April 2019 Volume 29 Number 2 Coal ash contaminated groundwater at almost all monitored sites ≈ Sites found in MD, PA and VA; one in the Patuxent watershed was among the 10 worst in the nation. By Whitney Pipkin Just after Virginia legislators voted to end the storage of coal ash in pits where it could leach into groundwater and rivers, a report released in March revealed widespread coal-ash contami- nation in 39 states — and at more than 91 percent of the power plants moni- tored. They include sites in Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia. The report by Earthjustice and the Environmental Integrity Project relies on monitoring data from coal-fired power plants that an Obama era Construction crews restore Chinquapin Run in Baltimore city, moving sewer line out of a channel and stabilizing banks. regulation required them to release Trees planted along stream by volunteers were taken out, but officials say the reductions in erosion and sewage leaks for the first time in 2018. Of the 265 outweigh the loss. (Dave Harp) power plants that were impacted by the requirement, the report found that groundwater near 242 of them contained “unsafe levels” of one or Localities challenged to meet stormwater reductions more pollutants from coal ash. It also Anne Arundel and Baltimore counties localities could claim greatly increased cited a coal ash landfill in Maryland’s ≈ Critics question effectiveness said they’ve managed to avoid a similar pollution reduction credits for stream Patuxent River watershed as one of the of some methods, say MD has fate. But they only did so with help restoration projects — far beyond what 10 worst coal ash contamination cases let some places off easy. from the Maryland Department of the a number of experts think is warranted. in the country. By Timothy B. Wheeler Environment, which approved ways of State officials say they did those The snapshot of the industry Stormwater pollution is proving to complying with its mandates that critics things to provide flexibility in meeting “confirms that virtually all coal [ash be one tough nut to crack in restoring find questionable. the ambitious stormwater reduction sites] are polluting our groundwater,” the Chesapeake Bay. To understand how Baltimore city, for instance, did it target they set because the effort was said Abel Russ, senior attorney with tough, just look at how Maryland’s larg- mainly by sweeping its streets — an costly and difficult and each locality the EIP and lead author of the report. est city and the state’s biggest suburbs approach that experts say is, at best, seemed to have different challenges Coal ash, the byproduct of burn- have struggled with it. only modestly effective at curbing the meeting it. ing coal for power, can contain toxic A year ago, despite having spent nutrient pollution that plagues the Bay. “Each county is finding practices that chemicals and heavy metals such as more than $100 million on a slew of Anne Arundel County, meanwhile, work best in their landscape and environ- arsenic, lead and mercury. Environ- projects, Montgomery County failed to took advantage of a new state program ment,” said Lee Currey, director of the mental lawyers and researchers have meet state requirements for reducing that permits pollution “trading.” This MDE Water and Science Administration. been trying to prove how easily these polluted runoff from its streets, parking let the county offset its big shortfall in But environmentalists and even contaminants can leach from unlined lots and rooftops. In a consent agree- reducing stormwater runoff by taking some stream restoration professionals or clay-lined pits into groundwater ment with state regulators, it pledged credit for the better-than-required perfor- contend that the state has let localities and, eventually, enter drinking water to catch up and pay a $300,000 fine mance of its sewage treatment plants. off easy. Under pressure from local offi- and nearby waterways. — or spend a like amount on an extra And Baltimore County benefited cials, they say, regulators permitted and The data used to produce the report stormwater management project. from another helpful state decision. came from groundwater monitoring Officials in the city of Baltimore and The MDE announced late last year that Runoff continues on page 21 Coal Ash continues on page 20 2 Bay Journal • April 2019

Editor’s Note BAY JOURNAL is published by Bay Journal Media to inform the public about ecological, scientific, historic and cultural issues New special issue, new changes & new faces and events related to the Chesapeake Bay. The Bay Journal, circulation 35,000, is published monthly except in midsummer It’s been a LNP newspaper in Lancaster, PA, for and midwinter. It is distributed free of charge. Bundles are available hectic start to nearly 37 years, winning more than 20 for distribution. Material may be reproduced, with permission the year here at statewide writing awards. and attribution. Publication is made possible by grants through the Bay Journal. His reporting has ranged from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Chesapeake Bay We have a lot coverage of the Three Mile Island Program Office, the Campbell Foundation, the National Oceanic of plans for this and Peach Bottom nuclear plants, to and Atmospheric Administration’s Chesapeake Bay Office, the year, including efforts to preserve the scenic Lower Sumner T. McKnight Foundation, the Rauch Foundation, the a first-ever Susquehanna Gorge and its river Fair Play Foundation, the Shared Earth Foundation, the Virginia special issue towns, to the challenges of farmers Environmental Endowment, anonymous donors, and by reader that will focus on climate change, seeking to conform to more stringent contributions. Views expressed in the Bay Journal do not and updating our publication and conservation measures on their farms necessarily represent those of any funding agency or organization. website. Fortunately, we have some while trying to eke out a living during help on the way. tough times in the dairy business. For mailing list additions/changes, please use the form on this With this issue we are welcoming For 20 years, Ad has led and written page or contact: Bay Journal, P.O. Box 222, Jacobus, PA 17407-0222 two additions to our reporting staff: about backpacking forays to different E-mail: [email protected] ≈ Sarah Vogelsong is an wild spots in Pennsylvania in the heart BAY JOURNAL MEDIA environmental and agricultural of winter. He is a graduate of West reporter based in Richmond with a Virginia University and tries to be a Bay Journal Media is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization with background in local news. She’s worked good steward of land along the Lost a mission to further public education and awareness of issues as a general assignment reporter for River in the Mountain State, where he affecting the Chesapeake Bay and the mid-Atlantic environment the Progress-Index (Petersburg, VA) owns a cabin. by creating and distributing journalistic products. In addition and the Caroline Progress (Caroline He lives with his wife and two to producing the Bay Journal, Bay Journal Media operates the County, VA). college-bound twin daughters along Bay Journal News Service, which distributes Bay Journal Her reporting has covered envi- the Conestoga River in Lancaster, articles and original op-eds about the Chesapeake Bay or regional ronmental justice, an award-winning within view of an eagle’s nest. environmental issues