions. Views expressed in the Bay Journal do not as 90% of the spur political debate, the fact that the necessarily represent those of any funding agency or organization. island’s land mass climate is changing at an increasingly has been lost since the late 1880s. rapid rate — and has to be dealt with For mailing list additions/changes, please use the form on this Meanwhile, scientists estimate by community leaders at all levels — is page or contact: Bay Journal, P.O. Box 222, Jacobus, PA 17407-0222 that the number of birds inhabiting increasingly obvious. E-mail: [email protected] our meadows, forests, wetlands and While many factors in the Bay BAY JOURNAL MEDIA backyards has declined by 25% in the region contribute to sea level rise, last half century. One reason is the including land subsidence, the Bay Journal Media is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization with altering of habitats, including coastal global rise in sea level is driving its a mission to further public education and awareness of issues marshes around the Bay, which is acceleration in recent decades. affecting the Chesapeake Bay and the mid-Atlantic environment causing a number of species, such as Our leaders have to account for by creating and distributing journalistic products. In addition the black rail, to decline. that change. And our actions can still to producing the Bay Journal, Bay Journal Media operates Mycobacteria infections in the determine how much change will the Bay Journal News Service, which distributes Bay Journal Bay’s striped bass are likely to further happen in the future. For instance, a articles and original op-eds about the Chesapeake Bay or regional worsen as Chesapeake waters warm. Maryland sea level rise report issued environmental issues to more than 400 newspapers in the region, While much about the disease remains late last year concluded that if we begin reaching several million readers each month. a mystery, it seems to be exacerbated controlling greenhouse gas emissions by warm conditions. now, sea level rise by the end of the Karl Blankenship, Executive Director None of these stories, which you’ll century could be limited to 2 feet this Andrew Nolan, CPA, Chief Financial Officer find in this issue, are directly about century. (That’s still twice the rate of STAFF climate change, but they are all about the last century.) If emissions keep problems made worse by a warming increasing, sea level could rise by an Editor: Karl Blankenship ([email protected]) climate. estimated 3 feet or more. Managing Editor: Lara Lutz ([email protected]) Sea level is rising faster than ever, Like development, climate change Associate Editor/Projects: Timothy B. Wheeler ([email protected]) habitats are changing and water is a pervasive issue altering the Bay CONTACT US Bay Journal News Service Editor: Tim Sayles ([email protected]) temperatures are climbing. and its watershed every day. Whether by mail: Copy/Design Editor: Kathleen A. Gaskell ([email protected]) This collection of articles we are more successful in dealing with The Bay Journal Staff Writer: Jeremy Cox ([email protected]) didn’t happen by design, but by it, globally, as we have been in dealing 619 Oakwood Drive Staff Writer: Ad Crable ([email protected]) happenstance. In reading them, it with development, regionally, remains Seven Valleys, PA Staff Writer: Whitney Pipkin ([email protected]) struck me how — while climate change to be seen. 17360-9395 Staff Writer: Sarah Vogelsong ([email protected]) is far from the only issue facing the — Karl Blankenship Photographer: Dave Harp ([email protected]) by phone: ADVERTISING 717-428-2819 Sign Up for the Bay Journal or Change your Address Marketing & Advertising Director: Jacqui Caine ([email protected]) TheBay Journal is distributed FREE by Bay Journal Media, Inc. 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Clockwise from left: A turkey hen surveys the terrain. To learn about Thanksgiv- ing’s iconic bird, see article on the back page. (Marji Beach CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

The shell on the right is a real oyster shell. The the left shell is artificial and was grown using a process known as biofabrication. See article on page 11. (Dave Harp)

Forrest Pritchard, a farmer in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, adapted his farm to survive economic challenges. See article on page 10. (Char Newswanger) WHAT’S INSIDE

News 18 Is air cleaner on other side of the block? Museum, residents to test theory • Richmond institution, city 4 Scientists raise alarm as North American bird volunteers to monitor air pollution in urban neighborhoods populations plummet • Climate change, loss of habitat particularly devastating for coastal, meadow 19 To aid cleanup effort, study looks at how toxic PFAS move and forest species through soil • Found in everything from plastic to fire-fighting foam, complex chemicals linked to multiple health risks 6 Forest conservation bill draws controversy in MD county • Anne Arundel council waters down bill that would 20 Coalition to think beyond state borders to offset that would make it more difficult to cut down trees for Conowingo flows • Group charged with finding new actions, development sites and funding to reduce nutrient pollution Travel 8 Company gets paid when stream restoration work is proven effective • Unusual financing approach has led to 26 Arlington Woods a living monument to forests of the past large-scale projects in northeastern MD Columns 10 For farmers, Bay cleanup needs mix with fight for survival • As economic pressures take toll, farmers looking to cost-share 38 Steward’s Corner • Correctional collaborative trains new programs, new ventures generation of riparian buffer experts 11 Can bacteria help restore the Chesapeake Bay’s oysters? • 39 On the Wing • Rough-legged hawk’s rare visit to Gettysburg Researchers developing biocement to provide hard strata for strikes a chord oysters to grow on 40 Bay Naturalist • Let’s talk turkey about Thanksgiving’s most 13 New Bay grant projects range from stream buffers to soil famous icon • Many of the efforts are aimed at decreasing nutrient runoff Puzzles & Events from farms 21 Chesapeake Challenge • This grilling oyster quiz is stuffed 14 Can a few hundred mussels become millions in the with bivalve brain teasers Anacostia? • Effort to seed more native mussels in river continues to grow 21 Bay Buddies • Oysters! WE’RE JUST 15 Rare Chesapeake logperch get first release into 34 Bulletin Board • Volunteer Opportunities • Workshops • A CLICK AWAY Susquehanna stream • Scientists hope the restocking effort Events • Programs • Resources will help the struggling species avoid becoming endangered Visit us online: Forum bayjournal.com 16 VA wants to boost its environmental agency, but will it Commentary • Letters • Perspectives Like us on FaceBook: get the money? • Report suggests state will need to more Chesapeake Bay Journal We must save wildlife if we are ever going to save ourselves than merely restore cut DEQ’s lost resources 32 or send us a Tweet: • Rachel Carson no stranger to the @ChesBayJournal • 33 Chesapeake Born 17 Supreme Court will hear Atlantic Coast Pipeline case Chesapeake, its creatures Lower court ruled Forest Service did not have authority to grant permit for pipeline to cross Appalachian Trail 4 Bay Journal • November 2019 Scientists raise alarm as North American bird populations plummet ≈ Climate change, loss of habitat wrens, goldfinches, house finches, spar- particularly devastating for rows and blue jays, to name just a few. coastal, meadow and forest The decline of one of the most ubiquitous kinds of wildlife may be the species strongest evidence yet that Earth’s eco- By Ad Crable systems are in trouble. The study warned It’s hard to imagine a world without that birds, which are widely monitored, birds chirping outside in the morning are prime signals of environmental or during a stroll in the woods. But a health. Birds are important pollinators new study has found that birds are in and seed dispersers, and they keep insect serious decline across North America, populations in check. They also drive a including in considerable the Chesa- economic peake Bay industry region. from There birdwatchers are nearly who feed 3 billion them and fewer birds chase them in North around the America country. than there The were in factors that 1970 — a are driving David Curson, director of bird conservation at Audubon Maryland/DC, said that 29% decline down bird he’s observed the avian decline for some time and that it’s time for people to start during populations “to do things in a better way.” (Dave Harp) a single are accelerat- human The increase in spring heat waves threatens the nest- ing, and the it out for the public to see that we have Bay country, are down by 439 million. lifetime, lings of the prothonotary warbler. Meanwhile, develop- study warns really damaged our environment.” Most of the bird problems along the according ment continues to eat away at its habitat. (Dave Harp) that, unless One of the study’s authors, Michael Bay are due to climate change, said to the study those threats J. Parr, who also is president of the Bryan Watts, director of the Center for published in October by the journal are addressed, some species will be in American Bird Conservancy, said the Conservation Biology at the College Science. The study was done by eight danger of collapse. numbers show “the global wildlife of William and Mary and Virginia scientists with government and private “It’s alarming. It makes me feel like crisis has arrived in our backyards.” A Commonwealth University. bird research organizations in the we are trashing the planet and we need National Geographic writer called the Rises in water levels from a warm- United States and Canada. to do things in a better way,” said David bird plummet “a state of quiet freefall.” ing planet are burying vital habitat Populations of even the most Curson, director of bird conservation at The study’s researchers pored over at the water’s edge, he said. “When common species that people see at Audubon Maryland/DC. “I’ve seen these 50 years of annual bird surveys — you look out on the marshes, it looks backyard bird feeders or outside have trends for quite a few years. This study many by citizen scientists — as well as fairly similar to what it did, but it’s no plummeted — think cardinals, titmice, just kind of brings it all together and lays government counts and radar data from surprise when you look at the small weather satellites that have numbers [of birds] because they can’t been used to track swarms of produce any young due to inundation.“ migrating birds at night. Case in point: the eastern black rail, The study found that the as recently as 1990, was a common Baltimore oriole, so important bird found in marshes along the Bay. to baseball fans in Maryland, Now, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Ser- has dipped by about one-third vice, citing more frequent inundation since 1970. of nests from more frequent storms Among those suffering the and increasingly high tides, has pro- most alarming declines are posed listing the bird as threatened. A birds that depend on shoreline final decision was expected in October. and marsh habitat, including The largest drop in North American those that are emblematic of bird populations is among grassland the Chesapeake Bay. species such as meadowlarks, whip- These shorebirds and poor-wills and horned larks. American wading birds around the Bay sparrows, once a common sight in are currently not threatened yards, had the largest single falloff in but are on the Maryland population, at 717 million, or 53%. Department of Natural The disappearance of grassland Resources’ list of birds most birds makes Curson especially sad. in need of conservation: great “They’re charismatic birds with beau- egret, glossy ibis, brown tiful songs that used to be a feature of pelican, laughing gull, least people’s childhood in the landscape in tern and spotted sandpiper. Maryland and elsewhere.” Together, shorebirds Not all birds showed declines. Rap- A bird bander holds a black rail. As recently as 1990, the eastern black rail was a common bird are down by 17 million, or tors, wild turkeys and waterfowl such found in marshes along the Bay. Now, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, citing the inundation 37%, across North America. as geese and ducks showed large gains. of nests from more frequent storms and increasingly high tides, has proposed listing the bird as Red-winged blackbirds, found threatened. (Woody Woodrow / USFWS) around almost any wet spot in Birds continues on page 5 Bay Journal • November 2019 5

This 2004 photo shows a colony of royal tern on Shanks Island, between Tangier and Smith islands in the Chesa- peake. Because the tern nests on low-lying sandy islands, its young are threatened by the high tides and rising sea levels associated with climate change as well as loss of habitat from shoreline development. (Dave Harp) Birds from page 4 hunters, to preserve their habitats. In the The results of the study have across the United States. Bay region, ospreys, eagles and other grabbed headlines, but the researchers Trees that produce berries, such as Raptors are protected and waterfowl birds of prey have actually increased did not delve into the reasons for the hawthorn, dogwood, crabapple, holly and turkeys each have dedicated because they have been targeted by striking declines. Other scientists and and winterberry, are especially helpful. conservation programs, largely paid by multiyear restoration programs. bird experts, though, have a ready list Two websites that offer tips for improv- of reasons. ing backyard habitat are the National Chief among them is the loss or Audubon Society (audubon.org) and degradation of bird habitat. Develop- National Wildlife Federation (nwf.org). ment, forest fragmentation from energy While Curson endorses individual extraction and changes in farming steps to help birds, he thinks it will practices all contribute to loss of the take collective activism by the public habitat that birds need for eating, shelter to push lawmakers and local govern- and migration. ment officials to adopt policies that The study noted that all of the main help birds. He especially wants to see a habitats that birds depend on, from reduction in the use of pesticides and a grassland to forests to coastal areas, are decrease in greenhouse gases that cause disappearing. climate change. “Fragmented habitats, like you see “This is a political problem, and this in suburbia, make many birds more needs advocacy,” he said. susceptible to predation — especially Dan Ardia, who has studied birds nest and egg predators — parasites, at Franklin & Marshall College in disease and changes in climate,” said Pennsylvania, said, “The most frustrat- Aaron Haines, an associate professor ing aspect to me is that many of these of conservation biology at Millersville impacts can be minimized if there was University in Pennsylvania. public will, especially as it relates to “There has been fairly dramatic cats and to reducing evening lighting in urban expansion [during the study’s buildings.” 50-year period] in the Bay region,” One current focus of conservation- Watts said. “In urban areas, the predator ists is to get Congress to pass the density from cats and raccoons is just Recovering America’s Wildlife Act, too high.” which would dedicate $1.4 billion annu- Plenty of other stressors also are ally to states for the conservation of converging to dent bird populations, declining wildlife populations, includ- experts said. ing birds. Among them: feral and pet cats Researchers involved with the study that roam outside, climate change that noted that the restoration successes disrupts migration patterns, window of waterfowl, eagles, ospreys and strikes, lighted building strikes, cell other species show that wildlife can tower and wind turbine mortality, West be brought back with legislation and Nile virus and pesticides that both kill conservation action. birds directly and the insects they need The possibility of a near-birdless for food. landscape shakes the soul of Bruce “It’s like death from one thousand Carl, a birdwatcher in Akron, PA. “To cuts. It’s many reasons,” Watts said. walk along a trail in the woods and have What can be done? it be consistently silent no matter where Many experts advocate for people you would go would be very disappoint- to make their yards more bird friendly ing,” he said. by planting flowers, shrubs and trees “I just can’t imagine a time when (From “Tallying the Losses.” Reprinted with permission from AAAS that feed and shelter birds. After all, this would be possible. Hoping that day K. Rosenberg et al., Science, adapted by N. Desai / Science) lawns make up about 40 million acres never comes.” 6 Bay Journal • November 2019 Forest conservation bill draws controversy in MD county ≈ Anne Arundel council waters conservation law. down bill that would that would Activists are hoping make it more difficult to cut action in Anne Arundel could inspire other Mary- down trees for development land localities to follow suit. By Timothy B. Wheeler Howard County Executive Battle lines have been drawn in one of Calvin Ball has announced Maryland’s most populous counties over he’s introducing legislation preserving more of its forest land from to strengthen that county’s development, in a debate that could be a forest conservation law, test case for the rest of the state. increasing replanting Responding to public outcry over requirements, raising fees the clearing of trees for houses, offices and tightening variances. and stores, Anne Arundel County On Oct. 21, the Anne Executive Steuart Pittman is pushing Arundel council approved to tighten the county’s protections for more than a dozen amend- existing woodlands beyond what the ments to the administration’s state requires. bill, most of which would Legislation Pittman introduced in ease but not entirely roll early September enjoys strong support back the forest protections from environmental organizations, Pittman had proposed. civic groups and many residents. A Among the changes bipartisan poll done recently for the approved, the council scaled Arundel Rivers Federation reported Trees were cleared on this site in Severna Park in Anne Arundel County, MD, to prepare for back the proposed tightening that more than three out of four voters development. Local officials report that the county has lost 2,775 acres of forest since 2010, or of tree-clearing thresholds, contacted favored the forest conserva- about 300 acres a year, which they say is a greater loss than all of the surrounding counties beyond which developers tion legislation, while fewer than 1 one combined. (Dave Harp) would be required to replant. in 10 opposed it. “We are the first county But the bill has encountered fierce ecologically important woodlands, to reap dividends to water quality.” in the state to raise conservation opposition from builders and business including tracts of 50 acres or more “The evidence is the declining thresholds” beyond what state law groups, who said the measure is so that are deep enough to harbor forest- health of all of our rivers,” Iliff said. requires, said Allison Pickard, the stringent it could make housing less dwelling birds or that border streams He noted that report cards on the council vice chair. She said the smaller affordable and stifle the local economy. ≈ Increase tree planting requirements Chesapeake Bay’s health have given increases approved were as much as County officials say action is ≈ Raise up to sixfold the fees that devel- sub-par grades to all six of the Bay the council majority felt comfortable needed because Anne Arundel has opers must pay when they don’t replant tributaries in the county. making without more information on lost 2,775 acres of forest since 2010, “This is not anything radical,” Pit- Business and real estate industry how the new requirements would affect or about 300 acres a year, which tman told about 200 supporters at an representatives, though, warned of overall growth patterns. She suggested they say is a greater loss than all of Oct. 7 rally held in advance of a public dire consequences if the bill passes the council might revisit the require- the surrounding counties combined. hearing before the county council on as written. They contended it would ments after completing a review of the Opponents contend other data show his legislation. virtually shut down development, county’s long-range development plan. the situation is not that bad, but state The seven-member council heard costing thousands of jobs, aggravating The council majority also voted to figures still tally losses of around 200 from a parade of 75 speakers during the a shortage of affordable housing and exempt redevelopment of already built- acres a year. 3.5-hour hearing, who argued for and depriving the county of tax revenue. up areas from the tougher standards. “By any measure, we are losing against the bill. Environmental and com- “This is not a forest conservation In addition, they reduced the fee forest in this county, and that means munity activists, along with concerned bill. This is an anti-development increases developers and landowners we are harming water quality,” said residents, warned that the quality of the bill,” declared Angelica Bailey, vice would have to pay in lieu of replanting Alison Prost, Maryland director of the county’s air, water and everyday life are president of the Maryland Building trees themselves. Pittman had Chesapeake Bay Foundation, which in jeopardy as forests shrink. Industry Association. proposed a sixfold boost to the fee, supports the bill. They called for prompt action to The county is already facing a with the higher rates reflecting what Anne Arundel’s current forest halt the loss of trees and woodlands in housing crunch, industry representa- his aides said is the value of the conservation law, which mirrors state the county, with a few citing scientific tives say. Limiting how much land ecological services that forests provide requirements, hasn’t stemmed the studies on the role forests play in can be cleared in areas the county in clean air, water, habitat and cooling. decline. Developers are often able to curbing pollution and fighting climate has designated for growth will push The council dialed the fee hikes back clear much of a wooded site without change. A couple even quoted Joyce it elsewhere, they contend — to rural by half or more. They did agree, though, having to replant a single tree. And Kilmer’s classic poem, Trees, and the areas and out of the county altogether. to more than triple the fee for clearing even when developers are required to famous children’s environmental tale Such leapfrog development and land in violation of the forest conserva- replace some of what they cut, they by Dr. Seuss, The Lorax. They urged sprawl would undermine the state’s tion law, from 80 cents per square foot of often opt to pay a fee instead, which the council not to weaken the measure efforts to restore the Chesapeake cleared trees to $3 per square foot. officials say doesn’t actually cover the and to consider making it stronger. Bay and reduce emissions of climate- “These are huge increases,” said cost of replanting. “Forests are the sponges of the land warming greenhouse gases, they said. councilmember Nathan Volke, one of Pittman, who pledged during his that keep stormwater from polluting the More dispersed housing would require those voting to scale back the original election campaign last year to curb waterways,” said South Riverkeeper more driving, stream-killing pave- bill. He said the amended fees would still “reckless development,” put forward a Jesse Iliff before the hearing. “Espe- ment and fossil fuel consumption. be on par with the highest fees charged bill that would: cially in Anne Arundel County,” he The debate echoes one that has by any other locality in the state. ≈ Lower “conservation thresh- added, “where we don’t have large-scale played out without resolution for three But councilmember Lisa Rodvien olds” that specify how much land a agriculture or heavy industry, stormwa- years now at the state level, where argued that they need to be much developer may clear without having to ter is the number one problem for our environmental groups have failed to higher to deter developers from remov- replant or pay a fee rivers and creeks. Anything we can do persuade the General Assembly to ≈ Protect the largest and most to slow it down and soak it up is going strengthen the state’s 28-year-old forest Forest continues on page 7 Bay Journal • November 2019 7

Forest from page 6 ing trees without replanting any. The city of Annapolis, she noted, charges $10 per square foot in such cases. Rodvien, one of only two dissenters to most softening of the bill, proposed a series of amendments to make it stronger instead. She argued that what the county really needs — and what most of the public wants — is a firm policy that there be no more net loss of forest. Anne “They’re sick of seeing trees cut Arundel down,” she said. County But Nathan Pruski, the council Executive chair, countered that he couldn’t Steuart go along with a no-net-loss forest Pittman conservation policy until the county addresses had upgraded transportation, a forest increased affordable housing and conserva- achieved denser development along tion rally in public transit lines. All of Rodvien’s Annapolis, strengthening amendments failed. on Oct. 7. Matt Johnston, the county’s envi- (Timothy B. ronmental policy director, called the Wheeler) council action “a big step forward,” though he noted that the amended “There needs to be an ability for ence significant forest loss. the county’s planning and zoning provisions are not as strong as the those areas to still be job and housing Indeed, Chris Trumbauer, the officer, said that his staff had stopped administration had proposed. centers,” he said. He said he needed to county executive’s senior policy routinely granting modifications to the “We just don’t think this gets us to study the changes more to determine adviser, pointed out that under the law’s requirements whenever develop- where we want it to be,” he said. whether the industry could support it. amendments, developers in some cases ers said it would be too hard to comply. Tom Ballentine, vice president for Ben Alexandro, water program could still clear half of a large forested The revised forest conservation bill policy for the Maryland chapter of the director of the Maryland League of site without having to do anything in was scheduled for a public hearing commercial real estate industry asso- Conservation Voters, said the council mitigation. at 7 p.m. Nov. 4 at the county office ciation, said he appreciated the council changes made the legislation “much Even so, the administration has building in Annapolis, after which the making changes to ensure growth can weaker.” If passed now, he contended, taken one step under the current law to council could vote it up or down or opt occur where the county has planned it. the county would continue to experi- reduce forest loss. Steve Kaii-Ziegler, to amend it further. Using Nature to Restore Nature Restoring the native balance