to more than 400 newspapers in the region, series about the revitalization of the Sarah, whose freelance work had reaching several million readers each month. city of Hopewell, as well as an award- already appeared in the Bay Journal, winning series about the environmen- joined our staff with this issue, and Karl Blankenship, Executive Director tal impacts of a sand and gravel mining Ad’s work will begin appearing in the Andrew Nolan, CPA, Chief Financial Officer proposal in Caroline County. next edition. STAFF Sarah has also written for numerous Meanwhile, we are saying farewell regional publications. She came to to Donna Morelli, who had been Editor: Karl Blankenship ([email protected]) journalism via academic editing, working with us for nearly two Managing Editor: Lara Lutz ([email protected]) working on textbooks and nonfiction years, helping with our Pennsylvania CONTACT US Associate Editor/Projects: Timothy B. Wheeler ([email protected]) books for companies including Oxford coverage and our Local Government by mail: Bay Journal News Service Editor: Tim Sayles ([email protected]) UP, Princeton UP, Palgrave Macmillan, Edition. Donna is planning to relocate The Bay Journal Copy/Design Editor: Kathleen A. Gaskell ([email protected]) and others. She is a graduate of the to her native New York (where her 619 Oakwood Drive Staff Writer: Jeremy Cox ([email protected]) College of William and Mary. horse has already moved). We wish her Seven Valleys, PA Staff Writer: Ad Crable ([email protected]) ≈ Ad Crable covered the outdoors, the best in the future. 17360-9395 Staff Writer: Whitney Pipkin ([email protected]) environment and agriculture for — Karl Blankenship Staff Writer: Sarah Vogelsong ([email protected]) by phone: Photographer: Dave Harp ([email protected]) 717-428-2819 ADVERTISING Sign Up for the Bay Journal or Change your Address TheBay Journal is distributed FREE by Bay Journal Media, Inc. If you would like to Marketing & Advertising Director: Jacqui Caine ([email protected]) be added to its mailing list or need to change your present address, please fill out this form To inquire about BOARD OF DIRECTORS advertising, contact and mail it to Bay Journal, P.O. Box 222, Jacobus, PA 17407-0222. Mary Barber, President o o Jacqui Caine at Check One: New Subscription Change of Address Bill Eichbaum, Vice-President 540-903-9298 o Please remove my name from your mailing list Karl Blankenship, Secretary Please note that it may take up to two issues for changes to become effective. Frank Felbaum, Treasurer Donald Boesch Name: Kim Coble Tom Lewis Address: City: State: Correction Zip: A photo caption in the March issue gave the wrong location for the Little Optional: Enclosed is a donation to the Bay Journal Fund for $ Blackwater River. It’s in Dorchester County, which is in southern Maryland but is not one of counties that is part of the region known as Southern Maryland. The o From time to time, the Bay Journal includes a list of its supporters in the Bay Journal regrets the error. print edition. Please check here if you would like your gift to remain anonymous and not be recognized in the Bay Journal. Bay Journal • April 2019 3

Clockwise from left: Ann Swanson, long-time execu- tive director of the Chesapeake Bay Commission, called Maryland’s late Gov. Harry Hughes, (shown here in a 1987 photo) a “trail blazer” who “used science as his guidepost and common sense as his tactic” in tackling the Bay’s problems. See article on page 8. (Dave Harp)

White Horse Mountain in West Virginia was saved from development partly because its forest helps protect water quality in the South Branch of the Potomac River. Now owned by the state of West Virginia as WHAT’S INSIDE a wildlife area, it’s open for the public to explore. See article News Travel on page 26. (Bill MacFarland) 5 Rick Middleton, founder of Charlottesville-based SELC, 24 Old Wye Grist Mill still grinding after all these years retires • Lawyer created the ‘legal powerhouse’ to protect the Southeast’s environment 26 Whitehorse Mountain worth the millions paid to protect it The bamboo worm is 7 Trump makes Land and Water Conservation Fund Columns one of the fascinat- permanent • New law does not ensure funds, used to acquire ing creatures found public lands in watershed, will get money any year in the Chesapeake. 4 Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay • Yorktown coffee roasters A quiz to test your brew up support for the Bay in its community 8 Former MD Gov. Harry Hughes, who launched Bay knowledge about this restoration, dies • Eastern Shore native forged regional cleanup species and other 39 On the Wing • It’s time to ruffle feathers again — seek marine worms in partnership, and acted to limit shoreline development and save actions to protect birds the Bay is found on rockfish page 28. (Courtesy of 40 Bay Naturalist • Plant native shrubs, trees for their 10 Otsego bass: the fish that didn’t go away, thanks to some help • Smithsonian Envi- blossoms; get birds as a bonus ronmental Research Alewives’ departure makes room for whitefish to move back in Center & Florida 12 VA state board lets pipeline permit stand despite violations • Puzzles & Events Museum of Natural Decision draws emotional reactions History) 8 2 Chesapeake Challenge • The wonderful weird world of 14 Court overturns permit for transmission line built over James • water-dwelling worms Ruling calls Corps’ analysis ‘scientifically unsound’ and cites concerns of federal agencies 28 Bay Buddies • Earthworms! 15 New Bay Program director has worked on water quality, 35 Bulletin Board • Volunteer Opportunities • Workshops • Bay issues for decades • Dana Aunkst tackled water discharge, Events • Programs • Resources fracking issues in PA and wrote state’s ‘reboot’ strategy to meet WE’RE JUST Bay cleanup goals Forum 16 New data from VIMS finds sea-level rise is accelerating in Bay • Commentary • Letters • Perspectives A CLICK AWAY Tide gauge data from 5 cities reveal rate is faster in Lower Bay Go big: Constitutional amendment needed for climate Visit us online: 32 bayjournal.com 17 CREP interruptions hinder streamside tree planting efforts • change Like us on FaceBook: Holdup threatens to worsen lagging efforts to expand forest Chesapeake Bay Journal buffers in Chesapeake watershed 33 Bay Program’s 2017–18 Bay Barometer shows Chesapeake’s resilience or send us a Tweet: 18 Conditions in James River lead to proposal for new chlorophyll @ChesBayJournal levels • Adjusted criteria could mean hundreds of millions of 34 Letters to the Editor dollars in savings for upgrade costs 19 Bay Program advocates seek 23% funding boost as fed budget calls for 90% cut • This is the third year that the administration proposal has slashed money for program; Congress has restored www.bayjournal.com support in previous years 4 Bay Journal • April 2019 Yorktown coffee roaster brews up support for the Bay in its community By Lucy Heller The Mobjack The Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay Coffee Bay believes that the best way to restore Roasters the Bay is by forging strong, diverse shop is partnerships with a wide variety of located in stakeholders — including businesses. the historic The Alliance works with businesses Cole Diggs that are already environmental stewards, House, as well as those that require some guid- (circa 1730) ance and support in their efforts. Members in York- of our Businesses for the Bay program town, VA. not only work to protect and restore the Its owners, Chesapeake and its watershed’s rivers and Celeste and streams, but help to foster environmental Jo Gucanac, stewards in the workplace. have Mobjack Bay Coffee Roasters in York- created an town, VA, a B4B member, takes pride environ- in acting locally by spreading awareness mental ethic about the work that is needed to sup- in their port the Chesapeake’s restoration. The workplace business, which specializes in roasting and orga- fair trade, organic or Rainforest Alliance nized local Certified coffees, trains its employees to cleanups. become environmental stewards while (Submitted offering an environmentally friendly photo) product. “When we started living on the Chesa- and expand people’s knowledge about how there!” Celeste said. peake Bay, we wanted our kids to be able their everyday lives can affect the health To encourage employees to participate to go swimming, but our neighbors told of the Bay watershed. “Our employees get in trash cleanups, Celeste and Jo close the us not to let them because of how bad the used to the way we operate, our efficiency, store so that every worker can attend. This water quality is … that started to bring how we recycle and the way we care about is to remind employees about why the more awareness to us as a couple as to ration, learned about the organization’s our product, so it just becomes second eco-friendly production they do in the store what was going on with the Bay,” said projects to conserve the Chesapeake. It nature to them because there is no other is important. “When attending a stream Celeste Gucanac of Mobjack. started with Mobjack making monthly option,” Celeste said. cleanup,” Celeste said, “first, you learn With the Bay as their new backyard, donations. Today, Mobjack is a proud A major part of the Alliance’s Chesa- how disrespectful it is to litter; secondly, Celeste and her husband, Jo, started Businesses for the Bay Gold Member. peake restoration mission is inspiring you realize how little effort it really takes Mobjack in Yorktown in 2007. At first, In addition to sourcing socially respon- communities to take part in stream clean- to make a difference; and finally, you get to the couple didn’t know much about start- sible coffee beans and using recycled ups, tree plantings, installing stormwater see how much of an impact you can make.” ing a business. What they did know is that bags, Mobjack Bay Coffee Roasters also treatment practices and more. Working Celeste said that she loves to see a source they both loved coffee enough to make has a “give back to the Bay” component. with businesses brings us one step closer of pride develop in her employees as they a career out of it and that they wanted Celeste said that if an employee isn’t to achieving this goal. help to pick up trash. to help support the Bay in some way. already an environmental steward before The Businesses for the Bay Member- When asked if she has any advice Mobjack Bay Coffee Roasters was the arriving at Mobjack, he or she certainly ship Association encourages its members for businesses that are looking to boost result. After studying how to roast coffee learns to become one. “We believe in to take voluntary and measurable actions environmental stewardship in their using the most environmentally friendly something and we modeled our entire to protect and restore the Chesapeake as workplace, Celeste said, “Just get out processes, Celeste and Jo opened shop. business after doing what we believe to well as help the public understand the there and start doing something. It doesn’t Mobjack’s partnership with the Alli- be the right thing — helping to restore the valuable role of the business community have to be a huge orchestrated event, just ance began when Celeste, while exploring Chesapeake Bay.” in sustaining the health of the Bay and get it started. It can be something small, articles and searching the Internet for Environmental stewardship in the its watershed. B4B members often because even just the little bit of effort information about the Chesapeake resto- workplace is essential to create awareness participate in or lead stream cleanups makes an impact.” throughout the year. What started out as an idea slowly For example, January’s government grew into a place where people can enjoy shutdown included the services that clean socially responsible coffee, see firsthand up Colonial Parkway, a National Park how coffee is made, recycle everything Service road that links Jamestown, Wil- they use and sign up for a local cleanup liamsburg and Yorktown, and runs right event. Celeste is passionate about how she along the James River. A friend posted and her husband have worked to create a pictures of the trash coving the parkway healthier Chesapeake watershed, and is during the shutdown on Facebook, and looking forward to learning more about within minutes, Celeste responded by how they can expand. organizing a community cleanup. Three To learn about Mobjack Bay Coffee days later, more than 40 volunteers had Roasters, visit mobjackbaycoffee.com. signed up. The volunteers, a mix of For information about the Alliance and its Celeste’s family, Mobjack employees and business partnerships, visit members of the community, cleaned up allianceforthebay.org. 23 miles of the roadway. Lucy Heller is a Chesapeake Conser- “All of that trash would have gone vation Corps intern in the Alliance for the in the river, no doubt. The river is right Chesapeake Bay’s Annapolis office. Bay Journal • April 2019 5 Rick Middleton, founder of Charlottesville-based SELC, retires ≈ Lawyer created the ‘legal watching the SELC grow from a powerhouse’ to protect the two-office suite on Charlottesville’s downtown mall into a leading litigator Southeast’s environment. for Virginia’s environmental com- By Whitney Pipkin munity and “a highly respected, legal Rick Middleton didn’t fancy powerhouse.” himself an environmental lawyer when Hoagland said water quality he graduated from Yale Law School in advocates in the state were “pretty 1971. That category didn’t exist. crippled” and unable to pose legal The United States had only just challenges to industrial discharge commemorated its first Earth Day, permits before the SELC’s work led and the future founder of the Southern to changes in the mid-1990s. It was Environmental Law Center still felt the SELC’s team of lawyers that led like a fish out of water in New Eng- a successful, nearly 15-year battle land’s semi-industrial corridor, pining against a proposed King William for the bucolic valleys around his Reservoir slated to provide drinking Alabama hometown of Birmingham. water to Virginia’s Lower Peninsula But during those years, he began to by flooding more than 1,500 of acres realize two things: The South had of farms and forests to form what something worth saving, and no one would have been the commonwealth’s else was doing it. second-largest lake. The nonprofit also This spring, Middleton, 72, is retir- had a hand in forming the organiza- ing after leading the SELC to become tions that would become the Virginia the Southeast’s largest environmental Conservation Network, an umbrella law firm, employing more than 80 organization for many of the smaller attorneys and 140 employees in six environmental groups the SELC still states, from Virginia to Alabama. The Under Rick Middleton’s leadership the Southern Environmental Law Center has represents. SELC’s longtime deputy director, Jeff become the Southeast’s largest environmental law firm with employees in six “It wasn’t that they had one attorney Gleason, has come out of retirement to states, from Virginia to Alabama. (Bill Sublette) working on these. They invested a lead the organization, headquartered in number of attorneys over the life of Charlottesville, VA. the nonprofit’s work on air pollution, Roy Hoagland, who was a Virginia these debates,” said Hoagland, who Three of the SELC’s nine offices wetland protections and coal ash staff attorney and Virginia execu- is now senior program officer at the are in Chesapeake Bay portions of waste, to name a few, have left an tive director at the Chesapeake Bay Virginia and Washington, DC, where indelible mark. Foundation through the 1990s, recalled SELC continues on page 6