ernstseed.com [email protected] 800-873-3321

www.ecotoneinc.com 410.420.2600 8 Bay Journal • November 2019 Company gets paid when stream restoration work is proven effective ≈ Unusual financing approach 7 miles of the stream, is has led to large-scale projects probably one of the biggest in northeastern MD the agency has funded. The Cecil Land Trust By Timothy B. Wheeler has had a major role in EIP’s Like two kids playing in the mud, a projects there. Bill Kilby, the pair of excavators carved a new channel trust’s executive director, said for an eroding stream on a farm in Cecil he and Nick Dilks, then with County, MD. One hulking machine the nonprofit Conservation picked up a tree trunk, pivoted and passed Fund, worked together about it across the gash in the ground. The other 20 years ago to preserve grabbed it and deposited it in the bank. Cecil County farmland under Across the Chesapeake watershed, Maryland’s Rural Legacy degraded streams are getting similar program. That experience facelifts in an attempt to curb the flow helped forge their partnership of nutrients and sediment fouling the to put together large-scale troubled Bay. stream restoration projects. What’s unusual about the Cecil Kilby, a former longtime County stream work is its scale — and dairy farmer, used his ties its financing. to the local agricultural While most restoration projects tackle community to recruit up to a few thousand feet of stream at a farmers willing to partici- time, nearly 10 miles of Little Elk Creek pate. It helped that EIP was and Little Northeast Creek are undergo- willing to cover the full cost ing extreme makeovers. of the work and even pay And unlike most such projects, the landowners for setting aside firm directing these is fronting the Two excavators work together to carve a new, more stable channel for a tributary of Little Elk the land needed to establish costs. Ecosystem Investment Partners, Creek in Cecil County, MD. The trunks of streamside trees that have to be removed to refashion riparian buffers. a Baltimore-based company, expects to the creek channel get used to help stabilize the banks, while their stumps and roots go back in “We had to go out and be paid only when the jobs are done and the stream to provide habitat for fish and wildlife. (Dave Harp) convince all these farmers,” proven effective at reducing pollution. he said. “They wanted to do “If we don’t deliver a working proj- to private restoration firms to fix erod- “It reduced our risk,” he said. “It it — most people would like to do it — ect, I don’t get paid,” said Nick Dilks, ing streams or create wetlands. The gave us more confidence because we but it’s just so cost-prohibitive to do it one of EIP’s three managing partners. firms get paid a portion of the money were paying at the end of the project” on their own.” EIP is a relative newcomer to the upfront, then receive installments as instead of paying quarterly installments Still, it wasn’t easy to line up often long-running Bay cleanup effort. Founded the projects proceed. or at multiple milestones along the way. independent-minded farmers along a in 2006, the private company has worked But EIP uses its own funds to scout, The combined size of the projects targeted stretch of stream, Kilby said. The elsewhere until lately, conducting 62 design and execute stream restoration also brought economies of scale, Cohee Little Elk restoration project, for instance, restoration projects in 11 states. projects. It does receive a small portion of said. For example, one stream project required the consent of 11 contiguous It has developed wetland and stream its grant or contract funds once it obtains kept nitrogen pollution out of the Bay at landowners, according to Troy Ander- mitigation banks that encompass 87,000 all necessary permits, but the final pay- a cost of about $700 per pound, he said, son, EIP’s assistant director for operations. acres and restored nearly 79 miles ment is made only after the construction compared with the $2,000 per pound Some hesitated, he said, because of streams. The firm and its partners work is complete and shown after five average for all projects DNR funds. they worried the stream work would restored degraded ecosystems, then sold years to be performing as specified. With the stabilization of the stream’s disrupt their farming operations “credits” for those improvements to devel- The company has finished four eroding channel and the planting of or leave the landscape scarred by opers and government agencies needing projects in Cecil County, in addition about 80 acres of streamside buffer, heavy construction equipment. Kilby to offset the environmental impacts of to the two under way. When all six are Cohee estimated that the four projects assured them their concerns would be new development or road building. completed, EIP will have restored more would keep about 30,000 pounds of addressed, and anything disturbed put Until recently, Dilks said, there than 15 miles of three different streams nitrogen and 2,700 pounds of phospho- back once the project is done. didn’t seem to be much demand in in that northeastern corner of Maryland rus out of the water. “The farmers are trusting us to do the Bay watershed for the large-scale at the head of the Chesapeake. Cecil County chipped in a 10% the right thing,” Kilby said. “I won’t say restoration work that EIP undertakes. The four earlier projects, which in match to the state grants for the Prin- we haven’t done anything wrong. It’s But these days, as watershed states 2017 and 2018 restored about 5 miles of cipio restoration, according to Kordell pretty invasive work.” But the targeted and localities struggle to make the Principio Creek, were mainly under- Wilen, the county’s development plans streams have been so degraded by live- nutrient and sediment pollution reduc- written with nearly $12.5 million in review chief. In doing so, the county got stock incursions and other old farming tions called for in the Bay’s “pollution grants from the state’s Chesapeake and credit toward its Bay cleanup obliga- practices, he said, that it’s not enough to diet,” they are looking for ways to Coastal Bays Trust Fund. tions at a bargain price. just plant trees along the banks. stretch available funds. By putting Until then, the state had been funding The client for the two projects under To do the Cecil projects, EIP has together large projects, EIP promises smaller restorations involving less than way is the State Highways Administra- brought in Appalachian Stream Resto- to lower the per-pound cost of pollution a mile of stream. Most were on public tion, which in 2018 agreed to pay EIP ration, a West Virginia-based firm it has reduction — and guarantee results. land, which ensured access. But the a combined $23 million for the work, worked with before. “In the mitigation business,” Dilks Principio Creek projects involved private slated for completion next year. “We’ve probably built over 200,000 explained, “we’re very used to and land owned by four different families. The EIP projects are among several linear feet of stream with this team,” comfortable with building restoration “It’s a large investment for the state,” the agency has undertaken around Anderson said. projects with our capital and expertise. acknowledged Gabe Cohee, director Maryland to help meet its regulatory Restoration involves re-sculpting and We’re really trying to apply that to the of restoration financing for the state obligations to compensate for polluted rebuilding streambeds to reduce ero- Bay restoration.” Department of Natural Resources. But runoff from state highways. SHA sion, but also to increase habitat for fish Traditionally, state and local agen- the “pay for success” arrangement with spokesman Charlie Gischlar said the cies have awarded grants or contracts EIP made the commitment attractive. Little Elk project, covering more than Payoff continues on page 9 Bay Journal • November 2019 9

Payoff from page 8 explained, the farm was a dairy operation with no stream fencing. and other wildlife. In some cases, they The erosion caused by those cattle straighten an overly meandering stretch getting in and out of the water a bit; in others, they add hairpin-shaped remains. oxbows to slow down high flows. Moore said he liked the idea of The work involves clearing the land restoring the stream when Kilby and removing some streamside trees. But first broached it two years ago. But the contractor uses the felled trunks to he worried about the potential dis- shore up stream banks, and the uprooted turbance. His concerns were eased, stumps are inserted in places, roots he said, after learning from farmers pointing skyward, to provide habitat. involved in the earlier projects that Doug James, Appalachian’s site fore- they were satisfied with the results. man, said the team works with farmers “We certainly want to be good to minimize disruption. While looking stewards of the land,” Moore said, over a sheep pasture where the next “and our goal is to hopefully leave restoration would take place, he said it better than when we got it.” they planned to work around a large To Kilby, it’s a testament to tree under which the flock was seeking the power of networking and of shelter from the sun. building community trust. “I can’t “We want to be very careful and imagine it getting done any other save everything that we can,” he said. Troy Anderson, left, and Dave Urban of EIP examine a rock taken from a Little Elk way.” When construction begins, the Creek tributary in Maryland, where restoration work was finished in the spring. They It’s not clear whether this is the stream’s water gets pumped through a found little aquatic insects on the underside of the rock that were signs of a recovering start of a trend. The DNR’s Cohee pipe around the stretch of channel being ecosystem. (Dave Harp) said that while a few other sizable reworked. When that’s finished, the stream restorations are under water’s restored and tree seedlings, shrubs through clear, rippling water. ing with,” he said. “They don’t want to way, he doesn’t foresee a lot of other and grasses are planted along the banks. The land trust takes responsibility see sediment going into Chesapeake companies being able or willing to front Life returns before long to the for maintaining the stream buffers after Bay. We can make it happen.” the costs of such projects. And there’s channel. While pointing out results of the projects are finished, with some Don and Debbie Moore are among a need to focus more on reclaiming some work in Cecil County, Anderson funds provided by EIP for that purpose. the landowners Kilby has enlisted for smaller stretches of streams in urban and Dave Urban, EIP’s managing As an added environmental benefit, restoring Little Northeast Creek. They areas, where the costs are higher. director for operations, turned over a Kilby said, he’s persuaded some farm- raise grain, hay and sheep on the 150- EIP’s Dilks, though, says he still rock in a stretch of stream restored in ers who agree to the stream restora- acre farm that has been in the Moore sees opportunities to, as he put it, “do the spring and found insects clinging tion to put their whole farm in land family for close to 75 years. well and do good at the same time.” to it. In a stretch of Principio Creek preservation. The Moores keep their sheep out of “I would foresee this happening in finished last year, tiny fish darted “It’s the kind of people we’re work- the creek. But decades ago, Don Moore lots of other geographies,” he said. 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That’s not equity you can use to toll, farmers looking to cost- pay your fertilizer bill, your seed bill or share programs, new ventures any of your inputs.” ≈ In Pennsylvania, farmland values By Jeremy Cox grew from $3,400 to $6,500 per acre over Eighteen dollars and 16 cents. the same three decades. “Farmers have That’s how much money Forrest seen many of their neighbors sell the farm Pritchard cleared in the mid-1990s after to make way for housing developments, his first harvest. His farm in Virginia’s shopping centers and warehouses,” fertile Shenandoah Valley produced five said Mark O’Neill, a spokesman for the freight cars’ worth of corn that year. But a Pennsylvania Farm Bureau. “Once a farm drought sharply reduced his yield, and the is sold off, it is gone forever.” Midwest was having a bumper crop. The math was simply not in his favor. Opportunities So, Pritchard took matters into his ≈ As urban areas encroach on farms, own hands. He scrapped the commercial farmers have seized new marketing fertilizers and heavy machinery and opportunities. Whether at roadside stands, stopped trying to compete against the farmers markets or by subscription, many global marketplace. Today, he sells pork, operations now sell their crops and meat beef, lamb and eggs directly to consumers directly to consumers. Such sales more and restaurants — and looks back only to than doubled from 2012 to 2017 in the observe how far his farm has come. Bay states, reaching $577 million. “How can anyone make money at Forrest Pritchard, a farmer in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, adapted his farm to ≈ Organic farming has offered many farming when we’re growing the stuff survive economic challenges. Many farmers in the Bay region are asked to participate operations a path toward higher returns. with used $150,000 combines on soil that in conservation programs while struggling for financial survival. (Char Newswanger) Pennsylvania farms piled up $707 million demands fossil-fuel nitrates to create a in organic sales in 2017, representing ten- pound of product?” he asked. First, a quick history lesson: Thirty the typical farmer’s paycheck didn’t keep fold growth in the sector over five years. His farm is one of more than 168,000 years ago, many farms were overlever- pace with such expenses. Maryland topped $30 million, tripling its in the six states in the Chesapeake region: aged and began failing when commodity ≈ At first glance, Delaware looks like returns over the same span. Delaware, Maryland, New York, Pennsyl- prices plummeted. The sector’s debt-to- an outlier. Its average farm sold $636,000 The Chesapeake Bay watershed is vania, Virginia and West Virginia. asset ratio — the proportion of its assets in products in 2017, more than three times home to some of the most progressive In 1987, the multi-governmental financed by debt — peaked at 21% in the value of its counterparts in any other farming practices in the country because Chesapeake Bay Program created its first 1986. The crisis led to a multibillion-dol- watershed state. The state’s windfall is of the cleanup program, said the MDA’s specific pollution-reduction targets. Going lar federal bailout of the farming industry. linked to having more-lucrative specialty Schmidt. But farmers, he added, couldn’t forward, every industry would have to do Farms are generally more financially crops, such as watermelons, and the do it alone. its part to clean up the Bay. As the largest solvent today than they were in the chicken industry’s dominance. In Maryland, for example, regula- contributor of sediment and nutrient pol- late-1980s. But insolvency indicators are tions limit farmers to spreading manure lution to the Bay, agriculture would have climbing again. This year, the USDA’s Size & land value as fertilizer at certain times of the year, to play a leading role. Economic Research Service projects the ≈ The typical Bay state farm is less when nutrients are less likely to wash But as Pritchard’s plight shows, those debt-to-asset ratio to reach its highest than half the size of the national aver- into Bay tributaries. So, the state oper- efforts unfolded against a backdrop of level since the early days of the Great age: 178 acres vs. 441 acres. Smaller ates programs to help farmers finance economic turmoil that is rarely acknowl- Recession in 2009. farms have greater difficulty weathering the construction of storage sheds and edged outside Tractor Supply stores and “Over the last three years, we’ve seen financial storms. Larger farms usually transport the manure to fields that need it. farm bureau functions. farming decrease to an insolvent level on have more variable costs — labor and Another program helps to pay for cover Those economic factors could play many of our farms,” said Bill Kitsch, vice animal feed — from which to make cuts crops, plants grown to prevent soil and a significant role in the success of Bay president and agricultural lending manager during lean times. With a higher ratio of nutrients from running off the land. “If cleanup efforts in coming years. All of for Ephrata National Bank in Pennsylvania. fixed costs — such as real estate taxes and we didn’t have these cost-share programs, the states in the Chesapeake watershed “There’s a tremendous amount of stress.” the mortgage — smaller farms don’t have our farmers would not be able to compete are counting on greatly accelerated efforts the same luxury. outside of the watershed,” Schmidt said. to control farm runoff to meet their 2025 The bottom line ≈ Since 1987, the average Bay state The future of farming in the Bay nutrient reduction goals. But if farmers ≈ In all states but one, farmers reaped farm has shrunk by 11 acres. That states, analysts say, will be linked to are struggling economically, many warn more revenue in 2017 than in 1987 after represents a 6% loss of farmland. The consumer demand. That means more they would not have the ability to imple- adjusting for inflation. The gain was at national average was slightly more than direct-to-consumer sales, more organic ment needed conservation measures. least 13% in those states. The exception 4%. Kitsch attributes the steeper decline conversions and greater emphasis on The figures in this story primarily come was West Virginia, where the typical in the mid-Atlantic to greater pressure precision farming (using GPS systems to from two sources: the U.S. Department farm raked in about 6% less than it did from development. manage fields down almost to the foot). of Agriculture’s Census of Agriculture, three decades earlier. ≈ With less land available for till- For his part, Kitsch urges a note of which recently published its first update ≈ Gross income may be on the rise, ing and raising livestock, the price of caution. In the 1990s and 2000s, many farms in five years, and reports compiled by the but net income — how much farmers farmland has shot up in certain areas. In sold off real estate or development rights agency’s Economic Research Service. actually take home — is another story. Maryland, the market value of an acre of to stay solvent. He worries that the latest Because the statistics aren’t tailored After subtracting expenses, roughly six farmland jumped from $4,900 in 1987 generation of farmers will have less to fall to the uneven geography of the Bay’s out of seven farms in the Bay states make to $7,900 in 2017, adjusting for inflation. back on when hard times inevitably come. 64,000-square-mile watershed, the Bay below the federal poverty level for a That’s not necessarily a good thing for “We’re on much shakier ground Journal has used numbers that reflect the family of four, or $25,000 a year. farmers, said Hans Schmidt, assistant economically today than we were during conditions of each of its states in their ≈ Higher costs of machinery and secretary of the Maryland Department the farm crisis of the ‘80s,” Kitsch said. entirety. Nonetheless, the figures paint a equipment ate into farm profits. Nation- of Agriculture and owner of a 2,000-acre With the specter of oversupply once again stark portrait of agricultural life in the late ally, the market value of farm products grain farm in Queen Anne’s County. looming over the marketplace, he said, 1900s and early 2000s — a time of rapid rose 35%, but machinery costs increased “You do recognize your own land value “we’re in the grinder cycle. It’s really a change and fraying safety nets. 50%. In four of the six watershed states, is going up,” he said. “But that’s only on question of who survives.” Bay Journal • November 2019 11 Can bacteria help restore the Chesapeake Bay’s oysters? ≈ Researchers developing of bacteria that doesn’t cause biocement to provide hard strata disease and lives in the soil. for oysters to grow on When mixed with nutrients, Sporosarcina pasteurii spits By Jeremy Cox out calcium carbonate crystals, Ryan Hoover teaches sculpture one of the main ingredients in making at the Maryland Institute College oyster shells. Hoover and his of Art. So, why is he developing a product team combine this mixture with that could help oysters grow in the sand. The crystals grow to fill Chesapeake Bay? the space between the grains, “That’s a fine question,” he said, binding them together. The laughing. result is sandstonelike material The answer is that he prefers to make known as biocement. art that has a function. In this case, he’s The project puts the team using new technology to build better at the front lines of a field artificial reefs for oysters — with an assist still in its infancy. Biofabrica- from nature itself. tion, as it’s called, harnesses The Chesapeake’s oyster population is biological organisms to make believed to be at approximately 1% of its new products. historic abundance. Scientists say habitat Hoover describes the loss is partly to blame. In many places, process this way: In manu- dredging has reduced oyster beds to thin, facturing, humans start with half-buried sheets of dead shells that something nature has made, offer little support for new generations of cut it up into smaller pieces and bivalves. reassemble it into a product. Restoring oyster reefs is one of the top One example: sawing a tree goals of the multistate and federal Bay Ryan Hoover, an instructor at the Maryland Institute College of Art, is working on developing into boards and putting them cleanup program. Oyster shells are widely an artificial oyster substrate that mimics natural shell. The process involves using bacteria to together to form a chair. believed to be the best perch for attracting grow a sandstone-like material. (Andrew Copeland) Biofabrication revolutionizes and growing young oysters, but it’s hard that process. to find enough shells — dead or alive — Hoover is collaborating with the Uni- growing strata for oysters and approach “What if we could take the tree cells to use for restoration. Fishery managers versity Maryland Center for Environmen- the productivity of natural reefs. and assemble those into the shape of a have substituted other materials, such as tal Science on developing a cementlike Well, UMCES is only one of his col- granite, with mixed success. substance that, they hope, will provide laborators. The other is a common type Biocement continues on page 12

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Biocement from page 11 biocement and natural shells may be a cue to young oysters that they’ve found chair?” Hoover asked. a suitable place to settle. The carbonate The field has made headlines for also may affect the water chemistry, promising advancements in medicine, giving oysters a better chance at success. such as efforts to make organs with 3D Gray and Hoover aren’t alone in putting printers. bacteria to work to create oyster reefs. Several universities and startups Biomason, the company with the Air across the country have been racing in Force runway contract, applied last year recent years to develop and manufacture for a patent on a technology in which the products with biocement on a large scale. S. pasteurii bacteria transform fabric, Possible applications, backers said, such as burlap, into a hard strata for the include using it to harden important his- bivalves. The method allows the strata toric buildings, store carbon underground to be formed into virtually any desired and make a grout that shores up soils in shape before it hardens, according to earthquake-prone areas. One of the uses patent documents. closest to being realized involves a North As for the Maryland project, several Carolina company working with the U.S. questions remain unanswered. What is Air Force to build aircraft runways in the best way to grow and shape the bioce- out-of-the-way places where traditional ment? What factors influence the larvae construction is unwieldy. attachment to the material? How does it Hoover is no newcomer to biofabrica- perform in the real world? And how much tion. He developed a biofabrication lab will it cost to make? at MICA a few years ago, where he and Molding biocement to mimic indi- students have developed a range of uses, vidual oysters may not be the best method from colorful petri dish art to vegan wool. going forward, Gray said. To provide The lack of natural shells for restor- more surface area for the floating larvae ing reefs has been an ongoing challenge to find, he envisions forming it into in the Chesapeake. In Maryland, veneers that attach to “oyster castles,” efforts to dredge buried shell have the artificial reefs typically made from been greeted by criticism from anglers individual blocks of recycle shell and and environmentalists, who say the concrete. An entirely biocement oyster practice destroys valuable fish habitat. castle could be time-consuming to make Restaurants and seafood businesses and potentially costly. have partnered to conserve and reuse He would like to get environmental shells. But the total returned to the Bay bang for the buck by collecting the nutri- hasn’t been nearly enough to offset the ents needed for the carbonate creation shells lost to harvest and ensure a ready Matthew Gray, an oyster researcher at the University of Maryland Center for from sewage treatment plants. supply for restoration sites. Environmental Science’s Horn Point Lab, shows the artificial oyster shells he has But that’s well into the future. For Fishery managers have turned to shell grown using a process known as biofabrication. (David Harp) now, Gray and Hoover are trying to alternatives, such as concrete, granite and Below, what looks like an ice cube tray mold is actually the cast for biofabricating gather funding. They have applied for even porcelain toilets. But young oysters, oyster shells using calcium and a bacteria. (Andrew Copeland) $140,000 from Maryland Sea Grant, known as spat or larvae, generally have which would cover two years of had greater trouble latching onto the in on a biofrabrication lecture by Hoover research. They expect to hear whether artificial materials. They also tend to and later introduced him to Gray. they received it this fall. grow at a slower rate. “When I talked to Ryan he was like, Their application included a letter Because biocement consists of some ‘Oh, I think I could make oyster shells, if of support from the Chesapeake Bay of the same ingredients as natural shell, that would be useful,’” Gray recalled. Foundation. Biocement offers a flexible Matthew Gray, Hoover’s partner at They started working together in design that could make it suitable UMCES, thinks spat will be more apt January 2018, at first trying to reproduce for restoration at both public harvest to settle on it and grow compared with a whole oyster shell in biocement form. grounds and at sanctuaries undergoing other artificial alternatives. Hoover initially forged the proper oblong restoration, said Allison Colden, the “Larvae are particular about what shape of an oyster with a 3D printer, group’s Maryland fisheries scientist. they want to settle on,” said Gray, an but it lacked the subtle ridges and other “We believe the study would pro- oyster researcher at the center’s Horn surface details of an authentic bivalve. So, vide ‘proof of concept’ for an approach Point Laboratory near Cambridge. they switched to growing the material in that would address one of the biggest Since biocement eventually dis- silicone-rubber molds. It takes anywhere limiting factors to oyster recovery in solves when exposed to water, Gray and from four days to 1 ½ weeks for the Chesapeake Bay and could improve Hoover hope it proves more palatable bacteria-sand mixture to grow to full size, our own restoration program,” she said to watermen and boaters, who have Hoover said, adding that he hopes to find in the letter. voiced concerns for years that concrete efficiencies to accelerate the process. In a way, biocement and other types and other types of artificial reefs posing Then, it was Gray’s turn to test their of synthetic biology represent a shift permanent navigational hazards. creation with live larvae in a lab. The in thinking about humanity’s relation- “Nobody is really excited about results were promising. More baby oys- ship with nature, Hoover said. Most of dumping a bunch of concrete in the ters attached themselves to natural shells recorded history has seen an “extrac- Bay,” Hoover said. “It’s essentially there Biocement doesn’t have that problem, than on the biocement, but his work tive relationship” between the two, but forever.” Hoover added. showed that biocement was significantly it could become more symbiotic in the It’s also important to consider the Hoover said his interest in biofabrica- more successful than the third material, future. environmental impacts of concrete tion grew out of taking a class at the granite. He counted just 15 larvae on “What if we collaborate with these production, he said. Worldwide, manufac- Baltimore Underground Science Space, granite versus nearly 200 on biocement. bacteria to restore these oysters?” he turing concrete generates about 8% of all a nonprofit makerspace for synthetic Why the difference? Gray speculates asked. “It’s sort of a multi-genus col- carbon dioxide emissions, studies show. biology. An UMCES graduate student sat that the presence of carbonate in the laboration here.” Bay Journal • November 2019 13 New Bay grant projects range from stream buffers to soil health ≈ Many of the efforts are aimed of nutrient and sediment geographic footprints in mind. Blue at decreasing nutrient runoff pollution, much of the funding Water Baltimore, for example, plans to from farms flows their way. allocate $312,000 toward overhauling the This year’s largest project parking lot at the People’s Community By Jeremy Cox in terms of combined support Lutheran Church. The project includes One of the largest grant-making initia- from the Stewardship Fund constructing a rain garden, planting trees tives dedicated to the Chesapeake Bay and local financing is the and treating the lot’s surface to reduce cleanup has announced it is doling out Alliance for the Shenandoah stormwater runoff. nearly $13 million this year. Valley’s $4.7 million effort to The District’s lone project will involve The U.S. Environmental Protection expand conservation practices using soil amendments to reduce ground Agency and National Fish and Wildlife on farmland. The group hopes compaction and improve soil health on Foundation said Oct. 10 that the funding to recruit 90 more farmers into opens lands. The project’s price tag is will be divided among 47 projects spread the program while extending $400,000. across the Bay region. The amounts 106 miles of fencing to keep Improving brook trout habitat is the range from $1 million to Virginia Tech livestock out of streams and subject of three Trout Unlimited projects, for improving agricultural soil health The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation announced planting 490 acres of vegetated including $455,000 for the Potomac River to $38,629 to test buffer alternatives on nearly $13 million in new grants at Our Lady of Mount streamside buffers. in West Virginia, $300,000 for the North poultry house properties in Delaware. Carmel School in Essex, MD. The school received a grant A nearly $2 million Penn River watershed in Virginia and $525,000 The federal agency and the conserva- in 2017, which supported the construction of rain gardens State project has similar goals for Western Maryland watersheds. tion grantmaker jointly oversee the and the planting of native trees, shrubs and perennials on in the lower Susquehanna The funding doesn’t leave out oysters. Chesapeake Bay Stewardship Fund, its campus. (Will Parson/Chesapeake Bay Program) River watershed. The initia- Projects getting support include a Chesa- which has awarded more than 1,200 tive plans to create 75 acres peake Bay Foundation plan to create a grants totaling $158 million since its the foundation’s executive director. of forested streamside buffers and 7,500 2.5-acre oyster reef in the Western Branch inception in 1999. Those investments Funding has been set aside for projects feet of stream restoration while improving of the Lynnhaven River in Norfolk, brought in an additional $238 million in in all six states in the Bay watershed as soil health on 1,360 acres of farmland. VA, and a Lynnhaven River Now effort matching funds. well as the District of Columbia. The The focus is on Lancaster, Lebanon and to restore 3 acres of reefs in the river’s This year’s $12.7 million outlay is projects will be led by environmental Dauphin counties. eastern and western branches. being matched by $21 million from local groups, local governments, conservation The Maryland Department of Additional support for the grants sources, officials say. districts, faith-based organizations and Agriculture also received $2.4 million is provided by the U.S. Department of “These grants will help local commu- educational institutions. for a program that aims to educate 150 Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conser- nities and conservation partners restore Many of the projects aim to reduce producers, create an advisory committee vation Service, U.S. Forest Service, U.S. and protect rivers and streams, improv- the amount of nutrients and sediment that for the state’s Healthy Soils Program and Fish and Wildlife Service and the Altria ing water quality and the ecological wash into waterways that flow into the establish baseline soil health measures. Group Restoring America’s Resources health of the Bay,” said Jeff Trandahl, Bay. Because farms are a leading source Some of the recipients have smaller partnership. Support our nonprofit journalism and your donation will be doubled! Campaign starts November 1st!