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SELC from page 5 A fresh face in the Alabama attor- ney general’s office, Middleton took Virginia Environmental Endowment. on the task. His first case — against “They became the lead litigation arm the Tennessee Valley Authority, the of the environmental community in country’s largest polluter at the time — Virginia.” went to the U.S. Supreme Court. The SELC’s work in Virginia is “It was really only when I started indicative of its state-based efforts doing that work that I knew, ‘This to balance an on-the-ground pres- is exactly what I want to be doing,’ ” ence with advocacy for regional and he said. national environmental priorities. He went on to work for seven years Middleton said advocates in one state at the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund, “only see part of the elephant” that is now Earthjustice, one of a handful of SELC’s larger body of work. environmental law firms in DC at the “The major value of a regional time. Some of his fellow Yale alumni model is you can have that local had founded another law firm, the presence, and you can easily take what Rick Natural Resources Defense Council. works in one state and export it to Middleton The community in DC had a small- other states,” Middleton said. studied town feel, but it had very little grasp That local presence has proven key, law at Yale of — or interest in — the issues affect- he said, particularly in the South. For University ing the South. the last 33 years, as the SELC estab- before “Environmental law had been lished offices in each state, its attor- cutting his invented, but no one had stepped neys have practiced what a journalist teeth as forward to take it to the South,” Want might call “beat reporting” — or, in an envi- said. “It was unclear whether it could this case, “beat lawyering,” developing ronmental succeed, but Rick had a vision. And he expertise by handling the same topics lawyer didn’t have any competition.” over many months or years. for the Middleton saw the University of The lawyers would make a habit of Alabama Virginia as a hub producing some of attending commonplace utility com- Attorney the South’s most prominent leaders, mission meetings where decisions with General’s which is one of the reasons he got sweeping environmental implications Office. his bachelor’s degree there. That’s were made amid the doldrums of every- This photo also among the reasons he settled on day proceedings. Middleton tells of a was taken Charlottesville as the headquarters female lawyer who faithfully attended in 1988. of the SELC. The university town of meetings of an all-male commission in (SELC) fewer than 50,000 in the shadow of Atlanta, GA, for six months before a the Blue Ridge Mountains seems to member said one day: “I want to hear organization around relationships. are the results.” have inherited a bit of the intellectual what that nice lady from the Southern When he was first forming the orga- Middleton went beyond checking a outdoorsmanship for which its long- Environmental Law Center has to say.” nization, “he flew down to Nashville to person’s provided references. He would time neighbor at Monticello, Thomas Middleton, grinned as he told the see how deep my caring was for these find contacts that weren’t listed and Jefferson, was known. story, with his Alabama accent coming places,” Nelson said. When she asked ask how the applicant treated his or “There’s just a certain mix of through. what sort of issues he was thinking of her administrative assistant — “a good people here,” Middleton said from his “It’s just great lawyering. You’ve championing, Middleton mentioned indicator of what kind of person they Charlottesville office early this year. gotta be polite, you’ve gotta stick with billboards going up along the scenic are,” Want said. “There’s a great love of the land and it, and you’ve gotta show ’em you’re highways near a national park in her Growing up in Birmingham at of beauty, mixed in with just a lot of not crazy,” he said. Today, “we know state, an eyesore more than an environ- a time when the city was the focal people who understand the importance more about the way utilities operate mental problem that got to the core of point of the civil rights era, Middleton of environmental policy.” than any other environmental organi- preserving the South’s unique char- gleaned a deep sense of place and a Middleton’s 36-year-old twin zation in the country. [For years,] we acter. “I really hate to think what the conviction “that it’s worth fighting for daughters were 11 when his family were the only people in the room.” Southeast would be like if it weren’t what’s right and against what’s wrong.” moved into an 1870s farmhouse just Jean “Jeanie” Nelson, president and for SELC.” “You learned that, to make a place outside of town, with views of Shenan- executive director of the Land Trust for Billy Want, a professor at the good, you’ve got to focus on correcting doah National Park. Or, at least, there Tennessee — and a friend of a friend Charleston School of Law and a friend the bad — along with preserving the should have been views. In the early who became a SELC board member of Middleton’s since law school, said good,” he said. 1990s, despite air pollution restrictions — said that from the beginning, Middleton’s care in choosing who to The same principles applied to the like the ones Middleton had helped Middleton built the Southern-minded hire at SELC is just as “legendary, as early environmental movement, which enforce in Alabama, “there were still was weaving its way into federal 33 days in the summer that I could not policies just before Middleton returned even see those mountains.” Chesapeake Challenge to Alabama, a couple years out of Yale, Once the law center got off the Answers to to work in the state attorney general’s ground, reducing air pollution again The wonderful weird world of water-dwelling worms office. Yale had been a hotbed of activ- became a priority for Middleton, on page 28. ism in the late 1960s, with civil rights including an SELC case to close demonstrations bleeding into Vietnam loopholes for power plants that won 1. Common Clam Worm 2. Oyster Flatworm 3. Milky Ribbon Worm War protests. Environmentalism found at the U.S. Supreme Court. “We’re 4. Acorn Worm 5. Bamboo Worm fertile soil there, too. extremely proud of that,” he said The federal Clean Air Act of 1970 Middleton’s organization has Bay Buddies gave industrial facilities a few years to opposed potential rollbacks of some Answers to Earthworms on page 28. ratchet down emissions with a suite of of those federal laws today. But now, new regulations, and, Middleton said, “there hasn’t been a day in 15 years 1. D 2. C 3. True 4. B 5. B 6. E 7. B 8. B 9. D 10. A 11. A “the big question was whether people that I haven’t had a crystal-clear view were going to enforce this new law.” of that mountain.” Bay Journal • April 2019 7 Trump makes Land and Water Conservation Fund permanent ≈ New law does not ensure fund, and waters; channel In 2013, the Department of the used to acquire public lands in grants to the states Interior, under Secretary of the Interior for recreational Ken Salazar and in concert with the U.S. watershed, will get money any year. purposes; and Department of Agriculture, launched the By Sarah Vogelsong further other related Collaborative Landscape Planning Pro- The federal Land and Water Con- programs. gram, which sought to identify significant servation Fund — which has supported While LWCF landscapes for conservation and channel dozens of projects in the Chesapeake Bay money is unat- funding toward them through the LWCF. region — was made permanent on March tached to the The Rivers of the Chesapeake project 12, when President Trump signed the Chesapeake Bay was the Bay region’s response to this call, bipartisan bill doing so into law. Program, the funds coordinating the LWCF requests of federal The Land and Water Conservation fit neatly into one of agencies including the National Park Fund has existed since 1965, but until now the key goals of the Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, had to be periodically reauthorized by 2014 Chesapeake Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Congress. The new law makes those votes Bay Watershed Forest Service, as well as the nonprofit unnecessary but has no impact on how Agreement, which Chesapeake Conservancy. Thanks to this much funding the LWCF will receive in seeks to “conserve effort, McCauley said, “the Chesapeake the future. Rappahannock River Valley National Wildlife Refuge received landscapes trea- did compete very successfully.” Its permanence is part of the John D. money from the Land and Water Conservation Fund (Dave Harp) sured by citizens in Under the Trump administration, the Dingell, Jr., Conservation, Recreation order to maintain collaborative approach was dropped “with and Management Act, which the U.S. in limbo until a compromise could be water quality and habitat; sustain working little fanfare,” McCauley said. Neverthe- House of Representatives approved with brokered — delays that could be espe- forests, farms and maritime communities; less, the conservancy has continued to a vote of 363 to 62 on Feb. 26. Earlier in cially detrimental in deals the government and conserve lands of cultural, indigenous spearhead the Rivers of the Chesapeake February, the Senate had voted 92 to 8 in was seeking to make to acquire land from and community value.” group to continue coordinating funding favor of the measure. private owners. Most recently, LWCF funding for the efforts. Joseph McCauley, a fellow with the “They’re working with real people out Bay peaked in fiscal year 2016, when In the years after 2016, LWCF funding Chesapeake Conservancy and a former there, and to have some certainty when Congress appropriated $10.7 million for for the Chesapeake watershed declined: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service official working with individuals who are think- land conservation projects throughout the According to data from the Chesapeake who oversaw land acquisitions through the ing of selling their land is important,” watershed. Conservancy, the LWCF appropriated LWCF for the Northeast Region, including McCauley said. The money was spread widely in the almost $7.4 million for projects in the the Chesapeake Bay watershed, called the The Dingell Act has removed that region, supporting the conservation of Chesapeake region in fiscal year 2017, passage “a big deal.” Even “if some future chokepoint, but not the challenges involved more than 2,000 acres in Maryland’s with appropriations of $6 million in Congress isn’t enamored with the Land in releasing the designated funds. Nanjemoy Natural Resource Management FY2018 and a little more than $4 mil- and Water Conservation Fund, at least it’s Since the LWCF first went into opera- Area, Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge lion in FY2019. permanently reauthorized, and that won’t tion, Congress has authorized more than and Piscataway Park; Virginia’s Meado- Looking forward, the future of be a way to undermine it,” he said. $40 billion for the fund, with the majority wood Special Recreation Management LWCF funding for the watershed Since the LWCF’s inception, the of that money — $37.8 billion — coming Area and Rappahannock River Valley remains uncertain. Although Trump’s Chesapeake Bay watershed has been an from revenues from oil and gas leases on National Wildlife Refuge; Pennsylvania’s signature on the Dingell Act makes the important beneficiary of its funds, which the Outer Continental Shelf. (The remain- Gettysburg National Military Park; and the fund permanent, the administration’s have led to major acquisitions of public der comes from the federal motorboat interstate Washington–Jefferson National proposed FY2020 budget not only lands in the region. fuel tax, surplus property sales and, since Forest and Captain John Smith Chesapeake adds no new money to the LWCF for “Virtually every national park, national 2006, revenue from the Gulf of Mexico National Historic Trail. the upcoming year but claws back $23 wildlife refuge, [Bureau of Land Manage- Energy Securities Act.) That windfall, McCauley said, was million of its FY2019 budget. ment] natural resource management area, While $900 million is authorized to due to two factors: the high-profile Still, McCauley said that cut is national forest addition since 1965 in our be placed in the LWCF every year, only acquisitions of sites such as Werowoco- unlikely to happen: “That’s just the watershed has had funding from LWCF,” once, in fiscal year 2001, has Congress moco, a major Powhatan religious and president’s request, so Congress is not said Jody Couser, director of communica- appropriated all of that for conservation governmental center where Captain John likely to go along with that,” he said, tions for the Chesapeake Conservancy. and recreation projects. Altogether, Smith’s famous encounters with the leader pointing out that “LWCF has been a Congressional disagreements have only $18.4 billion of the total authorized Powhatan occurred, and the collabora- bipartisan program for its entire life. plagued the LWCF in prior years, stalling amount has been drawn from the fund tive approach that the region took to its This is not a partisan issue, at least not its reauthorization and holding projects over its history to acquire federal lands funding needs. in Congress.” CHESAPEAKE BAY WORKBOAT MODELS Fishing Boats, Crab Boats, Oyster Boats, Skiffs & More