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www.BayJournal.com/donate 14 Bay Journal • November 2019 Can a few hundred mussels become millions in the Anacostia? ≈ Effort to seed more native mussels in river continues to grow By Whitney Pipkin Last fall, Jorge Bogantes Montero of the Anacostia Watershed Society helped to transfer tiny, hatchery-raised mussels into protective baskets in the Anacostia River. At the time, Montero said, he “didn’t have any expectations” that they would survive. But, under the careful watch of the watershed group and local schoolchildren who helped monitor their growth, nearly 92% of them did. Now, the pilot project that started with 9,000 quarter-size mussels placed in a river no one was sure could sustain them has graduated to a much Volunteers, above, prepare bigger one. In late September, the to release hundreds of mus- surviving mussels — some of which sels that grew in baskets in grew as much as 2 inches over the last the Anacostia River over the year — were disseminated to several last year under a project led other locations in the river, from the by the Anacostia Watershed marshes around Kingman Island to the Society. faster-flowing waters near Yards Park. Numeric labels were super- Projects to circulate mussels through glued to the shells of mussels more of the Chesapeake Bay’s freshwa- that were spread in portions ter systems have been picking up steam of the Anacostia on a rainy as more people recognize the bivalves’ Sept. 30 morning. The labels powerful water-filtering capacity. will help researchers identify Although most of the species used for Jim Foster, president and CEO of the Anacostia Water- mussels they promulgated restoration projects won’t show up on a shed Society, prepares to toss a pair of mussels into the during future surveys. local menu, they function like the Bay’s Anacostia River near Kingman Marsh. (Whitney Pipkin) (Photos / Whitney Pipkin) beloved oysters by providing food and filtration to local ecosystems. were released that day despite a steady able in the water column is great, appar- dropping off two to four weeks later “Mussels filter the water. They take rain. “You can just look out on the ently. They’re not dying but growing.” to continue feeding and growing in a nutrients and bacteria and sediment river today and see that this is a river Montero has worked closely on the series of tanks. out,” said Jim Foster, president and worth turning back into an asset for project with fish biologist Rachel Mair Now that the Anacostia mussels CEO of the Anacostia Watershed the people who live here — and for the from the Harrison Lake National Fish have grown successfully in their pro- Society. “We see this as an opportunity generations to come.” Hatchery, located along the James tective baskets at eight sites along the to help naturally clean up the river.” Mussels were far from the minds River south of Richmond. The facility river, the organization will test their Researchers know of eight mussel of advocates determined to improve and others like it are spawning the next ability to survive in wetlands and on species that are native to the Ana- the health of the Anacostia River until generation of mussel researchers and the river bottom. Volunteers on Sept. costia. So far, they’ve had success Montero started finding them in and hundreds of thousands of mussels for 30 tossed hundreds of the adolescent promulgating three of them: Alewife around grass beds that his organization rivers like the James and Anacostia. mussels into semi-protected portions floaters — which grew the fastest this was helping to restore in 2015. The The hatchery produces thousands of Kenilworth Marsh, where Montero past year — Eastern pondmussels and next year, a biologist from Maryland’s of baby mussels each year and grows said wild mussels have been found Eastern lampmussels. Department of Natural Resources helped them until they’re more likely to before, “so we know it’s good habitat.” Montero, a natural resources them conduct a survey for mussels. They survive in the wild. All three species By the end of October, Montero specialist with the watershed society, found a couple of dozen, enough to form in the Anacostia project rely on a host said, about 8,700 mussels would be estimates the mussels already filtered a baseline of the river’s health and sow fish to complete their life cycle, so the spread to new locations in the river. more than 32 million gallons of water the seeds of a new project. propagation process is delicate. Sites were chosen to avoid areas in their first year and said that more A collection at the Smithsonian With the DOEE funding, the water- where dredging might take place in the reaches of the river stand to benefit Institution suggests how much of the shed group plans to add two more spe- future as part of the ongoing work to from their presence. river’s mussel population has been lost. cies to the mix: the Eastern floater and remove the toxic legacy that industry In August, the District of Columbia’s On display are the shells of mussels Eastern elliptio. The latter seems to left along the river bottom. The Department of Energy & Environment that were once abundant in a stretch of rely on the American eel to reproduce, District intends to release by the end of gave the organization a $400,000 grant the river near Benning Road around and the hatchery is experimenting the year a plan for initial steps to clean to distribute another 35,000 mussels the turn of the 20th century and into with in vitro fertilization techniques to up contaminated sediment. in the river and involve 400 District the 1950s. Last year’s pilot project was promulgate it. Foster said his organization is students in the process. DC Water also a first stab at reintroducing some of The Virginia hatchery grows the interested in the mussels’ ability to is contributing to the project. those species, and it seemed to work. mussels by collecting females that remove not only nutrient pollution “Let me say that cleaning up an “In the back of our minds, we were already have larvae in their gills. The but also contaminants such PCBs and urban river like the Anacostia River expecting more mortality — because staff then extracts the larvae with a microplastics from the water column. takes a lot of hands, a lot of partner- it’s the Anacostia River — but that needle (to mimic a fish rubbing against If a few thousand mussels can help ships,” Tommy Wells, director of wasn’t the case,” said Montero, who it) or allows the mussel to release them. clean millions of gallons of Anacostia DOEE, said on a boat near Kenilworth reported that just 8% of the mussels Placed into tanks with their host fish, water, he said, imagine what a few Marsh, where a few hundred mussels died in the first year. “The food avail- the larvae will attach to the fish before million could do. Bay Journal • November 2019 15 Rare Chesapeake logperch get first release into Susquehanna stream ≈ Scientists hope the restocking were transported effort will help the struggling to Penn State to species avoid becoming fatten up and be close to stocking endangered sites. By Ad Crable This fall, Just a few miles from where project manag- they were first discovered in 1842, ers have begun about 100 globally rare Chesapeake returning Chesa- logperch, raised in captivity, were peake logperch released with great fanfare Sept. 27 to native streams into a tributary of the Susquehanna from which they River in Lancaster County, PA. had long van- A phalanx of government officials ished. The fish and members of conservation groups, were tested to all holding cameras, stood by in make sure they waders and rolled-up pants as the were not carry- 1.5-inch fingerlings were eased into the ing any diseases sun-dappled riffles from oxygenated or parasites. plastic bags and sent on their way. Releases will The day before, biologists had be into small trib- taken steps to give the fish their utaries instead of best chance of survival: They gently the river because electro-shocked the water to raise other scientists said fish to the surface and captured 15 they believed the species that might compete with — or fish could find eat — the new releases. The species of each other more concern were relocated to the main- easily there than stem of the river, said Doug Fischer, a in large rivers. biologist with the Pennsylvania Fish Doug Fischer of the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission holds a container of fingerling Chesapeake Also, by and Boat Commission. logperch shortly before their release into Chiques Creek, a Susquehanna River tributary. (Dave Harp) releasing the It was a milestone just one year into young logperch in a four-year project to reintroduce the Chiques Creek, scientists hope that the tiny member of the perch family to a fish will imprint on the creek and return handful of Susquehanna tributaries in in another two years or so when they southern Pennsylvania. The hope is are ready to spawn. To find out, the little to keep the fish off the federal endan- logperch are fitted with color-coded tags gered species list. so they can be identified later as part of So far, the project is going swim- the group released into Chiques. mingly. From 28 fish captured in “I’m very excited about it,” said Jay March from three Pennsylvania Stauffer, a professor of ichthyology at streams just north of the Maryland Penn State University. “We have every line, about 1,500 fingerlings were reason to believe they will reproduce raised in propagation tanks in Tennes- and this project will be a success.” see and at Penn State University, along Stauffer first caught Chesapeake with sand and pebbles from their home logperch as a teen doing volunteer streams. work in 1969. At the time, he had no About 800 of them were stocked idea he was handling a rare fish and over two days in September into would later be involved in the effort to Chiques Creek, just a few miles from bring them back. where botanist Samuel S. Haldeman The team will be working for discovered the logperch species in another three years to propagate 1842. The fish disappeared from the logperch and reintroduce them into creek long ago, probably the result of perhaps three more home waters a combination of dams, which block Biologists, government officials and members of conservation groups were on devoid of the species. To begin a their spawning runs, and pollution. hand for the logperch reintroduction, part of an effort to keep the fish off the new round of propagation, they have Haldeman reported his findings and federal endangered species list. (Dave Harp) already captured about 50 adult log- described the fish’s zebralike dark bars perch in a different Lancaster County to the nation’s nascent scientific com- None have been found in the Pennsylvania Wild Resource Conser- stream and in another stream across munity. But the fish were mistakenly Potomac Basin since 1938. But they vation Fund, Susquehanna River Basin the Susquehanna in York County. lumped in with other logperch darters. were found in recent years in a handful Commission and others. They’ll also be monitoring the Then, in 2008, DNA testing proved of Susquehanna tributaries in Pennsyl- Adult logperch captured from three activities of released fish. that Haldeman’s fish was a separate vania and Maryland. Lancaster County streams were sent One sign of success will be finding species that only lived in the mainstem The discovery set off a save-the- to a rearing facility in Knoxville, TN, the released, tagged fish later swim- of the lower Susquehanna in Maryland Chesapeake logperch effort with run by Conservation Fisheries, Inc., ming as adults in the Susquehanna. and Pennsylvania and its tributaries, as partners that include the state fishery a nonprofit dedicated to propagating That will be an elusive search, but well as the lower Potomac River drain- agencies in Pennsylvania and Mary- nongame fish, many of them imperiled scientists will use scuba divers, under- age in Virginia. As such, it earned a land, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, species. The fish reproduced better than water drones and low dosage electric new name: the Chesapeake logperch. Pennsylvania Biological Survey, anyone had hoped. Later, the young nets to aid their quest. 16 Bay Journal • November 2019 VA wants to boost its environmental agency, but will it get the money? ≈ Report suggests state will need DEQ referred similar to more than merely restore cut water quality viola- DEQ’s lost resources tions to the Attorney General’s Office over an By Whitney Pipkin unpermitted clearing at Ralph Northam campaigned Fones Cliffs on the Rap- for Virginia’s highest office on his pahannock River, which Chesapeake Bay roots, and he seemed resulted in steep fines. to be making good on those promises The company behind when he made reforming the state’s that project has since environmental agency his sixth order filed for bankruptcy. of business last year. CBF’s Sanner said A new report details what the state’s she had hoped the report Department of Environmental Qual- would go a bit further to ity needs to fulfill its mission, though “articulate the protocol” it will face some financial hurdles to for when the agency be enacted. Overseen by Secretary of would turn cases over Natural Resources Matthew Strickler, the to the attorney general report suggests that restoring the agency’s for enforcement. For budget and staff. Since 2001, DEQ’s now, Strickler said the general fund appropriations have been relationship between the reduced by $46 million, and 74 positions two parties has worked have been lost. well and is one that The 14-page report states that its rec- “will continue to grow ommendations “will require identifying into the future.” additional resources and authorities for Evaluating the the agency.” The need for both money impacts of federal and additional authority — likely to be Citizens attending a meeting of Virginia’s State Water Control Board in August 2018 waved signs rollbacks to environ- reiterated in Northam’s proposed budget asking for pipeline permits to be revoked. (Whitney Pipkin) mental laws — and due in mid-December — will be subject whether state programs to the general assembly’s approval in funding in its five-year funding plan over its approval of permits for two would need to step into the gap — was early 2020. for the state, released in July. Jeremy major natural gas pipeline projects one of three main tasks the governor “I think this report really comes Slayton, a spokesman for Dominion crossing the state. At public meetings asked the report to address. He also down to funding,” said Mary Rafferty, Energy, a utility company whose about the pipeline permits, residents asked the report to identify any critical executive director of the Virginia energy-generating facilities are regu- who lived near construction expressed or time-sensitive updates to regula- Conservation Network, which partners lated by DEQ, agreed with the orga- dismay at a perceived lack of oversight tions and to work with stakeholders with more than 100 environmental nization’s conclusion that “additional while agency officials said they did to understand how the agency could organizations in the state. agency funding is necessary.” not have the staff to fully monitor the improve its communications with the Leading up to the governor’s order, The general assembly didn’t follow project while it was under way. public, particularly with underserved a 2017 report had revealed that Vir- the recommendations of the group’s last Both of the pipeline projects are and lower-income residents. ginia ranked near the bottom among plan, but this is the currently on hold For Rafferty, the report’s assess- states for the percentage of its annual first year the group as the courts con- ment of state laws in the context of budget dedicated to protecting and has specifically sider challenges federal rollbacks was one of its most enhancing natural resources. Northam asked for increased “Without additional to key federal important elements. said in 2018 that he wanted to nearly funding for agen- permits. “Right now, given where the rollbacks quadruple the state’s natural resources cies like DEQ. resources,” the report states, Strickler are happening at the Trump administra- budget, which includes the environ- “There is wide- pointed to two tion, it is really good to see the Northam mental agency, from less than 1% of spread recognition “the additional progress projects that were administration step up and want to be a the general fund to at least 2%. that the agencies referred to the backstop to some of the worst rollbacks A decrease in regular contributions have been starved envisioned by [the governor’s Virginia Attorney we’ve ever seen,” she said. from the state’s general fund is not and can’t accom- order] will not be possible.” General for litiga- The state already has enacted coal the only problem. Permit fees and plish what they tion last year as ash disposal requirements that are penalties, which are often set in state need to do,” said evidence of DEQ’s stricter than the federal requirements, code, have not been raised in recent Peggy Sanner, the willingness to for example, and the General Assem- years despite the increasingly complex Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s Virginia use more enforcement action against bly is likely to again consider linking tasks and growing workload that DEQ assistant director and senior attorney environmental violators. up with other states in their efforts to must process for development projects. and a member of the group. “DEQ has to walk a fine line if reduce carbon pollution by joining the The report suggests both factors be Last year, the governor got less than they’re going to go after someone who’s Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. revisited and legislation be passed that 35% of a $2.5-million “immediate” an egregious violator,” Strickler said. An off-year election in November would allow permit fees and penalties infusion that he requested for DEQ, “If they put a big penalty on the table, also could change the makeup of to keep up with inflation and cover the including funds to support permitting the other party might not consent… the General Assembly just before costs incurred by the agency needing and monitoring and to upgrade the the [Attorney General’s] Office has a Northam releases his budget proposal to take enforcement action. agency’s website. lot more tools in their toolbox to hold in December. Virginiaforever, an organization “Without additional resources,” the people accountable under the law.” The report, Rafferty said, “is an encompassing both business leaders report states, “the additional progress Attorney General Mark Herring incredibly important step in this pro- and environmental organizations, envisioned by [the governor’s order] ended up suing the Mountain Valley cess, but it still is just a report. It needs didn’t balk at the report’s recommen- will not be possible.” Pipeline project, which DEQ referred funding and resources in order to get dations. Instead, the group agreed with In recent years, DEQ has been the to his office, after the project racked up some of these important initiatives off the need for more natural resources subject of increased public scrutiny hundreds of sediment control violations. the ground.” Bay Journal • November 2019 17 Supreme Court will hear Atlantic Coast Pipeline case ≈ Lower court ruled Forest Appalachian National Scenic Trail Service did not have authority with the help of horizontal drilling to grant permit for pipeline to technology that would keep con- struction away from the trail itself. cross Appalachian Trail “More than 50 other pipelines By Whitney Pipkin cross underneath the Appalachian The U.S. Supreme Court said in Trail without disturbing its public early October that it plans to revisit use,” Dominion’s statement said, a lower court’s ruling that forced adding that the pipeline would be Virginia’s largest electric utility to halt installed more than 600 feet below construction on a $7.5 billion natural the trail’s surface and more than a gas pipeline in the southwest corner of half-mile from each side of the trail. the Chesapeake Bay watershed. “The public interest requires a clear The project’s backer, Dominion process for the issuance and renewal Energy, petitioned the court to con- of permits for such pipelines, and sider the case after the Fourth Circuit other essential infrastructure.” Court of Appeals in late 2018 vacated The Supreme Court has not yet a permit from the U.S. Forest Service. scheduled when it will hear the case, The permit would have allowed pipe- but attorneys said the hearing would line construction to cross the Appa- likely take place in the spring of lachian Trail and 21 miles of national 2020 with a decision some time that forest lands. It is one of seven federal summer. permits related to the project vacated The 605-mile-long natural gas by the courts, resulting in a construc- pipeline is one of two contentious tion stoppage dating to late 2018. pipeline projects under way in parts “The Supreme Court’s acceptance of West Virginia and Virginia. of our petition is a very encouraging The Atlantic Coast Pipeline in West Virginia in 2018. Construction on the pipeline has Virginia’s Attorney General Mark sign and provides a clear path forward been halted since December as judges have revoked or questioned key federal permits Herring and the state Department to resolve this important issue,” for the project. The fate of one permit will be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court. of Environmental Quality sued the Dominion spokesman Aaron Ruby (Pipeline Compliance Surveillance Initiative) other project, the Mountain Valley said. “The law and the facts are on our Pipeline, in late 2018 over more than side, and we’re supported by a broad and habitats known to be frequented vulnerable to legal challenges. In a 300 environmental violations, mostly coalition of stakeholders.” by endangered species. Judges have 50-page opinion accompanying the related to improper erosion control and A Virginia-based group of environ- sent several permits back to the federal endangered species permit decision, stormwater management after con- mental and historic preservation groups agencies that issued them, asking them the court seemed to agree. struction began during a soggy year. represented by the Charlottesville-based to revisit their criteria and, in some “In fast-tracking its decisions, the The Supreme Court declined to hear Southern Environmental Law Center cases, consider an alternative to the agency appears to have lost sight of a different pipeline case over the use of opposes the permit. A lawyer from proposed route. its mandate under the [Endangered a “quick take” type of eminent domain SELC said the groups would continue In July, the same Fourth Circuit Species Act]: ‘to protect and conserve by backers of the Mountain Valley to defend the lower court’s decision. Court of Appeals overturned a U.S. endangered and threatened species and Pipeline. Landowners in the path of Greg Buppert, an SELC attorney, Fish and Wildlife Service permit that their habitats,’ ” Chief Judge Roger L. that 300-mile-long pipeline through said the Supreme Court’s decision to allowed the Atlantic Coast Pipeline Gregory wrote in the opinion. West Virginia and Virginia contended take up the case “does not mean that to impact endangered species. At Dominion officials contend the that the project should not have been Dominion has won this issue.” He the time, Dominion predicted that project is necessary, pointing to able to begin construction on their continued, “At this point, five years the revocation would not impact the growing demand for natural gas-based properties without first paying them into this project, Dominion still doesn’t project’s cost nor its timeline for energy along the proposed pipeline’s “just compensation,” but the high court know the route for its pipeline.” completion by 2021. route. They are confident, too, of their will not review their case. Environmental groups have ques- Environmental advocates argue that case before the Supreme Court, which Both projects’ paths cut across tioned the government’s decision to several federal permits were initially hinges on whether the Forest Service forested, sometimes steep, terrain and grant Dominion permission to lay the issued in haste under political pressure has the authority to issue a permit for crossed streams in Virginia more than pipeline across federal lands, streams from Dominion E`nergy, leaving them the pipeline to be built beneath the 1,000 times, reports noted.