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215-290-3722 www.BlackwayBoatModels.com 8 Bay Journal • April 2019 Former MD Gov. Harry Hughes, who launched Bay restoration, dies ≈ Eastern Shore native forged the Bay. The move was expected to be regional cleanup partnership, highly unpopular among watermen, for whom rockfish represented a signifi- and acted to limit shoreline cant source of their livelihood. development and save rockfish. “He listened intently,” Griffin said, By Timothy B. Wheeler “and he said OK … go do it, I’ll back Former Maryland Gov. Harry R. you up.” Hughes, who launched the Chesapeake Shore lawmakers criticized the Bay restoration effort, died March 13 move, and some went further. at his home on the Eastern Shore. He “We had watermen calling death was 92. threats and all,” Griffin said. “It was The state’s 57th governor, in office a pretty brutal time, but Harry never from 1979 to 1987, forged the federal- wavered.” state partnership that for the last 35 The 1985 moratorium withstood years has labored to reverse the decline legal and legislative challenges, and of North America’s largest estuary. Virginia followed suit, with tight catch An Eastern Shore native, Hughes limits also imposed up and down made saving the Bay a lasting touchstone the Atlantic Coast in the rest of the of Maryland politics and policy, taking species’ range. After five years, the steps that might seem radical even population had recovered enough to today. He pushed through a landmark ease the moratorium. law limiting development along the Upon leaving office, Hughes con- Bay shore, for one, and braved the ire of tinued to help with the Bay restoration watermen and other Shore politicians to effort in various volunteer roles. impose a moratorium on striped bass, a Harry Hughes, [shown here at his Caroline County home in 2005] “was a consensus One involved chairing a politically popular sport and commercial catch, to builder — not divisive at all, and he always reached across the aisle. His leadership style charged commission appointed by save it from overfishing. is the reason we’re as far along as we are with the Bay cleanup,” said Russ Brinsfield, who one of his successors, Gov. Parris News of his death drew public was the first director of the Harry R. Hughes Center for Agro-Ecology. (Dave Harp) Glendening. It had the task of recom- tributes from Maryland politicians mending ways to prevent outbreaks and environmentalists. Gov. Larry Hughes and the other elected execu- ambitious legislative agenda, includ- of a toxic microbe, Pfiesteria, which Hogan issued a statement calling him tives, along with the administrator of ing major increases in state staff and was blamed at the time for fish kills a “Maryland legend” and ordered flags the U.S. Environmental Protection spending to upgrade sewage treatment and even some health problems of flown at half-staff. Agency and the chairman of the plants and deal with other pollution people exposed to the infested waters. Ann Swanson, long-time executive Chesapeake Bay Commission, signed sources. He also won legislative Subsequent research suggested another director of the Chesapeake Bay Com- the first Chesapeake Bay Agreement. approval of the Critical Area Act, a microorganism could be the culprit mission, called Hughes a “trail blazer” It was a simple, four-paragraph pioneering law that regulates develop- for the fish kills, but scientists told the who “used science as his guidepost document pledging to “fully address ment within 1,000 feet of the Bay and commission that nutrient pollution and common sense as his tactic” in the extent and sources of pollutants the tidal reaches of its tributaries. was a factor in triggering toxic algae tackling the Bay’s problems. entering the Bay,” and launching the The legislation was highly controver- blooms generally, and that phosphorus- “He was a great leader and inspira- state-federal Chesapeake Bay Program sial, Griffin recalled, and only passed laden runoff from farm fields fertilized tion for all of us,” she added. to assist and coordinate their efforts. after being watered down to accom- with poultry manure was a significant John Griffin, a former secretary “So much of the subsequent progress modate those concerned about the state source. The commission’s findings of natural resources who served as we have made on restoring the Bay involving itself in land use decisions prompted Glendening to introduce Hughes’ environmental aide, recalled in the last three decades traces to this traditionally left to local governments. legislation in 1998 requiring farmers that he had not been elected on a foundational document,” said U.S. Sen. In an interview more than 20 years after to manage their manure and fertilizer platform of saving the Bay. Hughes Ben Cardin, D-MD, who was speaker its passage, Hughes said he doubted the more carefully. Though watered down resolved to act after being briefed on of the Maryland House of Delegates at bill could have passed later. It’s been to overcome farmers’ resistance, the the results of a five-year, $27 mil- the time and has since become a cham- criticized since by some as interfering measure passed and remains on the lion federal study concluding that pion of the Chesapeake in Congress. with property rights and by others as books today. the Chesapeake was suffering from Gerald Winegrad, an ardent envi- being too weak, but it has survived Hughes also helped launch and lead worsening nutrient pollution, toxic ronmental advocate who represented legal and political challenges. the University of Maryland’s Harry R. contamination in places and loss of the Annapolis area in the Maryland In 1985, Hughes overcame opposi- Hughes Center for Agro-Ecology, a underwater grasses. General Assembly from the early tion from national detergent manufac- research facility subsequently named His initiative came amid a public 1980s into the 1990s, said Hughes’ turers to push through a statewide ban in his honor that seeks to apply science outpouring of concern: He recalled in low-key, ever-polite and thoughtful on the sale of laundry soap containing to maintaining farming and forestry an interview years later how people manner helped corral political support phosphate, a chemical compound while also protecting the environment. called out to him to “save the Bay” as for the Bay restoration in Annapolis implicated in causing algae blooms “Gov. Hughes was a cornerstone for he rode in local Fourth of July parades. and in neighboring states. and dead zones in the Bay. Other states the Chesapeake Bay cleanup initiative,” Hughes directed his staff to come “Without him, it wouldn’t have hap- later followed suit. said Russ Brinsfield, a University of up with a plan to address the Bay’s pened,” Winegrad said of the first Bay On the regulatory front, Hughes Maryland agricultural scientist who problems, Griffin said, and then agreement. Maryland had a state yacht was similarly resolute. Amid worri- was the first director of the Center. reached out to the governors of Vir- then, he recalled, and Hughes used it to some declines in the catch of striped “Most importantly, for me, he was the ginia and Pennsylvania and the mayor take legislative leaders, governors and bass, the state fish also known as rock- kindest man I think I ever knew, and his of the District of Columbia to join with federal officials cruising on the Bay for fish, scientists warned that the migra- attitude was so positive all the time.” Maryland in a regional effort. crabcakes and persuasion. tory Atlantic Coast species was on the “He was a consensus builder — not That diplomacy culminated in “I never met anyone like him,” said verge of collapse. Hughes’ aides urged divisive at all, and he always reached a summit conference on the Bay at Winegrad. him to go beyond just limiting their across the aisle. His leadership style is George Mason University in Northern Shortly after the agreement was harvest and to impose a moratorium on the reason we’re as far along as we are Virginia in December 1983. There, signed, Hughes pushed through an catching the most valuable finfish in with the Bay cleanup.” Bay Journal • April 2019 9