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MDSWM.com 18 Bay Journal • November 2019 Is air cleaner on other side of the block? Museum, residents to test theory ≈ Richmond institution, city the front of the museum, is the volunteers to monitor air city’s sought-after Fan District pollution in urban neighborhoods neighborhood, with shaded streets and historic homes that By Whitney Pipkin sold for an average of $456,000 Summer temperatures in Richmond in September, according to can be 16 degrees hotter in a down- Redfin, a real estate brokerage. town ward than in a wealthy, tree-lined And just northwest of the neighborhood five miles away. But museum is Scott’s Addition, the citizen scientists who found that an industrial-turned-urban out in 2017 now hope to answer a new enclave that has added 3,500 question: Does the quality of air that residents over the last seven citizens breathe also depend on their years, according to its business ZIP codes? association. The average house The project, led by the Science there sold for $280,000 last Museum of Virginia in Richmond, aims month, according to Redfin. to again harness the data-collection Redeveloped to include addi- efforts of volunteers to paint a more tional housing and more than a accurate picture of the air around them dozen breweries, the Richmond and the ways urban development and Times-Dispatch called the climate change could be altering it. neighborhood a “magnet” for “It’s amazing how much you can millennials. learn from a data set that the people But all of those low-lying who live in [the area] generate,” said buildings and brick-and- Jeremy Hoffman, chief scientist at the asphalt surfaces make this museum. neighborhood one of the city’s And there is still a lot to learn about Jeremy Hoffman, chief scientist at the Science Museum of Virginia in Richmond, said, “It’s hottest. Other studies indicate air quality in the city. amazing how much you can learn from a data set that the people who live in [the area] those same factors could make The Virginia Department of Envi- generate.” (Whitney Pipkin) the air quality worse there, but ronmental Quality has been measuring Hoffman says he’s keeping an ozone pollution outside of Richmond at both the heat and air quality projects Vivek Shandas. The professor’s data “open mind.” one of 40 stations in the state since the also will play a role in the city’s climate collection in the West Coast city has “My favorite way to frame studies early 1970s. But those stations, which resilience plan, RVAgreen 2050, which shown a correlation between lower- like ours is under the idea that there’s once focused on industrial pollutants strives to reduce inequitable impacts. income neighborhoods and higher no difference between one place and outside the city, are far away from the Alicia Zatcoff, Richmond’s sustain- temperatures. The urban heat island, another,” he said. “If we walk into it capital’s urban core, where air quality ability manager, said she’s glad to see he found, was more like several islands thinking Scott’s Addition is going to can vary widely. another project “that enables residents where temperature could differ from have poorer air quality than everywhere And while industrial pollution who are most affected by climate block to block. else, then we’re not really testing some- controls have lowered harmful emis- change impacts to participate in citizen But, working at a museum whose thing. We’re seeking something.” sions in some areas, a movement of science projects.” mission is to connect people to science, The stationary sensors the museum residents into the city could be increas- A $250,000 grant from the federal Hoffman wasn’t interested in conduct- will be using can record various sizes ing air pollution elsewhere. Studies Institute of Museum and Library ing the study entirely by himself. The of particulate matter in the air, from have shown that the factors that make Services will make the air-testing museum worked with Groundwork ash and soot to dust and pollen. The parts of the city hotter — such as more project possible, putting 30 air sensors RVA, a nonprofit that engages young handheld sensors go a bit further by paved surfaces, more cars and fewer into volunteers’ hands and install- people in environmental issues, to enlist also recording the presence of volatile trees — can worsen air quality, too. ing another 30 around the city. Data nearly 40 citizen scientists in the effort. organic compounds. That includes “You can’t surmise that it’s the collection will begin in the spring and “The results of that study have nitrogen dioxide, a precursor to ozone same on every single block,” Hoffman results will be disseminated through- kind of elevated the museum’s place that doesn’t always turn into ozone — said. “I think that’s where our study out the three-year project. The money in the city’s discourse about the and, therefore, wouldn’t be detected by will be useful: identifying places also will support the data-projection environment,” Hoffman said, “because some tests. where people are disproportionately exhibit and fund a full-time staffer to we enabled residents of the city to But nitrogen dioxide has increas- exposed to air pollution, so we can spearhead the monitoring work. discover something for themselves that ingly been linked to environmental make informed decisions.” Museum officials say the funds was also useful to the city.” health hazards, such as airway inflam- The data about city heat and air will help them continue to interpret Baltimore and the District of mation and reduced lung function, quality will eventually be projected the impact of a warming climate on Columbia conducted their own heat according to the American Lung as a map-based display on a large Richmond residents. studies in 2018, and 10 more cities fol- Association. Poor air quality, overall, wall inside the museum as part of a “Our personal health is intimately lowed suit this summer with the help can exacerbate allergy symptoms and new exhibit. And — if the use of the linked to the health of the environ- of grants from the National Oceanic asthma, inhibit lung function and con- museum’s urban heat island data is ment,” said the museum’s chief wonder and Atmospheric Administration. tribute to diseases such as bronchitis. any indication — it will also be used officer Richard Conti. He added that The air quality monitoring will take Some of the particulates that are a to inform decision makers and help the funds help the museum “explore place in neighborhoods close to the concern for public health can also be a reduce temperatures and air pollution the backyard impacts of global climate museum. “We thought, ‘Why not start concern for local water quality when in the city’s hotspots. change” and help residents “build more in our backyard?’” explained Jennifer they fall onto paved surfaces and are So far, the heat data has spawned resilient communities.” Guild, the museum’s manager of com- washed into the nearest stream. a volunteer group called Throwing Hoffman, who came to the museum munications. “It’s all kind of tied together,” Shade RVA, run by Groundwork RVA, in 2016 from Oregon, got the idea to The surrounding area includes a range Hoffman said. “So by understanding which plants trees and designs shade measure temperatures in Richmond of neighborhoods that represent some of air quality, you can actually do a lot structures to lower the temperature in from a professor of urban studies and the block-by-block diversity across Rich- to better understand the health of the densely urban areas. The data from planning at Portland State University, mond. Across Broad Street, which passes whole environmental system.” Bay Journal • November 2019 19 To aid cleanup effort, study looks at how toxic PFAS move through soil ≈ Found in everything from The collected liquid samples plastic to fire-fighting foam, went to be analyzed at the complex chemicals linked to laboratory of Lee Blaney, associate professor and multiple health risks environmental engineer at By Timothy B. Wheeler the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Brian Shedd has been spending time Blaney, who specializes this year in a musty old brick build- in studying contaminants, is ing on Baltimore’s waterfront, where set up to analyze PFAS to the he’s hoping to unlock the secrets of a specifications of the federal troublesome family of toxic chemicals government. He uses two contaminating water supplies across the sophisticated instruments United States. to identify and measure Shedd, a geologist with the U.S. the ingredients of complex Army Corps of Engineers Baltimore chemical mixtures down to District, set up a laboratory in the 19th minute levels. century structure, which once served as PFAS compounds are a guardhouse and ordnance storehouse “very hard to work with,” on the grounds of Fort McHenry, the Blaney said. Because they’re historic harbor fortress that played a generally present at very starring role in the War of 1812. low levels in water samples, There, in a small compound just he noted, “A little bit of outside the walls of the national historic contamination can throw off monument, the Corps’ Baltimore Dis- measurements.” trict docks a small fleet of vessels used For that reason, rigorous to survey shipping channels and clean precautions have to be taken up floating debris, among other tasks. to avoid cross-contamination For Shedd, it offered a great location Brian Shedd, a geologist with the Baltimore District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, of the water samples. When for studying per– and poly-fluoroalkyl checks a pump used to control the flow of water through the aquifer mockup set up at a lab in working with PFAS, labs substances, known as PFAS. That’s an old guardhouse and ordnance storehouse by Fort McHenry on Baltimore’s harbor. The scale must avoid using plastic because it was built long before the 1950s, model, used to test the flow of contaminants through soil and groundwater, is a shallow tank beakers, tubing, vials and when the chemicals began being manu- filled with clean, sandy soil from an Army installation in New York, with a grid of monitoring other often-standard equip- factured for use in a host of consumer wells inserted to track and sample liquids as they move through it. (Timothy B. Wheeler) ment that might have anti- and industrial products. But, because stick coatings that contain PFAS have turned up practically every- steps to reduce its use in recent years, fuel fires at military bases and airfields. PFAS. Researchers must triple-wash where — including in drinking water, the PFAS-laden “aqueous film-forming Nevertheless, they’ve migrated via their clothing and avoid wearing any foods and people’s bodies — they tested foam” had long been sprayed liberally groundwater from sites where foam was PFAS-treated stain– or water-repellent the room and all materials brought in to during training exercises or while sup- sprayed and soaked into the ground. fabrics. No sticky notes allowed — they be sure they were free of contamination. pressing actual blazes. “The PFAS compounds are very may harbor PFAS. They shouldn’t apply PFAS have been particularly prob- Shedd, working in collaboration with complex, and understanding their sunscreen or insect repellent for the lematic for the U.S. Defense Depart- researchers from the U.S. Geological behavior in the environment is also same reason, and eating in the lab is ment, because the chemicals are in the Survey and University of Maryland, very complex,” Shedd said. “It’s very prohibited, because food wrappers may fire-fighting foam that’s been used for Baltimore County, is trying to better difficult to unpack all that complexity.” also contain PFAS. decades by the armed services. Many of understand how PFAS compounds Shedd said he hopes this research The analysis of the samples takes the more than 600 sites nationwide — move through and linger in the soil can get a handle on how the contami- time. Shedd said he hopes to have including at least 18 in the Chesapeake once they soak into the ground. The nants interact with the soil and ground- results later this fall. But as he was Bay watershed — where PFAS com- hope, he explained, is to help the water — how quickly they move and running the first round of tests, he pounds have been detected in ground- military, industry and affected com- how much lingers. said researchers noticed that more of water are on or near military bases. munities figure out how to contain and Inside the old building, he built a the PFAS molecules injected into the Exposure to PFAS may affect fetal clean up the contamination, which so scale model of an aquifer in a tank model aquifer stayed put in the tank and child development, including far is resisting easy solutions. measuring roughly 8 x 6 feet. He filled than they’d expected. The next round of changes in growth, learning and behav- “I think there’s a lot of opportuni- it with sandy soil from Fort Drum, an testing aimed to find out why. ior, according to the U.S. Agency for ties here for us to refine the process Army installation in New York, which The results may help clarify which Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. of investigation and remediation,” was tested to be free of contamination. PFAS compounds or mixtures stick They may also lower fertility and Shedd said. Then he pumped water through it to to the soil and which ones move more interfere with natural hormones, raise The DOD Strategic Environmental simulate the movement of groundwater readily in groundwater. Shedd said what cholesterol, affect the immune system Research and Development program in the environment. To track the sub- he and colleagues learn will be shared and even increase cancer risk. is supporting the study with a grant of surface flow, he installed a grid of tiny publicly so it can inform future cleanup At the request of dozens of members nearly $200,000. It’s just one piece of a monitoring wells throughout the tank. efforts. of Congress, the Pentagon’s inspec- wide-ranging research effort by military Shedd first tested his model aquifer “There’s a lot of developing science tor general has agreed to review the and civilian experts to learn as much as by injecting a water-soluble tracer relating to [individual chemicals],’” military’s history of PFAS use, how it possible, as quickly as possible, about the chemical to see where and how quickly Shedd said, “But in terms of complex handled the risks of exposing service many PFAS chemicals in use — estimated it spread through the tank. Then he mixtures, how all that works, that’s not members and their families and what is at anywhere from 3,000 to 5,000 — which injected a mixture of PFAS compounds. as well understood.” And since these being done now to assess and resolve do not all act alike. He then installed a system to sample compounds rarely exist in isolation, he the contamination. That report could be Many of the PFAS chemicals are the mock groundwater as it moved added, “That’s part of the challenge the ready by early next year. resistant to water and oil – which is through the tank, pumping it to a set research community and environmental Though the Pentagon has taken what made them ideal for suppressing of tubes, one for each monitoring well. practitioners are up against right now.” 20 Bay Journal • November 2019 Coalition to think beyond state borders to offset Conowingo flows ≈ Group charged with finding Allenby said the group also might new actions, sites and funding identify effective but underused manure to reduce nutrient pollution treatment technologies to try to figure out A heron how to boost their adoption. By Karl Blankenship perches on Ultimately, though, the effort will Here’s one of the toughest jobs in a rock in require more money. the Chesapeake Bay cleanup: the Susque- Some could come from Exelon, the ≈ Write and enact a plan to elimi- hanna River, utility that owns the dam. The state of nate millions of pounds of nutrient away from Maryland wants Exelon to pay tens of pollution washing into waterways. the turbulent millions of dollars a year as a condition ≈ Do it without duplicating the flow from the of relicensing the facility, but Exelon has pollution reduction plans that states Conowingo challenged that in court. will be using to meet their own goals, Dam. It is Regardless of that outcome, the which typically contain the cheapest hoped that Conowingo plan will require more and potentially most effective options. the newly money and creative ways to find it. ≈ Oh, and come up with a way to formed A group of financial advisers will be pay for it, too. Conowingo recommending ideas, including private Surprisingly, people have signed up for coalition will sector involvement. this seemingly impossible job. A coali- bring new One possibility is to view some agri- tion of nonprofits is developing a plan to insights that cultural efforts as infrastructure projects, reduce nutrient pollution to the Upper Bay help tackle and fund them through bonds. That to offset the impact of the Conowingo problems would bring money to address problems Dam — and to pay for it. where more quickly, but allow those improve- They hope to identify highly effective progress has ments to be paid off over time. ways to reduce agricultural and storm- been elusive. Also, the plan will likely involve water runoff, which carries nutrients into (Dave Harp) the use of nutrient “trading,” and other waterways, and use them in places not market-based tools that encourage already being targeted by states for Bay partnership last year decided to seek Susquehanna, reductions from nearby private investors to install nutrient cleanup efforts. They also aim to tap new proposals from outside parties to develop areas of Maryland’s Eastern and West- control practices for credits that can funding sources, including the private a strategy to make up that gap. ern shores would have similar impacts be sold to jurisdictions or businesses sector, to help pay for the plan. Proposals were collected earlier this on Bay water quality. The group is needing to offset pollution impacts in “It is certainly a challenge,” said year, and the EPA recently awarded working with computer modelers to other places. And that needs to happen Byran Seipp, a watershed manager grants totaling nearly $600,000 to more precisely identify those areas. across state borders, said Dan Nees of with the Center for Watershed Protec- the Center for Watershed Protection, The ability to explore that type of the University of Maryland Center for tion who is helping to coordinate the Chesapeake Bay Trust and Chesapeake question is one reason that this plan will Global Sustainability. effort. “There is no doubt about that. It Conservancy to tackle the job. They, in be unique. Unlike states, which are con- “Somehow, we have to agree that is something people have been wres- turn, will enlist the support of nearly strained to reducing nutrients within their geopolitical boundaries are not going tling with for quite a long time.” a dozen other nonprofits, university borders, the Conowingo team can make to work when it comes to finance,” The 94-foot-high Conowingo Dam, partners and private sector consultants. reductions across jurisdictional borders. Nees said. “There needs to be an located just 10 miles up the Susquehanna They’ll be working in partnership Once those regions are identified, opportunity for revenue to flow back River from the Chesapeake, has been with a steering committee of state and the team will use high-resolution and forth where it has the greatest casting a shadow over Bay cleanup efforts federal representatives to coordinate the satellite data and other tools to identify economic value, and that is through for years. Scientists had long known that effort and ensure that their plan does more precisely specific sites where markets and water quality trading.” once its 14-mile-long reservoir was filled, not rely on practices states are counting runoff control practices will have the Such techniques have been talked it would no long trap pollutants and they on to meet their own cleanup goals. greatest benefit to water quality. about for years in the Bay region, but would begin to flow downstream. The hope is that the Conowingo Many state and federal cost-share pro- have never had widespread adoption. But that day of reckoning was thought group will bring new insights that help grams tend to rely on farmers signing up Because of its cross-border approach, to be far in the future — at least past tackle problems where progress has on their own to participate. By identifying Nees said the Conowingo plan is ide- the 2025 Bay cleanup goal. As a result, been elusive. specific sites, or groups of farms, they ally suited to pilot such concepts. impacts from the filled reservoir were not While the region has succeeded envision using more proactive outreach “We’ve been talking about this factored in when the U.S. Environmental in reducing nutrient pollution from to targeted groups of farmers and other for too long,” Nees said. “We have to Protection Agency assigned nutrient wastewater treatment plants, which can landowners, based on priority locations. actually do it.” reduction goals to states in 2010. be addressed through regulation and “It is not working an acre here and acre A draft strategy is expected by Recent studies, though, determined technology, it has struggled to reduce there,” said Jeff Allenby, director of con- March, with a final plan in June. that the reservoir has filled and is nutrient-laden runoff from farms and servation technology with the Chesapeake There is one key difference between spilling more nutrients — nitrogen and developed lands. Progress remains Conservancy. “You can actually put the Conowingo cleanup plan and those phosphorus — into the Chesapeake far off the pace required to meet Bay together some significant initiatives that written by the states. The EPA can take than previously thought. water quality goals. achieve larger results than they would if action against the states if their plans fall Computer models estimate that an The Conowingo team will look to you were just working project by project.” short, because they are legally required to additional 6 million pounds of nitrogen new high tech tools, new ideas and new The team also will explore barriers, meet Bay water quality standards. There’s and 260,000 pounds of phosphorus would financing strategies to accelerate progress. whether financial, technical or cultural, no such legal requirement for the groups need to be controlled to make up for the “There is a real opportunity to create a to different nutrient reduction techniques. working on the Conowingo plan. dam’s lost trapping capacity. That would sort of case study of how these states can Some stream restorations, for example, “We are working toward being able require roughly 15% more nutrient reduc- come together to solve these basinwide meet resistance from landowners or local to devise a plan and have the funding tions beyond the stated 2025 cleanup issues in a cost-effective way,” Seipp said. governments because the work requires to implement it and the tools to track goals — more than some states in the One of the first tasks is determin- more land than they are willing to make it,” Seipp said. “But if that doesn’t region have to accomplish individually. ing, geographically, the best places available or can acquire. The new tools happen, the people who ultimately With states already struggling to meet for making additional nutrient reduc- can help identify opportunities for such hold the regulatory responsibility is those goals, the state-federal Bay Program tions. While the dam is located on the projects that require less land. the states.” Bay Journal • November 2019 21 This grilling oyster quiz is stuffed with bivalve brain teasers Many an oyster grows how many 6. As a rule, the top shell of factors in an oyster’s flavor? the oyster draws water. people inches in a year? a wild oyster is flatter while the A. The oyster’s species C. This is the part of the will be A. 1 bottom shell is more cupped. B. The amount of salt, nutri- oyster’s mouth that sorts the stuffing B. 2 What factor most determines ents and acidity of the water particles in the mucus, keeping their C. 3 the shape of an oyster? where the oyster lives only the food and spitting out stomachs D. 4 A. The salinity of the water C. The age and size of the the rest. with oyster dressing this B. The mineral content of the oyster D. This thin layer of tissue sur- Thanksgiving. Here is an 5. Oysters grow faster in: water D. The shape of the oyster rounds the oyster’s body and oyster quiz to stuff your brain. A. High salinity water C. The number of other plays a role in the development Answers are on page 37. C. Low salinity water oysters crowded around it 8. Oysters are considered of its shell. D. Fresh water D. The water temperature less tasty when they spawn. As E. This is the muscle the 1. According to the fossil E. None of the above; they a rule, when do they spawn? oyster uses to keep its shell record, how long have oysters grow equally in all water. 7. Not all oysters taste the A. Months with the letter “R” closed. When it is gone, it been around? same. What is/are the greatest in them leaves a purple scar. A. About 120 million years B. Months without the letter B. About 180 million years “R” in them 11. Oyster reefs can be a C. About 240 million years natural barrier against storm D. About 300 million years 9. Oysters suck in water, eat waves and sea level rise — the phytoplankton it contains, reducing damage from storms 2. When/where did some- then spit out the filtered water, by decreasing erosion and one first create a hydraulic cleaning the water around floods. How much wave system to support “oyster them. How many gallons of energy can an oyster reef farming”? water can one oyster filter in a absorb? A. Ancient China day? A. Up to 32% B. Roman Empire A. 25 B. Up to 48% C. Medieval Europe B. 50 C. Up to 67% D. Mediterranean Renaissance C. 75 D. Up to 93% D. 100 3. Capt. John Smith wrote 12. Many oysters change in the early 1600s that Chesa- 10. Match these parts of an their gender at least once in peake oysters “lay as thick as oyster with their description. their life. Which of these is stones.” Due to overharvesting, ADDUCTOR generally true? habitat loss and pollution, their CILIA A. Most oysters up to 1 year population has plummeted. GILLS old are male, and most older Today’s Bay oyster population oysters are female. is estimated to be what percent MANTLE B. Most oysters up to 1 year of the population in Smith’s PALPS old are female, and most older time? A. These are made of tiny oysters are male. A. 1% hairs covered in mucus. The C. Most oysters are male in B. 3% oyster pumps water and water- cold months and female in C. 7% borne particles throughout this warm months. D. 10% part. Then the mucus traps D. Most oysters are female in food particles. cold months and male in warm 4. An oyster can grow up to B. This is the name for the months. 14 inches in length. As a rule, An oyster reef at low tide (Dave Harp) tiny hairs that trap food when — Kathleen A. Gaskell

Take this quiz to C. All of the above B. They’re there. We A. Old toilets light-sensitive eyespot gather pearls of wisdom don’t recognize them B. Balls made with and an appendage that about oysters. Answers 4. The oystercatcher is because Chesapeake concrete and human helps it crawl toward a are on page 37. known to smash oyster oysters’ secretion lacks cremains suitable surface. After it Bay Buddies shells on a rock to get at the substance that C. Old subway cars attaches, the appendage 1. The word “Chesa- the tasty creature inside. creates the luster we D. All of the above is absorbed back into peake” comes from Oysters! What kind of animal is associate with pearls. the oyster. What is the an Algonquian word an oystercatcher? C. Shuckers remove 7. Young oysters in name for this append- thought to mean: A. Bird the pearls before serving the larvae stage start age? A. Great Shellfish Bay C. Mussels B. Crab oysters to the public. out mobile. Once they A. Foot B. Half Shell Heaven D. Scallops C. Mammal D. The Atlantic Ocean attach to a hard surface B. Pedal C. Mother of Oysters D. Octopus and Chesapeake Bay on which they will C. Slider D. Bay of Oyster Reefs 3. Oyster reefs create lack the proper irritants transform into adults, D. Velopper habitat for many crea- 5. All oysters can to cause an oyster to what are they called? 2. Oysters are a tures. Which of these create pearls by covering form a pearl. A. Shellies 9. What is an oyster bivalve mollusk, which species are found on or a piece of sand or other B. Oystettes shell without the animal means they have two near an oyster reef? irritant in a smooth 6. Oyster larvae prefer C. Nacres inside called? hard shells made of A. Anemone, bar- secretion to protect to attach to oyster shells D. Spat A. Box calcium and carbon. nacles, shrimp its soft tissues. Why to grow, but they will B. Kaboom Which of these is not a B. Croaker, flounder, don’t we find pearls in use other surfaces, too. 8. Before an oyster C. Shelly bivalve mollusk? spot Chesapeake oysters? Which of these have larvae attaches to a hard D. Slurpt A. Barnacle C. Striped bass, men- A. They are harvested been used to create surface, it drops to the B. Cockle haden, speckled trout before they form pearls. artificial oyster reefs? bottom and develops a — Kathleen A. Gaskell 22 Bay Journal • November 2019

Mycobacteria from page 1 washing up on the shoreline,” said David Gauthier of Old Dominion University. Vogelbein, a fish pathologist at the “They are probably dropping out of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science. population a few at a time and getting It didn’t turn out that way. Mycobac- eaten by crabs, so it is not highly visible. teria never snagged the attention — nor So trying to measure how much mortal- large-scale research funding — as did ity there is on a population basis is really Pfiesteria. Nor was it associated with difficult.” high-profile fish kills or considered a An intensive study years ago on the human health threat. Rappahannock River, in which striped Decades later, Pfiesteria has largely bass were tagged, recaptured and exam- vanished from discussion, and some ined over a period of years, concluded the scientists now question whether it was mortality rate of infected fish was double responsible for fish kills at all. that of uninfected fish. But the mycobacteria problem never Still, that’s not the full story. It’s went away — and has only gotten worse. unclear whether the disease shaves a few The majority of the Bay’s striped bass months, or many years, off the lifespan are infected and, by the time they are 5 of an infected striped bass. If it survives years old, nearly all carry the disease. An long enough to reproduce, the impact unknown number are thought to die. “We An of the disease on the overall population think it is substantial,” Vogelbein said. apparently might be minimal. Now, with the striped bass popula- healthy On the other hand, a number of tion in trouble, the Bay’s mycobacteria stripped sublethal impacts could also be important. problem may get another look. Striped bass, left, For instance, studies show that infected bass numbers have been declining along and a sus- females tend to mature earlier and are the East Coast for a decade and a half, and piciously smaller than uninfected fish. Because a recent stock assessment for the Atlantic unhealthy smaller fish produce fewer eggs than States Marine Fisheries Commission one will larger ones, the reproductive capacity of concluded that the population was being have their the population might be reduced. overfished. spleens Trying to figure out what that means The commission, made up of East removed for the overall striped bass population Coast fishery managers, was poised at and tested is further complicated because most do the end of October to impose new fishing for myco- not spend their entire lives in the Chesa- restrictions in response. bacteria. peake. They are spawned in the Bay, and But the assessment also raised (Dave the young live there for several years. questions about whether mycobacteria Harp) Eventually, most move to the ocean until infections may be playing a bigger role in returning to spawn, though some males the decline than currently thought, citing “We are not used to seeing this persis- There is also some evidence that the never leave the Bay at all. studies that suggest even higher rates of tent, long-term epizootic which doesn’t disease may progress more slowly in adult And while the Chesapeake is thought mortality among striped bass from the seem to go anywhere,” Matsche said. “It fish after they leave the Chesapeake. That to be the largest component of the overall Bay than assumed in the assessment. The is very, very different.” makes scientists suspect there may be coastal population — and the focal point study called for a better understanding of Further, the two types of myco- some type of stress in the Bay that makes of the disease — it’s unknown just how the impact the disease might be having in bacteria causing problems in the the condition worse — but it’s unclear much of the coastal stock they constitute. the Bay and coastwide, and flagged it as Bay — Mycobacterium shottsii and what that might be. It’s also unknown how many males stay one of the highest research priorities. M. psuedoshottsii — were previously Efforts to answer such questions in the Bay and how many leave. If the disease is having a greater unknown. They were only discovered have lagged in recent years. Aside from “We feel like it is a problem within impact than previously thought, it could when a researcher at VIMS accidentally some support after the initial discovery, the Bay for the time that the resident also mean any new fishing regulations left slides with tissue samples from research funding largely dried up. The population is here, but sort of casting that would be less effective than hoped. striped bass in an incubator, and colonies striped bass population, after bottoming into the broader, full coastwide popula- “There is likely an impact some- of the bacteria began to grow. out in the 1980s, was thriving by the time tion is a little more murky because of where,” said Mark Matsche, a fish health No one knows why they seemed to mycobacteria infections were discovered. these missing pieces of information,” scientist with the Maryland Department have suddenly appeared and become a “Things were so good with striped said VIMS’ Latour. of Natural Resources. “My question is, problem. In early years after the discov- bass — management was in a great what is the severity of the impact to the ery, only 10–20% of striped bass in the place, anglers were happy and the Modeling the population population?” Bay seemed to carry the infection. Today, pressure wasn’t there to deal with a crisis The model used in the Atlantic States the majority are infected, and surveys mode,” said Robert Latour, a VIMS Marine Fisheries Commission assess- A mysterious disease in Maryland and Virginia show that fisheries scientist. “It was, ‘How do ment to estimate the size of the striped Mycobacteriosis — and what it means 80–90% of striped bass carry the disease we enjoy this recovered fishery?’ And bass stock lumps the entire population for the Bay’s most valuable recreational by the time they are 5 years old. there were many other fires for fisheries together. If striped bass from the Chesa- species — has perplexed scientists Also unclear is why striped bass are managers to put out.” peake Bay are dying at a faster rate than and fishery managers since it was first so susceptible. Although the same two fish elsewhere, it has no way to precisely observed in 1997. It is a chronic wasting mycobacteria species sometimes turn Slow killer with uncertain impacts account for the difference. disease which, in aquaculture, usually up in other fish, they don’t seem to have The biggest unanswered question is As a result, increased mortality results in death, but severe infections typi- the same impact, even in closely related the extent to which the infections are caused by mycobacteria is not directly cally are not seen in wild fish populations. species like white perch. actually killing fish and impacting the factored into the stock assessment. Diseases affecting finfish are usually Nor does the disease seem to be a striped bass population. Estimates of “natural mortality” — short-lived events, which sometimes problem outside the Bay. While there is The disease progresses slowly, with fish that die because of all non-fishing result in dramatic fish kills and then some anecdotal evidence that infections the condition of the fish deteriorating activities — have been adjusted over disappear. In contrast, the mycobacteria are seen in other areas, they do not seem over time. Scientists believe many of the time for the entire coast, but it’s not infections in the Bay show no sign of as widespread or severe as in the Bay, infected fish die, but how many and how known whether they fully capture the relenting and are likely to take years to and it’s unclear whether they are even the quickly are difficult to determine. kill fish. same mycobacteria species. “We are not seeing thousands of fish Mycobacteria continues on page 23 Bay Journal • November 2019 23