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Give us a call at 301-725-7333 or find your perfect mix at chesapeakevalleyseed.com. 10 Bay Journal • April 2019 Otsego bass: the fish that didn’t go away, thanks to some help ≈ Alewives’ departure makes room occupied by men, women and children for whitefish to move back in. who were handy with an ice auger. Some of these mostly homemade, portable By Donna Morelli shacks had heaters and pictures on the Scientists around Cooperstown, NY, walls, and anglers could drop their lines are celebrating a rare victory: the slow through holes in the ice from the comfort return of a native species in Otsego Lake. of recliners. There, in the upstate lake that spawns “It was quite a fishery 30 or 40 years the Susquehanna River headwaters, the ago,” said Cooperstown resident and fish- whitefish known as “Otsego bass” are ing guide Tom Trelease. “The whitefish making a comeback after having been used to be part of the identity of the area.” decimated by predation and poor water Otsego bass numbers began their quality. decline by the late 1950s, but their The decline of the Otsego bass was massive slide began when the alewives so severe that a local outdoors columnist arrived. in 2012 pronounced the fishery dead, The alewife, a species of fish that mourning the tradition of trolling for the lives part of its life in freshwater and part popular fish. The loss began after 1986, in the Atlantic Ocean, may have been when the alewife — a newcomer with introduced to the lake accidentally as bait a big appetite — began to appear in the or deliberately to provide prey for the lake. Prior to its arrival, scientists caught lake trout. an average of 8.1 Otsego bass per net in If the latter is true, the strategy fishing surveys. Surveys taken between worked. The alewives quickly multi- 1990 and 2000 turned up an average of A close-up of the wide and toothy grin of a walleye makes it easy to understand plied and, within a decade, became the less than one per net. how they controlled the alewife invasion within a few years. (Scott Wells/ New dominant forage species in Otsego Lake. The Otsego bass is actually a lake York Department of Environmental Protection) The trout, feeding on the alewives, put whitefish Coregonus( clupeiformis) on size and weight, and trout fishing was native to and no different than those account in the State of the Otsego Lake, pop restaurants that lined the shores of unprecedented. swimming in other coldwater lakes in 1936 to 1996, described gill nets pulling the lake. Some fishermen sold them right “Fisherman were getting used to, the northern United States and Canada. in 5,000 fish at each haul. off the boat, and one man sold them from and loving, catching those large lake The local fishing community dubbed Since the 1900s, local fisherman and a cooler at a hardware store. trout that were supported by an unusual it the Otsego bass, and the moniker farmers supplemented their income by During the winter, Otsego Lake was abundance of prey,” said Mark Cornwell, stuck. Its abundance and popularity is catching and selling Otsego bass. The an ice fishing mecca. As soon as the well-documented back to the 1700s. An tasty fish was on the menus of mom-and- lake froze, hundreds of ice shanties were Otsego continues on page 11 Bay Journal • April 2019 11

Otsego from page 10 Waterfield, a researcher at the The trout and other larger species soon field station. “The impact of the faced a shortage of forage food because chair of the Department of Fisheries and alewives was similar to nutrient the alewives, before their own decline, Wildlife at the State University of New loading, but more extreme. We had eaten and depleted many of the York at Cobleskill. “They were caught needed to work on manage- other forage fish. It’s taking time for the up with the euphoria of catching big fat ment that dealt with alewives ecosystem to adjust, but Wells said that fish.” and increased the numbers of some of those species are rebounding. But the alewives were also voracious [daphnia].” And so are the Ostego bass. In 2014, feeders, and their large population was After years of study, the first juveniles were observed in the taking a toll on the lake’s ecosystem. researchers decided that yet lake in decades. State fisheries staff Otsego bass declined rapidly as the another fish species might help netted 20 adults in 2016 and 40 in 2018. alewives grazed on their spawn. rebalance the lake’s ecosystem: While alewives remain in the lake, The alewives were eating another the walleye, which already had they are so few in number that scientists important species, too: Daphnia, a tiny a small presence there. Walleye describe them as almost undetectable. crustacean that consumes plankton and prey on alewives, and scientists The recovering population of Otsego keeps algae in check. By the 1990s, the believed that more walleye bass has also been getting a boost from alewives had drastically reduced daphnia would mean fewer alewives. hatchery-raised fish. Students from in the lake. With the growth of algae “We were very cautious SUNY Cobleskill have collected eggs unchecked, the lake was turning green, about the walleye,” Waterfield and milt from the adult fish, and fertil- and it experienced summertime periods said. “Walleye made sense. ized and reared them in the school’s of low-oxygen “dead zones.” They seem to fit our situation.” hatcheries. Most recently, a group of 164 “The lake was hammered,” said Scott Researchers began by fingerlings were released under the ice Wells, a fisheries biologist with the state adding approximately 80,000 of the lake in January 2019. They were Department of Environmental Conser- young walleye to the lake marked with a dye that stains hard body vation. “When you get a prey species in 2000, and the process parts and can be used to identify any that like the alewife, it changes the whole continued for 14 years until the are captured — hopefully as adults — ecosystem of the lake, chemically and Fresh from the State University of New York stocked fish began reproducing through surveys or recreational fishing. biologically.” Cobleskill hatchery, 164 juvenile Otsego bass naturally. Rearing the young fish in the hatchery New York state fisheries staff and are placed in a plastic bag and laid on the ice Soon after the walleyes’ has proven to be a delicate and difficult scientists joined with researchers from of Otsego Lake to acclimate to the temperature introduction, they began to process, so partners in the program are SUNY Cobleskill and SUNY Oneonta’s before being slipped under the lake ice in January eat their way through the taking a yearlong break with plans to Biological Field Station to return Otsego 2019. (Brent Lehman / SUNY Cobleskill hatchery) alewife population. As a continue the effort. Lake to its pre-alewife state. result, the daphnia began to “It is rare and it is amazing that this is The field station, with laboratories, the lake’s health as whole. rebound. Water clarity started slowly happening,” said Cobleskill’s Cornwell. offices and classrooms spread out over “Up until the 1990s, our management improving shortly after the walleye “The future of [Otsego bass] in Otsego 2,600 acres along and near the lake, was goal was to reduce [pollution from] were introduced and greatly improved Lake is — hopefully — that people will a vital research hub for the project and nutrients where we could,” said Holly by 2009. be able to catch them again.” Want a diversified investment portfolio with a low carbon footprint? Your Money, Your Values.