Mycobacteria from page 22 after several years, but some are considerably worse after a impact of the disease. single season. “There are a lot Complicating the problem is that those of variables at play here that estimates are based partly on tagging we don’t fully understand,” studies. Each year, biologists along the he said. coast place tags on striped bass, asking If those factors could be that they be returned when those fish are understood — and allevi- caught, often years later. That helps biolo- ated — it might open another gists estimate the ultimate fate of fish. door for management to help But return rates for tagged fish have the fish. declined since the striped bass population crisis ended decades ago. It’s not totally Does a dead zone clear how much of that decline is caused equal dead fish? by the loss of fish to disease and how One prime suspect is the much is from public apathy. Bay’s poor water quality. “We don’t know how many of the During the hot summer, fish that disappear are dying naturally, striped bass seek refuge in and how much is because they are deeper, cooler water. But if the caught and people are seeing them Bay’s oxygen-starved dead again, but just aren’t telling us,” said zone makes those areas off Katie Drew, the stock assessment team limits, it pushes the fish into leader with the ASFMC. warmer water that is more She said the assessment’s overall stressful — and may make estimates of total striped bass mortality them more vulnerable to are probably correct because it matches A rockfish awaits a necropsy. Its spleen will tell whether it has been infested with mycobacte- disease progression. what is observed in the overall population ria. (Dave Harp) A laboratory study several trend. But it’s possible that the population years ago by scientists at model underestimates natural mortality better estimate disease-related impacts on collects each year, along with environ- VIMS showed that when infected fish and overestimates fishing mortality. fish spawned in the Bay. mental and other information, to build a were exposed to both low dissolved In either case, she said, the remedy is Models to do that have yet to pass computer model that examines potential oxygen and higher temperatures, they the same — reduce fishing pressure — scientific peer review. But scientists are population-level impacts of disease- appeared fatigued and were likely less because managers have no control over optimistic they will be ready for the next related mortality in the Bay. They also able to elude predators or pursue prey fish the disease. But if disease is responsible striped bass assessment in several years. want to try to identify environmental to eat. for a larger portion of overall mortal- triggers that may worsen its impact on Jim Gartland, an assistant research ity than assumed, and fishing causes a Trying to answer questions infected fish. scientist at VIMS, has observed this in the smaller portion, efforts to reduce the catch In the wake of the recent stock assess- Likewise, Vogelbein, Gauthier and wild as well. Gartland, who helps conduct may have less of an impact than hoped. ment, scientists are working to fine-tune Latour are working to analyze many a fish survey along the entire length of the “You will see some benefit in reducing what they think they can say about the hundreds of samples from striped bass Bay each year, said striped bass in mid- fishing mortality for sure,” Drew said. disease’s impact on striped bass. collected over the last decade that have summer heat appear especially stressed “But if natural mortality is a much bigger “I think people are really eager to get been preserved but never examined near areas of low oxygen water. component of total mortality than we to the bottom of this and to try to better because of a lack of funding. The hope is “When you are in the dead zone area, think, it won’t be as big of an effect.” understand what might be causing this that a larger, richer set of data will help you will see them just easing along the The commission might get better particular epizootic in the Bay,” said paint a clearer picture of what’s happen- surface sometimes,” Gartland said. “And estimates in the future. It wants to move Genevieve Nesslage a fisheries scientist ing — at least in the Chesapeake. striped bass usually don’t do that.” away from a stock assessment model that with the University of Maryland Center Because most “deaths” are seen in If such a correlation between environ- lumps the entire striped bass population for Environmental Science. computer models rather than the real mental conditions and disease exists, it together and toward one that separates the Nesslage is working with a graduate world, that improved understanding could offer both hope — and peril — for population by regions —allowing them to student to use disease data that the state will help modelers better predict disease striped bass. impacts, and mortality, on the population While there may be little that can be and gain confidence in their results. done about the disease itself, such work “Models are only as good as the data could suggest that some actions — such that go into them,” Vogelbein noted. as accelerating nutrient reduction Scientists generally believe that some efforts aimed at eliminating the dead stress factors are playing a significant role zone — might reduce disease impact on in making the disease impact worse. striped bass. Variables such as increased tem- On the other hand, Bay water tempera- peratures, large oxygen-starved dead tures are already warming, and if that trend zones — even increased particulates continues, it could stress striped bass even in the water — have been suggested more and make oxygen conditions worse. as factors that speed the decline of “This level of a significant pathogen infected fish. Some think changes in in a population is kind of ominous,” striped bass diet, related to changes Gauthier said. “It is possible they are in menhaden abundance, might have holding their own against it right now, reduced their health and made them but what is going to happen? They are less resistant to disease. already sort of at the edge of their thermal The renewed focus might shed light on limit down here. What is going to happen those issues. in the future if the environment keeps While the disease progresses over changing?” An enlarged spleen is a sign of a mycobacteria infestation in striped bass. By the time, that progression isn’t always After two decades of wondering, time they are 5 years old, 80-90% of the Bay’s striped bass carry the disease. steady. Matsche said that some recap- scientists hope a resurgence in interest (Dave Harp) tured fish show relatively little change will help shed light on those questions. 24 Bay Journal • November 2019

on pilings a little more than 2 or 3 feet Tangier above the Chesapeake’s surface. A ringlet C h Sound of small islands — the Fox archipelago — e s a sheltered it from rough seas. p e After the Chesapeake Bay Foundation a k Smith Crisfield e acquired the building, it quickly proved

Island

to be an ideal setting for teaching young

people and adults alike about the Bay’s

MARYLAND B unique environment, said Cindy Adams VIRGINIA a y Pocomoke Dunn, one of the nonprofit’s educators in Sound the early 1980s. Tangier “The wind, the tides, the weather, the Island Great Fox wildlife — it’s just right there,” she said. Island 0 5 Miles The facility’s quirks enforce a back- to-nature ethos, according to Dunn and other current and former foundation staff NJ members. Rooftop solar panels provide only MARYLAND enough electricity for a refrigerator, radio Washington, DE and handful of lights. There’s a compost- DC ing toilet. A propane tank delivers gas Cambridge to the stove and oven. Water for cooking C h and bathing comes from a shallow well, e s Salisbury a but drinking water is hauled in from the p VIRGINIA e a mainland in giant jugs. k Area e

B This map by K. Leaverton of the CBF staff shows the diminishing of Fox Island over 25 One of the place’s memorable novel- enlarged a y Atlantic years. Data Sources: 1994 / U.S. Geological Survey & 2019 / ESRI World Imagery ties was that energy for the water pump Ocean was generated by someone pumping the 0 30 Miles known as land subsidence — a sinking of beneath the waves. Maps still refer to it pedals on a stationary bike. (The bike the Earth’s crust that dates back to the last as Great Fox Island, but any illusions to is no longer linked to the pump, but it Lucidity Information Design, LLC Ice Age. grandeur went out with the tide long ago. remains in the kitchen to anyone seeking Sea level rise and erosion have erased A group of investors constructed a some impromptu exercise.) Island from page 1 several islands that once stood in the Bay. hunting lodge on the island in 1929 but The last of the inhabited islands without a not on dry land. Instead, they perched it Island continues on page 25 Fox Island was the first of what grew bridge to the mainland — Tangier Island to four foundation-run island centers, in Virginia and Smith Island in The Fox where adults and children learn about the Maryland — have been transformed in Island estuary’s ecology during multi-day stays. recent years into real-life laboratories for education The immersive experience drew tens of adapting to climate change. center, left, thousands of people to Fox over the years, Tangier’s water tower is clearly visible shown in the foundation estimates. from Fox Island’s shores, and Smith lies 2007. The nonprofit broke the news of Fox’s just over the horizon to the north. Much An unusually impending closure on its website in early of what remains on Fox Island stands less high tide October. The announcement drew an than 2 feet above the surrounding water. swamps part outpouring of nostalgia-tinged grief on But, unlike Fox’s neighbors, no one has of Fox Island social media. come to its rescue. in 2004. Emily Rhode first visited Fox Island “We don’t see this problem getting any (Photos/ as a middle school student in the early better,” Ackerman said. “It’s heading in Chesa- 1990s. She tweeted that the program one direction.” peake Bay taught her how to pick a crab, properly If humans had started Foundation) skin an eel and appreciate silence. reducing greenhouse gas “I fell in love with the Bay that emissions sooner, the summer and, by doing that, I found my education center might life’s work,” said Rhode, now a science have been spared, Ack- writer and educator based in Durham, erman said. Since that NC. “Fox Island will always hold a sacred didn’t happen, he added, place in my heart. And I’m so sad that its closure illustrates the future generations will be denied the kinds of heartbreaking privilege of getting to know it.” decisions that will have Ackerman said the foundation’s to be made about coastal decision is based on safety concerns. The infrastructure in the program has been forced to rearrange itin- future. eraries at the last minute with increasing Water is the through- frequency in recent years because tides or line of the center’s story. winds imperiled the facility. Decades ago, the Sea level rise is accelerating around main island bore an the world as warmer temperatures cause uncanny resemblance, ocean water to expand and glaciers to when viewed from melt. It’s happening even faster in and above, to a fox in mid- around the Bay, possibly because of stride. The name stuck regional changes in ocean currents and even as large chunks wind patterns, as well as a phenomenon of its body vanished Bay Journal • November 2019 25

Island from page 24 foundation plans to put the property up for sale. Programming will Cell phone service is weak but avail- continue, Ackerman said, but it will able. Staff members encourage partici- take place at the nonprofit’s Port pants, especially the young, to place their Isobel Island facility near Tangier. It phones in a bin at the beginning of their is refurbishing some buildings on the stay and retrieve them at the end. west side of the campus to accom- The island experience is otherwise off modate those who would have once the grid. traveled to Fox on the opposite side “It’s nice and quiet,” said Larry Laird, of Tangier Sound. a plainspoken Smith Island native who For many who spent time at Fox pilots students around on his 40-foot, Island over the years, what they will jet-drive boat named the Walter Ridder. miss most isn’t the building, the “A good place at night to see the stars.” islands or anything tangible at all. Laird and a small crew of fellow It’s something they call “Fox Island foundation employees tied up the boat Magic.” Oct. 13 at Crisfield on Maryland’s Eastern “That’s something you might hear Shore for one of the last educational out- a lot about if you speak to folks who ings to the island. A charter bus greeted have come out and stayed here,” said them at the marina but only after creeping Varnon, who has been stationed there through saltwater standing as much as 2 for two years. “It’s a unique experi- feet deep on some of the town’s roads, a ence that Fox Island has that’s hard to result of so-called “sunny day” flooding. find elsewhere even among our other Such floods are forecast to happen island programs. There’s something more often in low-lying places around about Fox that connects you to the the Bay as seas continue to rise this Bay so completely. You’re immersed century, experts say. Emily Snyder (left), 15, hands a crab pot to her sister, Evelyn, 11, on the dock at Fox from the moment you step off the Into the boat’s lower hull went duffel Island in October. Their classmate, Lenka Platt, 18, gets ready to keep the trap moving dock to the moment you leave.” bags, rolling suitcases, blankets, fishing down the line. (Jeremy Cox) The program has been living on rods and enough provisions to last the borrowed time. The end nearly came group three days and two nights. The children onto a dock along with a giant crab-potting. The next day, with any luck, in September 2003 when Hurricane Isabel passengers included 13 middle and stack of multi-colored crab traps. They there would be a crab feast. tore off the west side of the building and high school students, their teacher and handed each a dead fish, an oily speci- Platt said she aspires to be a biologist punched away half of the flooring. a few adult chaperones from Halifax men known as menhaden, and explained working on the Bay. If that happens, she The foundation wasn’t ready to let it Area School District, a small rural its dual role as a key Bay filter-feeder and will join a long list of students whose Fox go then. It fixed the damage, and classes area in central Pennsylvania near the cog in the crabbing industry. Then came Island experiences helped propel them resumed 11 months later. Susquehanna River — the Bay’s largest the messy part: shredding the fish by into academia, volunteering or govern- A scrapbook lying on the center’s tributary. hand (to release the oils) and tucking the ment leadership roles. coffee table tells the story of the rebirth, Lenka Platt, an 18-year-old senior, pieces into a special pouch in the trap to “It’s probably something that’s one photo at a time. The last page shows organized the trip through the student serve as bait. motivated me in my upstream work,” the building looking like new. organization she founded, the Student Under a slate sky, Laird brought the said Adams Dunn, now the head of the At the bottom of the page, there’s a Environmental Action Club. She hoped students back out on the boat, where each Pennsylvania Department of Conserva- triumphant message scrawled in black the excursion would inspire her class- took turns hurling traps into the water, tion and Natural Resources. marker: “Open for business … the mates to take action in their corner of the an iconic Chesapeake pastime known as Once this season winds down, the MAGIC returns.” watershed to protect the Bay. “We’re looking at the environment we want to save,” Platt said, standing on a pier waiting for the call to board the boat. “I’m going to be one of the last students that gets to go. It’s because of our human actions that it has to close.” With all aboard, Laird slipped the boat out of Somers Cove and into Pocomoke Sound. After 30 windblown minutes, a shoebox-shaped silhouette loomed into view: the education center. But where was Fox Island? Surely, these few scraps of salt marsh and that lonesome stretch of sandy beach couldn’t be it. But they were. “The smaller it gets, the quicker it erodes,” said Jeff Varnon, the last in the line of Fox’s education program manag- ers. “There’s less of it to hold together. One storm from the right direction, and the center is gone.” After unloading their gear into the center’s 11 bedrooms and catching a Benny Dorman, 12, a sixth-grader at Hali- quick briefing in the clubhouse-like living fax Area School District in Pennsylvania, room, the students got to work. Jeff Varnon, Fox Island’s education program manager, leads a group of rips apart a dead menhaden to release the Varnon and another foundation Pennsylvania students in a lesson about crab traps on the dock at the education fish’s oils in preparation for using it as bait educator, Lucas Scott, gathered the center in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay. (Jeremy Cox) in a crab trap. (Jeremy Cox) 26 Bay Journal l Travel l November 2019

Arlington Woods a living monument to forests of the past “You’ll see a lot of trees that were here long before the Civil War,” he promised. Given the history of the land that is now Arlington cemetery, it’s extraordinary that these woods have sur- vived relatively unscathed through the centuries. Tey were once part of an 1,100-acre estate owned by George Washington Parke Custis, grandson of George Washington’s wife Martha from her frst marriage. In the early 1800s, Custis built a Greek revival mansion atop the hill, clearing enough trees to aford a commanding view of the river and the fedgling nation’s capital. While the lowlands along the river were converted to crop felds and some other areas used for pasture, most of the estate remained densely wooded. On a visit in 1824, the Marquis de Lafayette, the French general who fought with Washington in the American Revolution, report- edly remarked to Mrs. Custis, ““Cherish these forest trees around your mansion...recollect how much easier it is to cut a tree than to make one grow.”” When the Custises died in the 1850s, their only child, Mary Anna, inherited the right to live there. Her husband was Robert E. Lee, then an up-and-coming U.S. Army ofcer, who took over management of the estate. But in 1861, as the Civil War loomed, he resigned his Army com- mission and went south to lead Confederate forces, never to return. Federal troops seized and occupied the property in May 1861, clearing more trees on the hill around the mansion Rows of gravestones cover most of Cemeteries are places of remembrance. to provide artillery sites sight lines for defending DC. Two the ground at Arlington National years later, the federal government established a com- Cemetery in Virginia. Te grounds Arlington National Cemetery is perhaps the munity for freed slaves on the southern portion of the also include more than 8,600 trees most famous, the fnal resting place of more property, which continued until the end of the 1800s. representing hundreds of species and In 1864, as cemeteries in the capital flled up with war than 400,000 veterans of American conficts dead, the Army designated 200 acres of the old planta- varieties, with a 12-acre patch of old and their spouses. tion as a new military burial ground. Lee’s son briefy growth forest known as Arlington reclaimed the property in the early 1880s after winning a Woods. More than 3 million people visit each year to see the lawsuit claiming it had been illegally confscated. But by gravesites, row upon row over more than 600 rolling acres then, thousands of slain Federal soldiers had been buried across the Potomac River from Washington, DC. Many there, and he sold the land back to the government a few are drawn to the eternal fame at John F. Kennedy’s grave months later for $150,000. Story & Photos or to the majestic Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Te cemetery itself features more than 8,600 native Virtually unnoticed among all of the headstones, there’s and exotic trees of about 300 diferent species and variet- By Timothy B. Wheeler a diferent kind of memorial. It’s a 12-acre swath of trees tucked into a steep ravine downhill from Arlington House, the one-time home of the adopted grandson of the na- tion’s frst president. Arlington Woods is a remarkably intact descendant of the ancient forest that once blanketed much of Northern Virginia. Leaving the manicured cemetery behind to stroll among the towering oaks and hickories is to take a journey back in time, to contemplate this landscape as it was for eons. In the intervals between the whoosh of jets fying in and out of nearby Reagan National Airport, the only sounds are the whisper of wind in the trees and rustling of leaves on the ground. “A lot of this is nature’s gift. It’s irreplaceable,” said plant ecologist Rod Simmons as he led a walking tour of the tract on a sunny Friday in October. Te woodland is an old friend to Simmons, a member of the Virginia Native Plant Society, who seems to know every tree on the tract. He’s studied them, written about them and worked to save them. Tis is an “old growth” patch of forest, he said, because Fallen tree limbs lay on a relatively open forest foor in there’s no record of it ever having been logged. He pointed Arlington Woods. Even in autumn, as leaves began to out how closely the trunks were bunched, further evidence turn and drop, the canopy was thick enough to shade the that the trees had not been planted or replanted by hand. ground. 27 Bay Journal l Travel l November 2019

by a male deer rubbing its head and antlers against it. After more than an hour exploring the woods, the group worked its way up the hill, skirt- ing a boulder-lined gully receiv- ing stormwater runof from the roads and buildings at the summit. We ended our tour at the back of Arlington House, which is closed to visitors until early next year as the mansion and outbuildings undergo a multimillion-dollar rehabilitation. Tere, visitors can fnd a sign with text and historical photos about At left, a large tree in Arlington Woods is among many Arlington Woods. there that tower over the forest and provide its thick Te tour Simmons led was a canopy. Above, Rod Simmons leads a tour of Arlington one-of event sponsored by the Woods sponsored by the Landscape Designers’ Group Landscape Designers’ Group, of Washington, DC. Simmons has studied the trees, a nonproft corporation whose written about them and worked to save them. “You’ll members are DC area designers, see a lot of trees that were here long before the Civil arborists, horticulturists and oth- War,” he said. ers. Having a knowledgeable guide enriched the experience, but visi- every few the woods ended, there was a creek tors to Arlington can still wander minutes with just a trace of fow in it. It’s the and walked type of habitat that might harbor the the woods on their own and soak from the extremely rare up some old-growth atmosphere. cemetery Appalachian welcome springsnail, Sim- center mons said, along to the with somewhat neoclassi- less rarifed East- ies, some champion size and some cal memorial honoring women who ern box turtles. nearly 250 years old, predating the served in the military. Farther along, military burials there. In appreciation From there, we followed the group came of the formal and informal gardens Schley Drive until it became Sher- upon a small and groves throughout the cemetery man Drive. Just past its intersec- spring-fed stream grounds, they were designated as a tion with Lincoln Drive, the woods trickling down Memorial Arboretum in 2014. stretched out down the hill to the the slope, evi- But Arlington Woods represent a right. dently the source diferent, informal sort of memorial to Some of the trees nearest Sher- of the water at the man Drive had turned prematurely the forest ecosystem that once existed base of the hill. brown in October, which Simmons there. Even in droughts, suggested could stem from extreme Simmons ex- It has survived at least one more heat and a lack of moisture. Despite plained, springs recent threat. Arlington House and last year’s heavy rains, many trees like this don’t run Chunks of tree bark lie on the foor of Arlington Woods. the surrounding grounds are owned are stressed, making them more dry, providing by the National Park Service but, in vulnerable to other threats, such as water for plants Arlington National Cemetery is in Arlington, VA, 1995, the service transferred 12 acres insects and disease. and animals. across the Potomac River from Washington, DC. It’s of the woods to the Department of At the edge of the woods, Eng- Te forest can- open daily year-round, 8 a.m.– 5 p.m. from Octo- Defense. Te Pentagon wanted more lish ivy and other vines covered opy parted near ber through March and 8 a.m.– 7 p.m. April through burial space because the cemetery some trunks — the invasive bane there, allowing September. Admission is free. The site is also ac- was flling up. of woody areas everywhere. Going a minty patch of cessible by Metro. For information and directions, Nature lovers in the area only deeper, though, the undergrowth richweed to four- call 877-907-8585 or visit arlingtoncemetery.mil. learned of the impending loss of old- disappeared as the light dimmed and ish in the light For those who’d like a similarly curated stroll, growth trees at the cemetery when the air cooled. Te forest foor was gap. Not far away, Simmons and other DC area nature lovers will be Te Washington Post exposed the relatively open, save for tree trunks the group en- deal, Simmons said. leading a winter solstice walk on Dec. 22 on the toppled by wind and age in various countered a clear Gold Mine tract at C&O Canal National Historic Up in arms, he and other environ- states of decay. Leaves crunched and sign that despite mental and community advocates branches snapped underfoot. Park. Though not old growth, it’s the largest a lack of wildlife Piedmont forest in Maryland. The walk, which is rallied to ensure the rest of the woods Northern red oaks and chestnut encounters, they free and open to everyone, is expected to go from would be spared and remain in park oaks anchored the north-facing were not alone service control. slope, with beech and tulips mixed in the woods. A 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. It begins at the Great Falls Tavern To get to Arlington Woods, our in. Some seedlings poked up through maple sapling had Visitor Center, 11710 MacArthur Blvd., Potomac, tour group separated ourselves from the leaves carpeting the ground. its bark stripped MD. For information, visit vnps.org. the busloads of visitors arriving At the bottom of the hill, where away, most likely 28 Bay Journal • November 2019 You’ve captured our gratitude with your generosity Douglas Herman There’s no greater Chambersburg, PA sign of the Bay Journal’s David Mayhew success than the compli- Cockeysville, MD ments and donations Lonnie Wood received from readers Charlottesville, VA like you. Your gifts to Don Allen the Bay Journal Fund Bethesda, MD continue to make our Kathleen Amidon work possible, from cov- Frederick, MD erage of the Bay restora- John Bacon tion and the health of its Chesapeake Beach, MD Nancy G.W. Baker rivers, to the impacts of Sugar Run, PA climate change, toxics, Michael E. Barney, Inc growth and invasive Virginia Beach, VA species on the region’s Lindsay K. Batcheller ecosystem. Our staff Chestertown, MD works every day to bring R. Benner you the best reporting on Annapolis, MD environmental issues in Mr. & Mrs. Junius Berger the Bay region. We are Farnham, VA Nancy & Dick Biggs grateful for your dona- Chestertown, MD tions. Please continue to Mike & Sheila Bishop support our success! Centreville, VA Bryon Bodt Churchville, MD Champion Wallace & Laurel Brown Alan Griffith Crab pots with their colorful “corks” sit along the roadside at the Dorchester County wharf in Crocheron, MD. 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ontinued from 28 H. Pazourek C Frederick, MD Enrico DiPaolo Suzanne & Fred Lepple Richmond, VA Alexandria, VA Melvin Poling Winchester, VA John Macfarlane Charles Fletcher Monkton, MD Chuck Prahl Sykesville, MD Cambridge, MD Dorie McGuiness Frank Galosi St. Michaels, MD Joan Quigley West River, MD Baltimore, MD Louise Menges Ann Gauger Williamsburg, VA Mark Sauer Greene, NY Virginia Beach, VA Howard Metzger Adam & Margaret Geron Baltimore, MD R. W. Schreiber West Point, VA Falls Church, VA Milleson’s Walnut Grove Rosalind Heid Jane B. Sebring Baltimore, MD Campground Church Creek, MD Springfield, WV Bob Hettchen John Fred Seitz Parkton, MD Henry Mortimer Hyattsville, MD Sherwood Forest, MD Dianna Javier Mary Sidlowski Stevensville, MD David Mosher Baltimore, MD Gaithersburg, MD Megan Lehman Ranjit Singh Williamsport, PA Jay Nelson Fredericksburg, VA Timonium, MD Mr. & Mrs. William Lindenberger Jack Smith Freeland, MD Northumberland Bel Air, MD Conservation District Dolores Niewenhous Sunbury, PA William J. Spake North Beach, MD Queenstown, MD John Ortiz John Ordeman Chesterfield, VA Wayne Staley Gwynn Oak, MD Frederick, MD Edward C. Owen Janet J. Redfern Laurel, MD Robert Stickel Harrisburg, PA White Stone, VA Emily Parkhurst Richard & Alta Richardson Mayo, MD Per Struck North Chesterfield, VA Baltimore, MD M. L. Pierce Inez Robb McLean, VA Norma Swope Baltimore, MD Williamsburg, VA Robert Poole Don Schweitzer Great Falls, VA Jeff Trader Fruitland, MD Pocomoke City, MD Stephen Rettig David Seaman Louis Twardowski Chesapeake City, MD Waynesboro, PA Wilmington, DE Elizabeth Rosborg Paul & Donna Shogren Liz Van Den Heuvel Oakland, MD Arnold, MD Annapolis, MD Dennis Roundy Mr. & Mrs. Marshall I. Waring John Voelker Henrico, VA Odenton, MD Bel Air, MD James Barry Royer David Webster A cattail disperses its seeds along the Blackwater River near Cambridge, MD. Peg Volk Stevensville, MD North Prince George, VA (Dave Harp) Cape Charles, VA Art & Nancy Sidney Lawrence & Gail-Ann White Leon Wancowicz Essex, MD Queenstown, MD Susan Henderson Gene Lepley Douglas & Suzanne Richardson Nottingham, MD Guy Wilkerson Franklin Smith & Umberto Bettolo Richmond, VA Cambridge, MD Howard Weachter Kenton, DE Sterling, VA Oakton, VA Harriet Moulder Bob Zillig Lititz, PA Rodney Stark Bud Ward Grasonville, MD Michael Williams Durham, NC Caroline Whalen-Strollo Catonsville, MD Pocono Lake, PA White Stone, VA Maarten Calon Ocean View, DE Linda Mullineaux Candace Williams Ron & Rita Stead Maureen Wheeler Keymar, MD Baltimore, MD Auburn Wherley Vienna, VA Silver Spring, MD Fayetteville, NC Victor Clark Robert Dunn Essex, MD Gregory Szoka Bruce Wiggins Columbia, MD Norm Wurbach Wilmington, DE Robert Wilcox Brogue, PA Bel Air, MD Harrisonburg, VA William Hartzell West Friendship, MD Alice F. Dorshow Orrtanna, PA Milton & Judy Hudgins Margaret Taliaferro Gordon Wilber Catonsville, MD Joan Wilver Hayes, VA Cockeysville, MD Poland, OH Steve Lay Slippery Rock, PA Ralph Eshelman Havre De Grace, MD Arthur Baker William Taylor Anne Worthington Lusby, MD Dorothy Gold Virginia Beach, VA Mashpee, MA Flagstaff, AZ Henrico, VA Friend Mysore Nagaraj Stephen & Carole Tevault Vernon & Lucy Wright Dana Horton Afton, VA Vaughn Ouellette Douglas Valentine Lewistown, PA Reedville, VA Cockeysville, MD Pungoteague, VA Seaford, DE Patrick & Mary Ellen McGrath Ed Stewart Jane Towner Bob & Marion Zabot Jane K. Parks John Bokman Timonium, MD Kilmarnock, VA Virginia Beach, VA Churchton, MD Cambridge, MD Lake Placid, FL Charles Wachsmuth Neal B. Zimmerman, MD Philip L. Olsen James H. Payne, Jr. C. R. Bowles Chester, MD Pikesville, MD Thurmont, MD Manassas, VA Mineral, VA Continued on page 30 Thank You To These Philanthropic Donors The Curtis and Edith Munson Foundation 30 Bay Journal • November 2019

ontinued from 29 Ken Maize C Knoxville, MD Atti V. Wheeler Thomas & Kathryn Manrodt Annandale, VA Ramah, NM Francis Birchard Edward Murtaugh Greenbelt, MD Silver Spring, MD Ed DiRaimo George Nardacci Wheaton, MD Lancaster, PA Lester Riegel Karl Neidhardt Friedensburg, PA Severna Park, MD John Geddie Roy & Grace Newsome Albuquerque, NM Harrisburg, PA Rodney Pursell A. J. O’Brien Kintnersville, PA Baltimore, MD Kenny Beach Mike O’Brien Newark, DE Solomons, MD Glen Besa Nelson Ohl North Chesterfield, VA Folly Beach, SC Douglas Kearney Philip Olson Annapolis, MD Lanham, MD Kathleen Phillips John Ordeman Selbyville, DE Gwynn Oak, MD Gary & Susan Bryde Robert & Elaine Peoples Hockessin, DE San Ramon, CA William Burton Mary Perkins Rock Hall, MD Glen Burnie, MD Sally Ann Cooper Frances W. Porter Columbia, MD Newport News, VA Martin Crabill John Poutier Gettysburg, PA Yorktown, VA Gary Gillespie Mark Pratt Baltimore, MD Hampstead, MD Erika Goldsborough Turner James Ragsdale Ipswich, MA Leesburg, VA Debra Gutenson The high bluffs along Maryland’s Sassafras River are lit by the rising sun. (Dave Harp) James Rahochik Lovettsville, VA Hagerstown, MD Karl Huber Woody Morris John Streb Dick Clough Bill Harris Angela Randall Richmond, VA Harbeson, DE Pasadena, MD Linden, VA Woolford, MD Vienna, VA David Kelsey Alfred Petruccy Ronald Tribull Tanya Cohen Jeff Harry Jennifer Randazzo Hollywood, MD Severna Park, MD Baltimore, MD York, PA Marietta, PA Callao, VA Durand Little Sidney Tiesenga Gene Milgram & Vicky Owens Wayne Collins Bruce & Robin Herman Mary Reardon Aspers, PA White Stone, VA Annapolis, MD Prince George, VA Cambridge, MD Silver Spring, MD Lycoming County Friends of Jug Bay Carolyn Zeman Bruce Davidson Bruce & Madi Hoffmann William Rickards Conservation District Lothian, MD Glen Burnie, MD Newport News, VA Jarrettsville, MD Charleston, SC Montoursville, PA Clara J. Ailes Lisa Deaton John Hofmeister Connie Burley Bohannon, VA Roger Rohrbaugh Bowman Miller Boonsboro, MD Springfield, VA Edgewood, MD Silver Spring, MD Alexandria, VA John Alewynse Melissa Dimmitt Beverly Holmberg Bill Enselman Charlottesville, VA Rudy Rohrbaugh Sarah Nicholas Falls Church, VA Williamsburg, VA North, VA Dover, PA Mechanicsburg, PA Charles E. Allen, Jr. B. DiVincenzo Sally Foley Landenberg, PA James Holton Joseph Roussos Sally Pierce Baltimore, MD Media, PA Chesapeake, VA North Chesterfield, VA Catonsville, MD Joseph Alloway, Sr. Frederick Dreisch Ray & Winnie Frederick Clarksville, MD Tom & Patti Host III David & Marion Royer James J. Potter Crownsville, MD Voorhees, NJ Norfolk, VA Newark, DE Baltimore, MD Bart Elfman Tim Goodfellow Jewel Barlow Newport News, VA Jay Hunt Thomas M. Ruby Steve Retallick Gaithersburg, MD Silver Spring, MD Potomac, MD Baltimore, MD Crewe, VA Gloria Emick Sam Hastings Nicholas Belitsos New Bloomfield, PA Dan Hutson Kay Saderholm Margaret Robinson Stevensville, MD Stevensville, MD Hyde Park, NY Marydel, MD Dogue, VA Pamela Ficca John Huennekens Mr. & Mrs. Lloyd B. Blake Silver Spring, MD Suzanne Jenkins George Savage, Jr. John Russell Glen Allen, VA Midlothian, VA Middletown, DE Washington, DC Sandra Penn Frazier Cape Charles, VA Joel Bonham Hockessin, DE Carol Jennings Douglas W. Shade Elizabeth Kfoury Pine Grove, PA Ben & Dorothy Schaefer Baltimore, MD Theresa & Jim Frisbie Bel Air, MD Fairfax, VA Reinholds, PA Stephen Bono Barry & Kathy Kwasny Colchester, IL Diana Jensen Jerry Schafer Dan Sheehan Baltimore, MD Derwood, MD Washington, DC Stroudsburg, PA David Fryauff Souderton, PA Philip N. Bowman Gaithersburg, MD Jane Johnson Mark Stout Jim McMahon Hanover, PA Henry Schaffer Burtonsville, MD George & Christine Gaa Fairfax, VA Perry Hall, MD Ellicott City, MD Peter & Barbara Brown Baltimore, MD Clyde A. Miller John H. Jones R. Schoone James Van Ness Jessup, MD Frank Gallagher Greenbelt, MD Springfield, VA Falls Church, VA Easton, PA Joe Buchana Solomons, MD Donald Keefer Renee Brown David A. Prescott Virginia Beach, VA Jo Lynn Seibel Boiling Springs, PA Donald Gantzer Lutherville, MD Ellicott City, MD Woodbridge, VA Gordan Burr Riva, MD Mr. & Mrs. Richard Sharek Edward Cairns Tom & Karen Riley Chesapeake, VA Carolyn Goldman John R. Kenny, Jr. Ocean View, DE Annapolis, MD Indian Head, MD Elkton, MD Cecil County Rockville, MD Marc Castelli John P. Rolfes Soil Conservation District Lynda Graves Louis Kobus Sarah Sinsabaugh Chestertown, MD Chestertown, MD Elkton, MD Pine Grove, PA Alexandria, VA Richmond, VA Fred Gillotte Mr. & Mrs. Wayne Ross Carl F. Cerco Gary Guynn Michael Lipford Gerald Snyder Havre de Grace, MD Street, MD Albuquerque, NM Taneytown, MD Henrico, VA Arnold, MD George & Heather Krause Norma Ruffing C. Clark David Hafer Francis Glenn Lumpkins Paul Solomon Middle River, MD Glenshaw, PA West River, MD Lewisburg, PA Lusby, MD New Freedom, PA David Leathery Gordon Shafer Dick Clement Linda Hamm Helen Maher Stevensville, MD Bradford, NY Vienna, VA Virginia Beach, VA Annapolis, MD Continued on page 31 Bay Journal • November 2019 31

Continued from 30 Marsha Wilkins Virginia Beach, VA Stuart S. Speaker Robert Youmans Takoma Park, MD Edgewater, MD Joseph Stein II Larry Books Marriottsville, MD Chase, MD Paula Sullivan James & Jean Robinson Alexandria, VA Oakton, VA Jule Szabo Jon Bauer Fairfax, VA Rose Valley, PA Judith Tanner Norma Ciarlo Mapleton Depot, PA Parkton, MD In memory Steve Lukaczer of Leslie A. White Washington, DC from Sherrond Taylor Norfolk, VA The Neisess Family Ellicott City, MD S. I. Taylor Woodstock, MD Barbara Pitts Anthony Ulehla Grafton, VA Annapolis, MD George & Nancy Plunkett Jack W. Vellines Richmond, VA Norfolk, VA Bub Bachman Gary Visscher Columbia, PA Silver Spring, MD Judith Anne Patterson Jack Vondercehr Baltimore, MD Richmond, VA Catherine M. Urbanek Mary Vondrak Silver Spring, MD Glenn Dale, MD Elizabeth Kfoury John Voytko Baltimore, MD Pittsburgh, PA Rick Parks Stanley Watkins The historic Galloway house heads down the Tred Avon River on a barge, soon to be located on a new plot along Newport News, VA Annapolis, MD the Wye River. The house, built in the 1760s, was moved from its initial location near Easton, MD. (Dave Harp) Richard Anderson Frank Watson Baldwin, MD Salisbury, MD Lee Yohn Phillip Harrison John Seiple Chris Surowiec Ronald & Kathleen Brown Jim Wightman Mechanicsburg, PA King George, VA Mount Joy, PA Gwynedd, PA Sykesville, MD Blacksburg, VA Susan Adams Lois Herrmann Kenneth Seldon Alan Sweatman Theresa & Jim Frisbie David A. Yannarell Henrico, VA Washington, DC Richmond, VA Havre de Grace, MD Colchester, IL Center Valley, PA Elaine Adams Tom Himpsl Kevin Sellner Joseph Varano Brian Gramp Ray York Elverson, PA Mountville, PA Frederick, MD Tabernacle, NJ Lexington, VA Springfield, VA Sue Allen Don Hyland Bruce Setzer William Zeller David Haller James Ziegenfuss Columbia, MD Pasadena, MD Nazareth, PA Bel Air, MD Harrisburg, PA Hagerstown, MD Robert Meminger Carole George Andrews Pete Irino Essie Burgess & James Kosmides Alicia A. Meenan Havre de Grace, MD Forest Hill, MD Hanover, PA Virginia Beach, VA Susan A. Stevens & Mignon Petrini M. Anzalone Yvon Jensen Rosedale, MD David & Kathleen Brenneman Annapolis, MD Caeser Butkiewicz Parkville, MD Georgetown, TX Mechanicsburg, PA Mount Carmel, PA Dick Swartz Ray & Gerda Schmidt Jacqueline Baker Steve Jones Washington, DC Lucy Ewing-Martin Woodbridge, NJ Richard Carroll Silver Spring, MD Cambridge, MD Roseland, VA Easton, MD R. Taylor Shelly Sparks Tyler Bastian Linda Keefer Pasadena, MD Lori Irvin Bel Air, MD James Florentine, Jr. Mount Airy, MD Barboursville, WV Lancaster, PA Westminster, MD Francis Volante Charles Stephen Ward Walter L. Baumann Mar La Wells Neal Foster L. Scott Kilmon King George, VA Annapolis, MD Falls Church, VA Royal Oak, MD Norton, VA Dutton, VA Douglas & Teresa Ward Mr. & Mrs. Robert M. Weekley Todd H. Boone Courtney Worrall Rosemary Francis Stan Klapp New Freedom, PA Lancaster, VA Cumberland, MD Marriottsville, MD Hampton, VA Wilmington, DE Rick Williams Maureen Wilkerson Gerald Booze Michael T. Krisch Cy Jones Joe Gresko Calhoun, GA Silver Spring, MD Bethesda, MD Delta, PA Snow Shoe, PA Montpelier, VA Roy Yeager Tom Zeender Caro A. Brown Avi Friedman Michael J. Jacobs H. R. Liverman Dover, PA Baltimore, MD Washington, DC Chestertown, MD Mechanicsville, MD Linthicum, MD Raymond Yingling Catharine Tucker M. Hanford Day Armin Behr & Mike Madden Mike McNeill Halethorpe, MD Jean Fourcroy-Behr Richmond, VA Silver Spring, MD Mooresville, NC Salem, VA William Young Bethesda, MD Nancy Diangelo Steve Lukaczer James J. McCann Donald Merryfield Reading, PA William Nickel Washington, DC Crownsville, MD Chestertown, MD St. Michaels, MD Locustville, VA Jim Dondero Christopher Zone Richard Crews Eugene McMullen Bob Murphy Scranton, PA RJS Environmental Virginia Beach, VA Port Deposit, MD Pittsgrove, NJ Yorktown, VA Medford, NJ Charles Dye Ted Ashby Elizabeth Hedges Thomas O’Brien Todd Nickleson Staunton, VA Baker’s Marine Service Lovettsville, VA Kingsville, MD Williamsburg, VA Pasadena, MD Inman, SC Dave Browne Judy Eliason Bonnie Palmer Stephen C. Hiett Perrie Prouty Virginia Beach, VA Roderick Barr Woodbridge, VA Rockville, MD Millsboro, DE Sykesville, MD Columbia, MD Dave & Billie Roberts Ted Fairbanks William P. Pearce Claudia Degges John Klunk Heathsville, VA Alec N. Baugus Dover, PA Still Pond, MD Williamsburg, VA Cecilton, MD Ephrata, PA Jonathan Rogers Thomas Finderson Joseph E. Pinhak Leroy W. Oates Anna Book Yvonne M. Turner Lutherville, MD Carrollton, VA Havertown, PA Ellicott City, MD Elizabethtown, PA Hampton, VA Dan Rosen Sally Foley Sherry Potocek Dennis Obermayer Michael Ciarlo Bob Wirth Springfield Center, NY Baltimore, MD Stevensville, PA Fairfax, VA Timonium, MD Sparrows Point, MD Susan Rowe Grabb Pat Golla Joseph S. Ragona Marty Reefe Maurice P. Lynch Paul Farragut Laneview, VA Catawissa, PA Feeding Hills, MA Libertytown, MD Williamsburg, VA Ellicott City, MD Patricia M. Soltys Selwin Gray M. J. Russell Ed Reisman, Jr. Dean Meledones Ed Reisman, Jr. Hampton, VA Towson, MD Midlothian, VA Camp Springs, MD Silver Spring, MD Camp Springs, MD Myrl Stevens Gregory Greene Michael F. Ruth Heather Schwartz Marria O’Malley Walsh N. Vastardis Rock Hall, MD Blue Point, NY Baltimore, MD Clarksville, MD Pottsville, PA Malvern, PA 32 Bay Journal • November 2019

Commentary • Letters • Perspectives We mustorum save wildlife if we are ever going to save ourselves By KFate Breimann There’s so much in Maryland that’s worth standing up for. Our “America in Miniature” is home to a rich diversity of natural features and wildlife. From sailing around Annapolis and enjoying the beaches of the Eastern Shore, to hiking the Appalachian Trail and visiting state parks, Marylanders are lucky to have so many opportunities to experience the best that nature has to offer. The benefits of spending time in nature are familiar to us all, so it’s no surprise that, time and time again, polls show that Americans are passionate about protecting our wild lands and our wildlife, regardless of political ideology. But the job of defending our wild has never been harder than it is today. A recent report found that worldwide, species and ecosystem diversity is declining faster than at any time in human history. Because of encroaching development, climate A diamondback terrapin emerges from the sand on Poplar Island off Talbot County, MD, in the Chesapeake Bay. (Dave Harp) change and other impacts, the report estimates that extinction currently or make their homes in the Bay are weakens the Endangered Species it easier for companies to develop threatens 1 million species. endangered or threatened, including Act — one of our nation’s bedrock pipelines and other industrial The report also points out that the the diamondback terrapin, Maryland environmental laws that protects infrastructure inside wild places that loss of these species threatens humans darter and leatherback sea turtle. wildlife and plants. Since President are critical for endangered species’ ability to survive — our food, water Furthermore, Richard Nixon survival. and energy security, as well as our we’re seeing signed the That isn’t who we are. These aren’t public health, are all threatened as we a decline in Many of the species that visit Endangered Maryland’s values. continue to lose biodiversity. the presence Species Act That’s the message we must send to The Chesapeake Bay is a defining of underwater or make their homes in the Bay in 1973, it has our federal legislators in Washington, feature of Maryland and a national grasses, which prevented 99 DC. The ask is simple: Keep our treasure. It is an inherent part of our provide critical are endangered or threatened, percent of animals from going extinct. culture, and is an important part of the habitat and food including the diamondback the species it We are counting on our state’s history. to a variety of protects from Congressional delegation to stand up Home to bald eagles, blue crabs and marine life, terrapin, Maryland darter and going extinct, for Maryland’s wildlife by coming about 3,600 other species of plants and as well as add leatherback sea turtle. and allowed out in opposition to the Trump animals, the Bay is one of the most oxygen to the hundreds of administration’s rollback of the productive estuaries in the world and water and shield them to thrive. Endangered Species Act. is the largest estuary of its kind in the shorelines from erosion. The new rule punches holes in this They should also work to strengthen United States. Despite those grave risks, the critical safety net, putting our most the act and create new opportunities But even the Chesapeake is under Trump administration recently vulnerable species at an even greater for species to thrive by supporting threat — many of the species that visit announced a new rule that severely risk — as the Bay Journal pointed the Wildlife Corridors Conservation out in Legal battle likely over Trump Act that both houses of Congress are rules weakening endangered species considering. protections (July-August 2019), this As members of the Environment Let Us Know rollback will have unignorable impacts and Public Works Committee, The Bay Journal welcomes letters pertaining to Chesapeake Bay on the vulnerable species of plants and Sens. Ben Cardin and Chris Van issues. Letters should be no more than 400 words. Send letters to: Editor, animals that make their home in the Hollen are well-positioned to fight Bay Journal, 619 Oakwood Drive, Seven Valleys, PA 17360-9395. Chesapeake. for this important bill on behalf of E-mail letters to: [email protected] A weakened Endangered Species Marylanders. Letter writers should include a phone number where they can be Act will make it more difficult to All of our state leaders can reached. Longer commentaries should be arranged in advance with the save species in Maryland such as the strengthen wildlife protections as well. editor. Call: 717-428-2819. Maryland darter and leatherback sea Now is the time to defend our Views expressed are those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect turtle, which are both recognized as wildlife, before it’s gone. those of the Bay Journal or Bay Journal Media. endangered. Kate Breimann is an advocate for The weakened act will also make Environment Maryland. Bay Journal • November 2019 33

Commentary • Letters • Perspectives Rachelorum Carson no stranger to the Chesapeake, its creatures F“…to see the running of the old bottom, Rynchops began eels and the young shad to the sea is to wheel and quarter.… to have knowledge of things that are [flying] with a curious as nearly eternal as any earthly life lilting motion … head can be.” — R.L. Carson bent sharply so that the long lower bill, shaped By Tom Horton like a scissor blade, might cut the water. Some of the finest nature writing “The blade plowed about the Chesapeake Bay scarcely a miniature furrow mentions the great estuary by name over the placid sheet and studiously avoids naming specific of the sound, setting places. Its author, for years, chose up wavelets of its own not to use her given name, Rachel, and sending vibrations presuming readers would think “R. L. thudding down through Carson” male and more credible. the water to be received I don’t know why in her first book by the blennies and in 1941, Under the Sea Wind, the killifish that were writer most famous for Silent Spring roving the shallows. … (1962) minimized the Chesapeake as [T]he small fishes came the setting and inspiration for many of nosing at the surface, the delightful essays. curious and hungry. Perhaps it was to avoid pigeon- Rynchops, wheeling holing her writing as “local” or about, returned along “regional,” the bane of nature writers the way he had come whose nonfiction can be transcendent. Scientist and author Rachel Carson worked with Bob Hines, a wildlife artist with the U.S. Fish and snapped up three Easier for localized fiction to pass for and Wildlife Service, while conducting research off the Atlantic coast in 1952. (USFWS) of the fishes.” universal — Faulkner’s Nobel Prize- Every year, I gather winning novels about his tiny corner of unduly alarm readers. my class at Salisbury University near a Mississippi come to mind. Also during the 1930s, she began little pond that drains through a nonde- But Carson came to know the Chesa- working in the U.S. Bureau of Fisher- script stream — a ditch really — that peake region and its birds and fishes ies field station in Baltimore, a job runs between parking lots and under well, starting in 1929, when she began that took her all over the Chesapeake, trafficky MD Route 213 in downtown work at Johns Hopkins on a masters in talking to watermen and biologists, Centreville, on Maryland’s upper zoology and rented a house in Stem- who also keenly observed the region’s Eastern Shore. mers Run in eastern Baltimore County, bird life. “There is a pond that lies under a couple of miles from the Bay’s edge. In 1937, Carson sold a larger essay, a hill … two hundred miles from the Dissecting and analyzing the uri- The World of Waters, to The Atlantic sea,” I begin reading from Carson’s nary system in catfish earned her the magazine, an acclaimed piece that essay on the departure of the eels for degree, but she kept a tank of Ameri- would lead to Under the Sea Wind four Sargassan depths from all over the Bay can eels in her laboratory in Gilman years later. watershed, and, indeed, from the entire Hall on the Homewood campus. Chesapeake Born I don’t want to imply that this Eastern Seaboard. She found the catadromous (run- classic, which earned its writer a paltry “When the cocks were crowing, ning downstream to spawn) Anguilla more prosaic stuff. She wrote scripts $689.17 in royalties before going out saluting the third hour of the new rostrata fascinating. Indeed, the for Romance Under the Water, a of print for years, was only about our day, Anguilla slipped into the chan- inexplicable impulse of adult eels, lengthy series of U.S. Bureau of Fish- Bay. Carson spent important field time nel spilling down to the stream below after living in Chesapeake streams eries radio shows aimed at the public. elsewhere along the coast, from the and followed the moving water.” and ponds and rivers for years or even For this she earned $6.50 a day. Woods Hole laboratory in Massachu- Could this be the actual “bittern decades, to suddenly seek the abyss In 1936, “R. L.” Carson sold the first setts to North Carolina’s sounds and pond” of Under the Sea Wind? Close of the Sargasso Sea to spawn and die of many articles on the Chesapeake to sea islands. enough. Like Carson, who would write at depths still unobserved by humans, Mark Watson, editor of the Baltimore But from the intricate life cycles movingly of educating by convey- remains almost as mysterious now as Sunday Sun. It was about the decline of of mackerel, to gripping accounts of ing “the wonder of the world,” I am in Carson’s day. the shad — from pollution, overfishing osprey-eagle interactions, this book inspired by the eels, who eternally Anguilla’s epic fall journey, and and development. I was writing the illuminates Chesapeake nature in the connect this rude patch of Queen the equally improbable spring return same sad story 42 years later for the fullest sense. Anne’s County to the vast abyss of the of its offspring to every rivulet of a Sun when fishing for shad in Maryland I particularly love her opening chap- Bermuda Triangle, to living circuits, watershed they never knew, anchor was closed, never to reopen. ter, Flood Tide, describing the unique energized by bright, silver snakes every the last third of Under the Sea Wind She would go on to write (for feeding flights of Rynchops niger, the year since the continents split apart. in beautifully detailed prose, weaving $20 each) well-researched pieces on black skimmer — one of the loveli- Tom Horton has written about together the biological and the poetic everything from mackerel to oysters, est sights to be had on calm summer the Chesapeake Bay for more than as only Carson could. waterfowl and shorebirds to invasive evenings as the tide floods in along the 40 years, including eight books. He Always strapped for money, the species. Only when she submitted a merges of marsh and sand and water: lives in Salisbury, where he is also a main breadwinner of her family, piece about ticks did editor Watson “…where water no deeper than professor of Environmental Studies at Carson for years refined her craft with reject it, fearing the piece would a man’s hand ran over gently ribbed Salisbury University. 34 Bay Journal • November 2019

Howard County Conservancy Little Paint Branch Park The Howard County Conservancy Help the Maryland-National is looking for volunteers to lead Workday Wisdom Capital Park and Planning elementary and secondary school Make sure that when you Commission remove invasive species hikes. No experience is necessary. participate in cleanup or inva- 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. the last Saturday Volunteers can choose which sive plant removal workdays in November, December and hikes they would like to do. There to protect the Chesapeake Bay January at Little Paint Branch Park in is no minimum or maximum time watershed and its resources that Beltsville. Learn about native plants. Volunteer Opportunities requirement. Volunteers are also you also protect yourself. Orga- Sign in for a safety orientation. needed for various events. Info: nizers of almost every workday Gloves and tools are provided. Info: Paradise Creek Nature Park Carole at 410-465-8877, strongly urge their volunteers to [email protected], Paradise Creek Nature Park in [email protected]. wear long pants, long-sleeved 301-442-5657. Portsmouth, VA, needs participants, shirts, socks and closed-toe ages 12 & older (12–16 w/adult), for Cromwell Valley Park shoes (hiking or waterproof). Magruder Woods volunteer service days 9–11 a.m. Cromwell Valley Park in Parkville, This helps to minimize skin Help Friends of Magruder Woods Nov. 23 & Dec. 7. Tasks include MD, is looking for volunteers of all exposure to poison ivy and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. the third Saturday weeding, planting, cleaning, ages (12 & younger w/adult) for its ticks, which might be found at in November, December and pruning and light maintenance. No Habitat Restoration Team / Weed the site. Light-colored clothing January remove invasive plants experience is required. Bring work Warrior Day 2–4 p.m. Nov. 23. Help also makes it easier to spot ticks. in the forested swamp in Hyattsville, gloves and a water bottle if possible. to remove invasive species, install Hats are strongly recommended. MD. Meet at the farthest end Registration, info: native ones and maintain habitat. Although some events provide of the parking lot. Info: paradisecreek.elizabethriver.org. Service hours are available. Meet at work gloves, not all do; ask [email protected], 301-283- the Sherwood House parking lot. when registering. Events near 0808, (301-442-5657 the day of Manassas, VA, stream cleanup Registration is not required. Info: water require closed-toe shoes event); or Colleen Aistis at The Prince William, VA, Soil [email protected]. and clothing that can get wet 301-985-5057. and Water Conservation District is or muddy. Always bring water. looking for volunteers to help with a MD Volunteer Angler Survey Sunscreen and an insect repel- Become a VA Master Naturalist stream cleanup 9 a.m. to noon Nov. Anglers of all ages can become lent designed to repel both deer Virginia Master Naturalists are 16 near the Costco in Manassas, VA, citizen scientists by helping the ticks and mosquitoes help. a corps of volunteers who help which is in the Bull Run watershed. Maryland Department of Natural Lastly, most organizers ask to manage and protect natural Volunteers are encouraged to wear Resources collect scientific data that volunteers register ahead areas through plant and animal shoes (preferably boots) that can through its Volunteer Angler Survey. of time. Knowing how many surveys, stream monitoring, trail get dirty. Student service hours are Anglers record information from people are going to show up rehabilitation and teaching in available. Registration is required. their catch such as species, location ensures that they will have nature centers. Basic training covers Info: [email protected], and size directly to the survey on enough tools and supervisors. ecology, geology, soils, native flora 571-379-8213. their smartphone. Biologists use They can also give directions to and fauna, and habitat management. these data to develop, plan and the site or offer any suggestions Info: virginiamasternaturalist.org. York County, PA, parks implement management strategies. for apparel or gear not men- Volunteer opportunities at York The artificial reef initiative, blue tioned here. Adopt-a-Stream or Pond County (PA) Parks, include: crab, freshwater fisheries, muskie, The Prince William Soil & Water ≈ Exploration Forest: The Nature shad and striped bass programs have Conservation District in Manassas, Play Area at the Nixon Park Nature been upgraded to mobile-friendly maintaining birds’ living quarters; VA, wants to ensure that stream Center near Jacobus, needs to be methods. Participants are eligible to participating in CBEC’s team of cleanup volunteers have all of the monitored on a regular basis for win quarterly prizes. Info: wood duck box monitors; and support and supplies they need for hazards such as thorny plants or dnr.maryland.gov/Fisheries/Pages/ other wildlife initiatives. Other trash removal projects. Participating poison ivy. Info: Andrew at survey/index.aspx. opportunities include participating groups receive an Adopt-A-Stream 717-428-1961. in fundraising events, website sign in recognition of their efforts. ≈ Project FeederWatch: 9 a.m.– CBL Visitor Center development, writing for newsletters For info, to adopt a stream or get a 4 p.m. Nov. 19, 20, 26 & 27 Volunteers, ages 16 & older, are and events, developing photo proposed site, visit and Dec. 3, 4, 10, 11, 17 & 18. needed at the Chesapeake Biological archives and supporting office [email protected]. Nixon Park near Jacobus. Project Laboratory’s Visitor Center on staff. Volunteers donating more Groups can register their events at FeederWatch is a citizen science Solomons Island, MD. Volunteers than 100 hours of service per trashnetwork.fergusonfoundation.org. program in which participants must commit to a minimum of two, year receive a complimentary identify and count the number of 3– to 4-hour shifts each month one-year family membership to American Chestnut Land Trust bird species visiting the center’s in the spring, summer and fall. CBEC. Info: volunteercoordinator@ The American Chestnut Land feeders from November through Training sessions are required. Info: bayrestoration.org. Trust in Prince Frederick, MD, needs early April. The data is forwarded [email protected]. volunteers for invasive plant removal to the Cornell Laboratory of Ruth Swann Park workdays 9–11 a.m. Thursdays and Ornithology and becomes part of Volunteer at CBEC Help the Maryland Native Plant 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Wednesdays. a nationwide data set that tracks The Chesapeake Bay Society, Sierra Club and Chapman All ages (16 & younger w/adult) winter bird population trends. Environmental Center in Grasonville, Forest Foundation 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. are welcome. Training, tools and Beginners are welcome. Volunteers MD, has volunteer openings for the second Saturday in November, water are provided. Registration are asked to commit to one hour those who only want to drop in December and January remove is required. Info: 410-414-3400, every other week. Info: Andrew at a few times a month as well as invasive plants at Ruth Swann Park in [email protected], 717-428-1961. people who would like to help out Bryans Road. Meet at the Ruth Swann acltweb.org. ≈ Christmas Magic Food Stand & on a more regular basis. Openings Park-Potomac Branch Library parking Nature Center Front Desk Greeters: include: helping with educational lot. Bring lunch. Info: [email protected], Anita Leight Estuary Center Nov. 29–Dec. 31. Rocky Ridge Park, programs; guiding kayak trips 301-283-0808, (301-442-5657 day of Anita C. Leight Estuary Center in York. Ages 14+ Help out at this fund- or hikes; staffing the front desk; event). Carpoolers meet at the Sierra Abingdon, MD, needs volunteers, raising attraction featuring 600,000 maintaining trails, landscapes and Club MD Chapter office at 9 a.m. ages 14 & older, for its Invasinators LED lights, Info: NixonCountyPark@ the Pollinator Garden; feeding or and return at 5 p.m. Carpool contact: YorkCountyPA.gov. handling captive birds of prey; 301-277-7111. Bulletin continues on page 35 Bay Journal • November 2019 35

Do You Have a Mid-January through Mid-March Event? This is to remind organizations and Dec. 11 if they are to run in the combined centers with events or deadlines that take January-February 2020 issue. place between mid-January and mid-March Please e-mail news about upcoming Bulletin from page 34 that announcements for these items must events to this address: reach the Bay Journal office no later than [email protected]. Workday 2–4 p.m. Nov. 17, weather permitting. Help remove invasive species and install native plants support wetland development and “download the yardstick” to evaluate The Toolkit contains 20 around the center. Wear sturdy restoration on their land. one’s landscape and/or vegetable ambassador wildlife species shoes, long sleeves and work garden. representing four habitats. These gloves. Registration is required: Stormwater class animals require a variety of 410-612-1688, 410-879-2000 x1688, The Alliance for the Chesapeake Turf / lawn programs conditions that are present in high- otterpointcreek.org. Bay has released the Municipal For information on the Prince quality environments for human, Online Stormwater Training Center’s William (VA) Cooperative plant and animal health. Creek Critters app Dig Once Course. Developed by the Extension’s 12 Steps to a Greener Its multi-platform format helps Audubon Naturalist’s Creek Local Government Programs staff Lawn / Building Environmental partners prioritize community Critters app lets people check their and the University of Maryland’s Sustainable Turf BEST Lawns low- greening projects based on local streams’ health through finding Environmental Finance Center, cost, research-based programs for representative species, citizen and identifying small organisms that the course provides ways that lawn education, contact: 703-792- science data and spatial analysis that live in freshwater, then generating local leaders can integrate green 4037, [email protected]. includes social, economic health reports based on what infrastructure into community capital and ecological indicators. they find. The free app can be projects such as road construction, Floatable monitoring program Info: fws.gov. downloaded from the App and school and park improvements. The Prince William Soil & Water Store and Google Play. Info: Interactive lessons, videos and Conservation District in Manassas, Wildlife education trunks anshome.org/creek-critters. To knowledge checks in a user-friendly VA, needs volunteers to help The Maryland Department of learn about partnerships or format provide communities with assess and trace trash in streams Natural Resources is offering a host a Creek Critters event: tools to better communicate about, in an effort to reduce nonpoint variety of wildlife education trunks [email protected]. build and enhance local stormwater source pollutants in urbanized and for use by teachers, home-school programs. Info: mostcenter.org. industrialized areas in relation to educators, naturalists, scout leaders Resources the County’s Municipal Separate and other instructors. These free, Watershed education capsules Storm Sewers (MS4) permit. interdisciplinary tools are designed Boating safety instruction Prince William (VA) Soil and Cleanup supplies are provided. Info: to interest students in local wildlife Boating safety classes are required Water Conservation District’s [email protected]. while building on disciplines such as for operators of recreational boats in Watershed Capsules, which teach art, language arts, math, Virginia, Maryland and the District students about the important Marine debris toolkit physical education, science of Columbia, as well as most other functions of watersheds, are The National Oceanic and and social studies. Each trunk states. Those who missed the Coast available, first-come, first served. Atmospheric Administration’s Office contains an educator guide with Guard Auxiliary courses have online Info: pwswcd.org/capsules. of National Marine Sanctuaries background information, lesson alternatives: and the NOAA Marine Debris plans and hands-on K–12 activities, ≈ Virginians: boat-ed.com/virginia Learn if your yard is Bay-Wise Program have developed a toolkit as well as supplies, books, furs, ≈ Marylanders: boatus.org/ Master Gardeners in Prince for students and educators in replica tracks, videos and other maryland George’s County, MD, are part of coastal and inland areas to learn hands-on items. Trunks subjects ≈ DC residents & nonresidents: Bay-Wise, a program that offers about marine debris and monitor include aquatic invasive species, boat-ed.com/districtofcolumbia free consultations on sound their local waterways. This bats, black bears, furbearers, ≈ Comprehensive list of environmental practices for county toolkit is a collaborative effort white-tailed deer and wild turkeys. training options: uscgboating.org/ residents to help certify their to reduce the impact on marine Trunks are available at seven recreational-boaters/boating-safety- landscapes as Bay-Wise. They look ecosystems through hands-on citizen locations around the state and courses.php for healthy lawn maintenance, science, education and community can be borrowed on a first-come, ≈ Free boating safety tools & efficient watering and pest control, outreach. Info/search engine: first-served basis for up to two materials from the Coast Guard and native trees and plants marine debris monitoring toolkit for weeks. Info/search engine: Wildlife Auxiliary: Info/Search engine: that provide shelter and habitat educators. Education Trunks. recreational boating safety outreach. for wildlife, as well as suggest approaches landowners can take Baltimore Biodiversity Toolkit Test for chemicals in water Bilingual educator resources to reduce pollution. Those who To help meet the need for high- Prince William County, VA, Bilingual educational programs demonstrate these practices receive quality and accessible green and the state’s Department of are available in English and Spanish Bay-Wise signs. Homeowners can space in Baltimore for native Environmental Quality need from the Interstate Commission on also evaluate their property online plants, animals and people, the volunteers to join their Chemical the Potomac River Basin. Contact: using the MD Yardstick, which tallies Baltimore Biodiversity Toolkit Water Quality Monitoring Teams, potomacriver.org/resources/ pollution-reducing gardening and identifies ambassador animals who collect chemical data from educator. landscaping practices. To have a that represent habitat types local streams. DEQ will teach yard certified, though, homeowners within, and historic to a community. volunteers the techniques to collect Wetlands Work website need to have the Master Gardeners It facilitates sharing resources and read the data. Monitoring The Chesapeake Bay Program’s visit and evaluate their landscape. for supporting specific wildlife sites are accessible for easy data website, Wetlands Work Info: Esther Mitchell: at needs; monitoring and the collection collection. Info: waterquality@ (wetlandswork.org), helps to [email protected], or visit of citizen science data; and pwswcd.org. connect agricultural landowners extension.umd.edu/baywise/ developing a culture of with people and programs that can program-certification. Click on conservation and stewardship. Bulletin continues on page 36 36 Bay Journal • November 2019

the public. Prizes, including the $1,000 grand prize, will be awarded that day. Info: facebook.com/pg/ New Submission Guidelines rvaenvironmentalfilmfestival/posts. The Bay Journal regrets it is two months in advance. See below. not always able to print every ≈ Submissions to Bulletin Board Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum notice it receives because of must be sent either as a Word or The Chesapeake Bay Maritime space limitations. Priority is given Pages document, or as simple text Museum in St. Michaels, MD, to events or programs that most in the body of an e-mail. PDFs, Bulletin from page 35 invites woodworkers to sign up closely relate to the preservation newsletters or other formats may for its Open Boat Shop, 5:30– and appreciation of the Bay, be considered if there is space 8:30 p.m. Nov. 14 & Dec. 12. its watershed and resources. and if information can be easily Forums / Workshops Novice woodworkers can bring Items published in Bulletin extracted. a small woodworking project or Board are posted on the online ≈ Programs must contain all MD water monitoring forum ideas for a future project to receive calendar; unpublished items are of the following information: The Maryland Water Monitoring guidance from an experienced posted online if staffing permits. a phone number (include the Council’s 25th annual conference, shipwright and woodworker, along Guidelines: area code) or e-mail address of Where We’ve Been, Where We’re with assistance with CBMM’s ≈ Send notices to a contact person; the title, time Going, takes place 7:30 a.m.– machinery and tools. Participants [email protected]. Items (online calendar requires an end 4:30 p.m. Dec. 6 at the Maritime must be 16 or older unless sent to other addresses are not time as well as a start time), date Conference Center in Linthicum. accompanied by an adult. Fee: $35 always forwarded before the and place of the event or program. The event’s plenary session is a per session. Preregistration required: deadline. Submissions must state if the presentation by former Chesapeake cbmm.org/shipyardprograms. ≈ Bulletin Board contains events program is free, requires a fee, has Bay Program Director Nick that take place (or have registration age requirements, has a registration DiPasquale. Concurrent breakout Oregon Ridge Nature Center deadlines) on or after the 13th of deadline or welcomes drop-ins. sessions will include Invasive Upcoming events at Oregon the month in which the item is ≈ December issue: November 11 Species, Remote Sensing and the Ridge Nature Center in Cockeysville, published through the 13th of the ≈ January/February issue: Bay, Stream Restoration Monitoring, MD, include: next month. Deadlines run at least December 11 Working with Big Data, Harmful ≈ Shoots & Letters: 10–11 a.m. Algal Blooms, Litter Education, Nov. 14 (Hibernation) & Nov. 21 Trends in Stream Health and other (Deer). Ages 3+ Outdoor adventures, 410-887-1815. For disability-related Maryland as he dives deep into the topics. The event also includes activities. Fee: $2/child. No accommodations, call 410-887-1815, world of entomology. Dinner and posters, exhibitor tables, an all-you- registration required. 401-887-5370 or 410-887-5319 drinks are provided. Fee: $60. can-eat buffet lunch and post- ≈ Campfire Cooking: 1–3 p.m. (TTD/Deaf). ≈ Day-off Camp / Forest Foragers: meeting social. The cost, Nov. 16 & 17. Ages 8+ Hike to find 8:30 a.m.–4 p.m. Nov. 22. Ages which varies, depends on the level kindling, learn about fire safety, Paradise Creek Nature Park 5–10. Participants take part in trail of one’s participation. There is a build a campfire, make campfire Paradise Creek Nature Park in walks, nature games, crafts, stories discount for those who register treats. Fee: $8. Portsmouth, VA, invites the public to and animal encounters. Children before Nov. 18. For conference ≈ Council Speaker Series / these programs: should wear nature-friendly clothing details, registration and abstract Monarch Butterflies: 7–8:30 p.m. ≈ Holiday Wreath Workshop: 10 for outdoor activities and bring a submission info: Search engine Nov. 18. Adults. Master Gardener a.m.–12 p.m. Nov. 23. Ages 18+ lunch. Children will go outside even Maryland water monitoring Pam Spencer has studied, raised Decorate a wreath using cedar, if snow is on the ground. Fee: $85. conference. and tagged monarchs for the annual pine & holly branches; pinecones, (Aftercare, 4–6 p.m. available for an migration to their forest sanctuaries magnolia leaves, lemons, pears and extra fee.) Events / Programs in Mexico. Her discussion will oyster shells. All materials, supplies ≈ Drop-in Science Saturdays & focus on creating lush habitats for are included. Fee: $40. Sundays: 10 a.m.–12 p.m. Nov. 23 Natural History Society of MD pollinators, which include both host ≈ Family Nature Walks: 12–1 p.m. (Native American Weaving) & Dec. 7 The Natural History Society of plants and nectar sources that bloom Nov. 23 & Dec. 7. All ages. (children (Sunny Snowflakes). All ages. Explore Maryland invites the public to Big all season long. The program also w/adults) Learn about native plants the natural world of science. Self- Game Record Keeping: Past, Present discusses theories on why monarchs and animals. Look for signs of guided activities could include crafts and Future at 3–5 p.m. Nov. 24 are at risk and ways to help them. wildlife. Free. and/or hands-on exhibits. Free. in Overlea, MD. Learn about the Free, donations appreciated. No ≈ Herb Collecting & Drying ≈ Hoot’s Feast-ival: 1–3 p.m. Nov. national game registry, a measuring registration required. Workshop: 10–11 a.m. Nov. 16. All 24. All ages. Join Hoot at Irvine’s system that tracks the success ≈ Habitat Hunt: 1–3 p.m. Nov. 23 ages (children w/adults) Walk in the Native American Site for games, of new conservation policies. & 24. Ages 5+ Hikers will look for herb garden to learn which are crafts and food. Learn about some Attendees are invited to bring in clues hidden in the park that lead to best-suited for drying and how to of the foods from the first their specimens for an official a sweet surprise. Fee: $5. harvest and safely dry them. Free. Thanksgiving that are grown in measure. Fee: $20. Info: ≈ Turkey Tales: 1–2 p.m. Nov. 30. Registration is required for all Irvine’s garden. Fee: $10. [email protected]. Ages 5+ Turkey tales & craft. Meet a programs. Info: paradisecreek. ≈ Holidays with Hoot: 1– 3 p.m. live turkey. Fee: $2. elizabethriver.org. Dec. 15. All ages. Make a gift, play VA film fest accepting entries Ages 15 & younger must winter-themed games and drink hot The 10th RVA Environmental be accompanied by an adult. Irvine Nature Center cocoa. Fee: $10. Film Festival is accepting entries All programs require advance Upcoming events at Irvine Info on all programs: from around the state for the 2020 registration unless otherwise noted: Nature Center in Owings Mills, MD, explorenature.org. Virginia Environmental Film Contest. [email protected], include: Submissions are due by Dec. 31. 410-887-1815. Include everyone’s ≈ Tales & Tails: 10–11 a.m. every Patuxent Research Refuge The festival showcases films that name and ages of children. Friday. All ages. Story, songs, puppet Upcoming programs at the raise awareness of environmental Payment must be made within show. Meet an animal. Free. Patuxent Research Refuge’s North issues relative to all residents one week of registration. Events ≈ Eat, Drink & Learn / Awesome Tract [T] and National Wildlife of Earth. Selected entries will take place rain or shine. Programs Bugs & Frosty Mugs: 6:30–9 p.m. Visitors Center [C] in Laurel, MD, be screened Feb. 9 at the Byrd are for individuals and immediate Nov. 21. Adults. Listen to “Bug include: Theater in Richmond. Admission families. Groups are welcome Guy” Michael Raupp, professor of to the festival is free and open to to schedule programs by calling Entomology at the University of Bulletin continues on page 37 Bay Journal • November 2019 37

p.m. Nov. 23 [T] All ages. Take in the wing. Cameras are welcome. Nov. 16. All ages. Observe seasonal the natural area’s wildlife, plants, Free. Registration required: 717-428- changes. Fee: $2. historical sites on 12-mile guided 1961. ≈ Trail Running Series: 10–11 a.m. tour. Bring a bike, snack, water ≈ Hanging of the Greens: 6–8 Nov. 17. Ages 10+ (16 & younger w/ bottle, helmet. Ride is weather- p.m. Dec. 6. Rail Trail’s Hanover adult) All skill levels/paces welcome. dependent. Junction Train Station in North 2-mile course is an out-and-back, ≈ Boy Scouts of America Codorus Township. Decorate the single track. Free. Environmental Science Merit Badge: station’s exterior. Hot beverages, ≈ Drop-in Program / Meet a Bulletin from page 36 12–4 p.m. Nov. 24 [T] Ages 10–17. cookies provided. Critter: 1 p.m. Nov. 17. All ages. Some pre/post work is also required ≈ Natural Ornament Making: Up-close animal encounter. ≈ Stars & Stories: Possible dates: to earn the badge. Drop-in any time between 1–3:30 ≈ Beautiful Backyard Birds: 10:30 Nov. 12, 14, 15 or 16. [T] All ages. All programs are free; donations p.m. Dec. 8. Nixon Park near a.m.–12 p.m. Nov. 23. Ages 6–12. View the Andromeda Galaxy, Ring are appreciated. Except where Jacobus. Make ornaments out of Learn to identify birds at a feeder, Nebula, Dumbbell Nebula through noted, events require registration. natural materials, glue and ribbon. make a seed feeder to take home. an 18-inch diameter telescope. Programs are designed for Materials are provided. Fee: $3. Learn how light pollution affects individuals and/or families. Let ≈ Winter Wildlife Walk: 2–3:30 ≈ Owl Prowl: 5–6:30 p.m. Nov. wildlife, what to do to help preserve the refuge know if there are any p.m. Dec. 15, Nixon Park near 23. Ages 8+ (16 & younger w/adult) dark skies for future generations. special needs that need to be Jacobus. Join a 1-mile wander to Meet at Bosely Conservancy. Listen, ≈ Family Fun / Furry Friends: accommodated. Info: 301-497- search for signs of wildlife activity. look for owls. Fee: $5. Drop-in any time between 10 a.m.– 5887, fws.gov/refuge/Patuxent/visit/ Unless noted otherwise, events ≈ Owls of Maryland: 2–3:30 p.m. 1 p.m. Nov. 15 & 16 [C] All ages. PublicPrograms.html. are free and do not require Nov. 24. Ages 10+ Learn about the Learn about the refuge’s mammals registration. Info: 717-428-1961. state’s owls. Fee: $3. through activities, games, crafts for York County, PA, Parks ≈ Children’s Garden Club: 10:30– all ages. No registration. ≈ Kids Nature Play: Drop in any Cromwell Valley Park 11:30 a.m. Nov. 30. Ages 5–8. Cook, ≈ Owl & Kestrel: 12:15–12:45 p.m. time from 8:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m. Nov. Upcoming programs at Cromwell create, explore while learning how a Nov. 16, 23 & 30. [C] All ages. Learn 15, 16, 22 & 23. Nixon Park near Valley Park’s Willow Grove Nature garden is connected to humans, the about the acrobatic American kestrel Jacobus. Dress-up, use puppets, Center in Parkville, MD, include: wild world. Fee: $5/child. and the stealthy eastern screech owl. touch and feel natural objects, ≈ Scout Day: 1–3 p.m. Nov. ≈ Tracks, Scat & Chews: 2–3:30 No registration required. take part in short scavenger hunts. 16. Girl & Boy Scouts, ages 5–11 p.m. Nov. 30. Ages 6+ Look for and ≈ Story Time: 10:30–11:15 a.m. Explore indoor play stations. w/adult. Meet animals native to interpret clues that animals leave Nov. 18 [T] Ages 3–5. Nature- ≈ Christmas Magic / A Festival of Maryland, go outside to explore behind: footprints, chew marks, themed stories, crafts. Lights: 6–9 p.m. Monday–Thursday; their fall habitat. Participants receive droppings. Make track, scat models, ≈ Agents of Discovery DC 5–9 p.m. Friday–Sunday Nov. 29– a Cromwell Valley Park logo patch. then hit the trails to test your Explorer 2.0 Campaign Celebration: Dec. 31. Rocky Ridge Park, York. All No siblings! Fee: $5 per Scout. “reading” skills. Fee: $4. 10:30 a.m.–12 p.m. Nov. 19 [C] All ages. Half-mile ADA trail features ≈ Earth Oven Bread: 1–2:30 p.m. Except where noted, ages 12 & ages. Play the game on trails. No 600,000 LED lights, animated Nov. 17. Ages 8+ Bake a no-knead younger must be accompanied by an registration required. scenes, enclosed pavilions with loaf in a wood-fired earth oven. adult for all programs. Events meet ≈ Raptors Reign: 10:45 a.m.– food, trains, entertainment. Online Fee: $6. at the center and require registration 12:30 p.m. Nov. 19 [C] All ages. registration only. Fee: $10/adults; $9/ ≈ Let’s Talk Turkey: 1–2:30 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Payment Licensed falconer Rodney Stotts will ages 60+; $5/children; free/ages 3 Nov. 23. All ages. Meet and learn is due at time of registration. Info: discuss and share close encounters & younger. Info (for this event only): about wild turkeys. Fee: $4. 410-612-1688, 410-879-2000 x1688, with birds of prey. No registration parkevents.yorkcountypa.gov. ≈ Black Friday Hike: 7–8:30 p.m. otterpointcreek.org. required. ≈ Birds of Prey Presentations: Nov. 29. Ages 5+ Hike ends with ≈ Bird Walk: 8–10 a.m. Nov. 11 a.m. & 1 p.m. Nov. 30. Nixon s’mores around the campfire. Wild & Scenic Film Festival 20 [C] Ages 16+ Search for Park near Jacobus. Meet live hawks, Fee: $5. The Alliance for the Chesapeake fall migrants. Binoculars are owls or falcons during this indoor ≈ Good Night Groundhog: 1–3 Bay invites the public to its Wild recommended if participants have program presented by local raptor p.m. Nov. 30. All ages. Learn about & Scenic Film Festival Jan. 23. The them. rehabilitators. Learn how these birds woodchucks/groundhogs, then hike selection includes award-winning ≈ Bicycle Ride: 10 a.m.–12:30 of prey are adapted to hunting on to search for their burrows. Fee: $4. films about nature, community Ages 12 & younger must be activism, adventure, conservation, accompanied by an adult. Except water, energy and climate change, where noted, programs are free and wildlife, environmental justice, Chesapeake Challenge require registration. Info: 410-887- agriculture, and Native American and Answers to 2503, cromwellvalleypark.org indigenous cultures. Ticket prices [email protected]. Online vary between sites. Early bird prices This grilling oyster quiz is registration: cromwellvalleypark. end 11:59 p.m. Nov. 21. Tickets will stuffed with bivalve campbrainregistration.com. For be sold at the door if they haven’t disability-related accommodations, sold out. The schedule is: brain teasers call 410-887-5370 or 410-887-5319 ≈ Richmond: Science Museum of on page 21. (TTY), giving as much notice as Virginia. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. 1. B 2. B 3. A 4. A 5. A 6. C possible. Film program runs 6:30–9:30 p.m. 7. B 8. B 9. B 10: A. Gills ≈ Washington, DC: The Miracle B. Cilia C. Palps D. Mantle E. Anita Leight Estuary Center Theater. Doors open at 7 p.m. Film Adductor 11. D 12. A Upcoming programs at the program runs 7:30–10 p.m. Anita C. Leight Estuary Center in ≈ Lititz, PA: Penn Cinemas IMAX Abingdon, MD, include: Theater. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. Bay Buddies ≈ Kiddy Campfire: 11 a.m.–12 p.m. Film program runs 6–9 p.m. Answers to Oysters on page 21. Nov. 16. Ages 3–6. Meet at Pontoon ≈ Annapolis: details not available Pier. Play games, sing songs, learn at time of deadline. 1. A 2. A 3. C 4. A 5. B 6. D 7. how to stay safe around a fire. Search engine: Alliance for the D 8. A 9. A (Dave Harp) Roasted treats provided. Fee: $3. Chesapeake Bay wild and scenic ≈ Fall Discovery Hike: 1–2 p.m. film festival. 38 Bay Journal • November 2019 Correctional collaborative trains new generation of riparian buffer experts By Ryan Davis In the event that they cannot find employment, participants will be On a sweltering July afternoon, a equipped to pursue their own venture handful of conservation professionals in buffer maintenance. They have walked through a cornfield toward a enthusiastically taken this opportunity, stream in Huntingdon County, PA. and many are looking forward to While that alone would be common- working on forest buffers, even if just place, this cadre was accompanied by on the side, upon release. a group that was far from ordinary: 20 The pilot class of the Riparian inmates at Huntingdon State Correc- Forest Buffer Vocational Training tional Institution and their correctional concluded in mid-October with a officers. graduation ceremony and a forest They stopped a few times on the buffer planting of 400 trees on way to the tree line to examine the slit Huntingdon SCI property. The buffer left in the soil from a no-till drill and was designed by class participants, look at the empty stream banks of a who were busy preparing the site small tributary. They paused near bare over the summer when they weren’t spots where wet soil was hampering helping to maintain local riparian corn growth, before ducking into the forest buffers planted by the program’s shade of a mature forest. partners. The men had learned about water Many state correctional institutions quality, the Chesapeake Bay and own vast areas of land that was formerly riparian forest buffers from a variety cultivated by inmates but are now rented of guest speakers in the classroom. Participants in the Riparian Forest Buffer Vocational Training listen to the finer to local farmers. Like most agricultural This was their chance to see how these points of buffer maintenance from staff at the Mifflin County (PA) Conservation property in the state, there are huge pieces fit together in the field while District and Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay (Shea Zwerver) opportunities to plant riparian forest they looked for macroinvertebrates in buffers on this state-owned land, which the shallow stream that runs directly justice, Shea began building a curricu- up until now hadn’t really been consid- into the Juniata River. lum to train arboriculture techniques to ered as an avenue to accomplishing more The inmates, who were hand-picked inmates at Rockview State Correctional streamside acres planted in trees. by Tina Hicks-Kern, corrections Institution in Centre County. The par- This potential for chipping away at employment and vocational coordina- ticipants took an arborist short course the state’s riparian reforestation goals tor at Huntingdon SCI, are participants and learned skills like tree climbing could help to fuel the growth of the in a pilot program aimed at reducing and pruning, Upon release, a few of the Correctional Conservation Collabora- recidivism while helping the state graduates got jobs in the field. tive at more state facilities. accomplish its conservation goals. This successful pilot program was Hicks-Kern, who has worked at Under the fledgling Correctional the seed of what has grown into the Huntingdon SCI for more than 30 Conservation Collaborative project, Most landowners do not have the Correctional Conservation Collabora- years, sees immense potential in the participants receive riparian forest equipment, time and expertise to tive, intentionally abbreviated CCC collaborative for both the inmates and buffer vocational training to help them complete the requisite tree establish- as a nod to the Civilian Conservation others across the state. “This program re-enter the workforce with skills to ment care duties, which boil down Corps, which knitted environmental provides vocational training, but is also help reduce nutrient and sediment to managing vegetation in the buffer stewardship together with social welfare an opportunity for re-entrants to use pollution reaching waterways. area, especially around each tree. for unemployed young men during their heads and their hands to do posi- In Pennsylvania, where local, state Contractors who offer this service the Great Depression. Shea has since tive things. They see their worth and and federal agencies, as well as scores are present, but are few and far provided more than 343 hours of tree- are given the opportunity to believe in of nongovernmental organizations, are between, largely because there has related vocational instruction, reaching themselves, while also helping others, working to reforest stream banks, we not been enough funding or buffer 172 inmates at two facilities and 10 she said. “This program gives them not only need to create buffer profes- plantings to justify the investments in programs. The Riparian Forest Buffer something to look forward to every sionals — it’s likely the state can’t time and equipment. That is changing; Vocational Training began in July. session; it’s a really good thing!” accomplish its goals without them. riparian forest buffer planting has Joining Shea in creating and coor- The Riparian Forest Buffer Vocational Pennsylvania’s task to reduce its begun to surge again in Pennsylvania, dinating the training are Teddi Stark, Training, and indeed the Correctional share of pollutants reaching the Bay and the maintenance of these sites in riparian forest buffer coordinator for Conservation Collaborative as a whole, has always been immense, but with the most vulnerable first few years is the DCNR, and myself, the Pennsyl- is an example of the many innovative just a few years left until the 2025 now often supported with funding and vania Forest Program manager for partnerships that are springing up around Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum technical assistance. the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay. the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Daily Load deadline, the numbers are But there are still not enough contrac- Together we developed a curriculum A diverse group of partners with looming larger than ever. The target tors distributed across the watershed that introduces inmates to all things an array of objectives found common for new acres of riparian forest buffer who can care for these young forests. buffer in the classroom and in-depth ground in working together to train establishment is 86,500 acres. For A similar reality faces urban forestry field practice on all components of a new generation of riparian forest perspective, that’s nearly twice the size best management practices. Street trees converting a treeless stream to one buffer professionals. Once released, of Washington, DC. get planted, but there may not be arbor- enclosed by a healthy forest. participants will be able to help This goal is theoretically attainable, ists around later to make sure that they More than a dozen guest experts Pennsylvania meet its massive riparian but if we are to get anywhere close, we are properly pruned and tended to. have helped to teach not only techni- reforestation targets and water quality are going to need dramatic accelerations In 2017, Shea Zwerver, commu- cal skills, but also entrepreneurship, goals, and the new forests will give in funding, momentum and practitioners. nity engagement coordinator for the professionalism and business develop- participants a second chance to lead a Those 17.3 million trees will not only Pennsylvania Department of Conserva- ment. The participants will be well- fulfilling life on the outside. need to be planted, but must be properly tion and Natural Resources, launched qualified for positions in the buffer Ryan Davis is the Chesapeake For- cared for, an issue that has plagued ripar- a program to intervene. Melding her industry or other “green jobs,” from ests Program manager at the Alliance ian reforestation for decades. passion for the environment and social landscaping to forest management. for the Chesapeake Bay. Bay Journal • November 2019 39 Rough-legged hawk’s rare visit to Gettysburg strikes a chord By Mike Burke

The battlefield was silent. The split- rail fence rose peacefully atop the grassy hillside. The sky, once filled with smoke and the smell of gunpowder, was the brilliant blue only seen in winter. I had last visited the Gettysburg National Military Park decades earlier. The hallowed ground was even more moving than I remembered. Like many Reports that a rough-legged hawk had hawks, been seen here offered the rationale for the rough- the visit. I had never seen one. I was glad legged hawk we came. comes in We sighted the rough-legged hawk both light (Buteo lagopus), an uncommon winter and dark visitor, as it stood peacefully atop a morphs. fence post. I pulled up the binoculars for They build large stick nests, along There a better look. Rough-legged hawks are cliffs and rocky outcroppings, that take is great large, almost as big as red-tails. They up to three weeks for both parents to variability stand 20 inches tall and their broad assemble. The female will lay eggs as in plumage wings can reach a span of 4.5 feet when soon as construction is complete. She color, from fully extended. alone has a brood patch, so she must sit nearly Like many hawks, they come in on the eggs almost continuously for a all-black to both light and dark morphs. There is month until the eggs hatch. a sparsely great variability in plumage color, from Rodents are the chief food for speckled nearly all-black to a sparsely speckled rough-legs. They consume vast numbers and streaked and streaked version. This rough-leg of lemmings and voles in the Arctic. version. was in the intermediate range, which Adults need to consume four to six small (Louis is most common. Sexes are similar in rodents daily just to maintain their body Agassiz / color, although females are consider- weight. It is estimated that two nestlings U.S. Fish ably heavier. They carry the same color will require 26 pounds of food during the and Wildlife feathering year-round. 40-day period from hatching to fledging. Service) A dark line extended back from the The male hunts constantly to gather eye on the bird’s light brown head. The enough food for himself, his mate and the states (except for the South) and along the most distinctive field markings: its tail cap was a bit darker and the horn-hued hungry chicks. He also preys on hares, southernmost parts of Canada. and “wrist.” The broad tail opened wide, bill was surprisingly small. The neck and ground squirrels and birds. These hawks These are birds of open landscapes. revealing white feathers with a subter- breast were mostly white, but the belly prefer game birds, especially ptarmigans. Their favored winter habitats mimic minal band of black. The underwing was nearly solid black. The back and (The species name of rough-legged their nearly treeless breeding locations. showed white primaries tipped in black, wings were heavily streaked, with solid hawks is lagopus, which is the genus They can most often be found in the heavily streaked inner wing feathers, dark brown wing tips. Its body feathers name of the three ptarmigan species.) great prairies stretching from Saskatche- and a bold, black carpal patch, where the reached down to its toes, giving the bird North American individuals are wan and Alberta in Canada to Oklahoma wing bends slightly. The dark belly was its eponymous name. completely migratory. They depart their and Texas, but are especially partial to also more evident in flight. Rough-legs are visitors from the far breeding grounds in August and Sep- the Upper Midwest. Grasslands, farms, With the hawk gone, my mind North. They breed in Arctic regions tember. Skipping over the boreal forest marshes and, yes, historic battlefields, immediately came back to the present. across the globe. to their south, they winter in the lower 48 host smaller numbers. That’s rare when I’m birding, espe- Rough-legs hunt by diving on their cially after just seeing a new life bird. prey or pouncing from atop poles, posts The high drama of our nation’s huge and small trees. Hunting over fields and political chasm was intruding on my marshes, they resemble the common thoughts yet again. northern harrier. When Lincoln spoke here, the nation Flying low and into the wind, they was torn apart in an even more stark often hover briefly before their lethal and deadly way, I reflected. A century dives. And like another common raptor, and a half ago he called upon the nation the kestrel, they seem to be able to see the to rededicate itself to the noble work ultraviolet spectrum. Doing so enables democracy demands. Those words seem them to see urine trails of rodents, a as relevant to today’s politics as they were major aid in locating prey. so long ago. Like many raptors, rough-legs are Birds are never divorced from opportunistic predators. They will eat where we see them. That was uniquely reptiles, amphibians and insects in true with the rough-legged hawk at addition to their favored prey. They Gettysburg. The bird brought me to also steal food from other birds such as that place, and the location’s power- gulls and will eat carrion, too. ful history inspired me to recommit As we continued watching the Get- myself to the never-ending hard work tysburg bird, it took off, flying low over of democracy. It is estimated that two rough-legged hawk nestlings will require 26 pounds of food a ridge in search of food. The flight gave Mike Burke, an amateur naturalist, during the 40-day period from hatching to fledging. (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) us a chance to see two more of the bird’s lives in Mitchellville, MD. November 2019 Volume 29 Number 8 The Bay Journal NONPROFIT ORG. P.O. Box 222 U.S. POSTAGE Jacobus, PA 17407-0222 PAID DULLES VA PERMIT # 234

The Bay Journal is printed on 100% recyclable/recycled paper using vegetable-based inks. www.bayjournal.com Let’s talk turkey about Thanksgiving’s most famous icon By Kathy Reshetiloff birds and rodents. When first encountered by During November there is a tradi- colonists, wild turkeys ranged from tion that links almost all Americans. Canada to Mexico and numbered And I am not talking about the U.S. in the millions. This was due to the holiday, Thanksgiving. plentiful habitat of hardwood and Instead, think back to the first mixed conifer-hardwood forests; time you drew a turkey (or showed a access to open areas such as fields and child how to draw one). It’s the same grasslands; and a wide variety of foods process: Trace your fingers and palm including mast (the nuts and fruits of on a piece of paper and fill it in with trees or bushes that is eaten by wild- bright colors to conjure up this large life), seeds, fruits and insects. bird with fanned-out feathers. This Between the excessive loss of was your first wild turkey! habitat and hunting, their numbers The wild turkey (Meleagris gal- dwindled in the late 19th and early lopavo), an upland game bird, is native 20th century. Game managers esti- to North America and found from mated that the entire U.S. population southern Canada throughout the 48 of wild turkeys was as low as 30,000 contiguous states and Hawaii, and by the late 1930s. along the Sierra Madre Occidental In the late 1940s, people began to mountain range to central Mexico. successfully transplant wild-caught The domestic turkey, a staple of turkeys into other areas with suitable Thanksgiving feasts, was derived from habitat. These transplantations allowed wild turkeys brought to Europe from wild turkeys to spread to all of the Mexico. The common name, turkey, may lower 48 states (plus Hawaii) and parts be attributed to the fact that the bird were of southern Canada. transported to England through Turkey — In 2014, Partners in Flight estimated and was first called “turkey coq” before a global breeding population of 7.8 being shortened to just “turkey.” million turkeys, with about 89 percent Wild turkeys are large birds, 36–44 of those birds in the United States. inches in length. They are noted by Populations have rebounded in part their large, fan-shaped tails; long, pink because of maturing forests. Landown- or gray legs; short, rounded wings; ers can manage land to provide for this and bare head and neck. Their body bird’s needs. Promoting the growth of is covered with iridescent bronze Two tom turkeys strut their stuff. Males form all-male flocks outside of the breed- mast-producing trees provides a vital feathers with black and white bars on ing season. (Howard Ignatius / CC By-NC-ND 2.0) food source especially during winter. their wings. In the East, the tip of the Acorn crops can be cyclical, so it is turkey’s tail is brown. dead leaves at the bases of trees, under important to promote a diversity of The male turkey has a tuft of feath- brush or shrubs, or occasionally in woodlands trees. Pine, hickory, birch, ers called a beard on his chest and an open fields. They lay four to 17 eggs alder and American beech are great upwardly curving spur on his lower that incubate for 25–31 days. Chicks food sources for turkeys. legs. His breast feathers are tipped with are precocial, meaning they are mobile Small clearings near a woodlot pro- black and he has a bluish-gray neck and and ready to leave the nest soon after vide crucial brooding habitat for young a red fleshy lobe of skin that hangs from hatching. The female will feed her turkeys and are great foraging habitat its neck or chin called a wattle. The chicks for a day or two, then the chicks for most of the year. Grassy, shrubby male’s bare head and neck is red, blue are able to forage on their own. The patches provide cover. Grassy areas or white depending on the season chicks travel in a family group with may need to be mowed every few years The female’s breast feathers are down, turkeys fly into the trees moving their mother, often combining with to prevent the forest from encroaching. tipped with brown, white or gray. She upward from limb to limb to a high other family groups to form large Creating a soft edge between field and doesn’t have spurs and she usually roost spot. They usually roost in flocks. flocks of young turkeys accompanied the forest also provides better escape doesn’t have a beard. She has a gray Courting males gobble and strut by two or more adult females. and cover for turkey. This can be done head and a feathered neck. Males are with their tails fanned to attract Wild turkeys are hunted by people by planting early successional, mast- usually larger than females. females. Males breed with multiple and preyed on by coyotes, bobcats, rac- producing shrubs like viburnums, Wild turkeys get around mostly by mates and form all-male flocks outside coons, mountain lions, golden eagles elderberry, sumac and blackberry. walking, though they can also run and of the breeding season, leaving the and great horned owls. Nest predators Kathy Reshetiloff is with the U.S. fly. When threatened, females tend to chick-rearing to the females. include raccoons, opossums, striped Fish and Wildlife Service’s Chesa- fly while males tend to run. At sun- Wild turkeys nest on the ground in skunks, foxes, woodchucks, snakes, peake Bay Field Office in Annapolis.