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Valliant Wealth Strategies is not a registered broker/dealer and is independent of Raymond James Financial Services, Inc. Securities offered through Raymond James Financial Services, Inc., member FINRA / SIPC. Investment advisory services offered through RJFS Advisors, Inc. 12 Bay Journal • April 2019 VA state board lets pipeline permit stand, despite violations ≈ Decision draws emotional had been cleared reactions. of trees. Lofton said By Whitney Pipkin at the meeting The Virginia State Water Control that revoking Board voted on March 1 not to revoke the state permit a permit allowing a natural gas would jeopardize pipeline to be built across streams those provisions as it winds its way across the state’s while allow- southwest corner. ing the project The Mountain Valley Pipeline is to potentially one of two pipeline projects touching proceed under its parts of West Virginia and Virginia. federal permits The second project, the Atlantic Coast anyway. Pipeline, would cross part of the “The board Chesapeake Bay watershed on its path is very sym- to North Carolina. Both had earned pathetic to the federal permits in support of their con- landowners and struction, but several have been revoked people closest to or challenged over the last year. the pipelines,” Virginia had approved water quality Lofton said. permits for both projects in 2017, but “That’s why we the Mountain Valley Pipeline has since approved the 16 logged a large number of environ- conditions. I am mental violations. Virginia Attorney deeply concerned General Mark Herring and the state we will lose the Department of Environmental Quality 16 provisions that sued the project on Dec. 7 over more are in the board’s than 300 violations between June certification if we and mid-November, mostly related to Virginia residents who oppose the Mountain Valley Pipeline formed a circle to chant and sing during a attempt to revoke improper erosion control and storm- State Water Control Board meeting on March 1, while the board deliberated the status of a permit for the the certification.” water management. project behind closed doors. (Whitney Pipkin) David Sligh, The governor-appointed board conservation decided to reconsider the permit but Wood explained that that move was as too loud for a hotel setting. director for Wild Virginia, one of opted to uphold it after a four-hour, unprecedented as a decision would be Problems and decisions involving several groups that have opposed the closed-door meeting, during which the to revoke it, and that the board did not the Mountain Valley Pipeline could project, disagreed with that reasoning. board consulted with its attorneys and take it lightly. have implications for the Atlantic Before the decision, he said the state DEQ staff. The board held the special meet- Coast Pipeline, which has stopped all board “definitely” had the authority to Protestors who oppose the Moun- ing at a hotel in Richmond’s Bon Air of the construction that had begun revoke the certification because mem- tain Valley Pipeline shouted “Shame!” suburb to allow room for the more than in West Virginia as federal permits bers made their approval contingent on as the seven-member board revealed 200 people who have previously over- have been called into question. Some the project’s compliance. its decision. A group of union workers whelmed pipeline-related hearings. tree-clearing for the project began in Indeed, the certification states that hired to build the pipeline and seated About 50 police officers lined the Virginia last year, but major construc- it “is subject to revocation for failure to in an opposite corner of the room — room’s walls to tion has not. The comply with the above conditions and many of them unemployed while work maintain order at Mountain Valley after proper hearing.” has stopped — applauded. the meeting, where Pipeline demon- “It says, ‘We can revoke this if Board members Robert Wayland public comments strates the difficulty you don’t live up to it,’” Sligh said, and James Lofton said they recently were not accepted and The Atlantic Coast of protecting water paraphrasing. “Since those conditions visited some of the sites where the “outbursts” resulted quality while build- became part of the federal permit, pipeline was under construction to in attendees being Pipeline “could reroute, ing a pipeline across that’s one of the reasons we think there see the water quality violations for escorted from the but instead it should scrap mountainous terrain is no question they have reserved the themselves. room. The officers and hundreds of right to [revoke it].” “I saw sediment and erosion formed a line between this boondoggle and stop stream crossings. The board members also said their controls that had failed… and the the board and attend- Though thousands decision considers the state’s ongoing sediment that was escaping from the ees — some of running up a bill it wants of public comments actions against the project for water right of way,” Lofton said of the visit them shouting and to stick to customers.” urged the board to quality violations, and they don’t want before abruptly revealing the board’s crying — as deny the Mountain to “handcuff the commonwealth’s decision. “I’m deeply concerned about the crowd reacted to —D. J. Gerken, SELC senior attorney Valley permit alto- ability to apply enforcement,” as board that, but I’m also deeply concerned the board’s unani- gether, or to require chair Heather Wood put it. that the board simply does not have the mous vote. individual permits for The board’s motion urged the state authority to revoke the permit.” Skirting rules each time the project to pursue “swift and vigorous prosecu- The state board could have allowed that did not permit signs at the meet- crossed a stream, the board issued tion and enforcement action” against the projects to proceed under their ing, some protestors wore shirts with the overall permit with 16 conditions the project but fell short of calling for federal water-quality permit from the words “Our Water, Our Lives” that they said go beyond what the a stop work order or injunction that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers printed on the front, and others taped federal permit requires. The board then could be placed on the project until it but decided instead to issue its own “Revoke” signs to their clothes. While reopened the permit to public comment is back in compliance. permits under Section 401 of the Clean the board was in its closed-door meet- last summer after construction led to A 17-page letter sent to the board a Water Act, which came with additional ing, several began to chant and sing hundreds of water quality violations requirements. Board chair Heather songs until staff said the singing was when heavy rains hit steep slopes that Pipeline continues on page 13 Bay Journal • April 2019 13

Pipeline from page 12 Pipeline workers who have worked on each of the projects filled four rows day before the hearing outlined what of the water board’s meeting room signatories considered the board’s during the hearing, wearing small legal authority to revoke the permit yellow stickers in support of the project. or call for an injunction until viola- David Butterworth, a representa- tions are corrected. Lawyers from the tive for Pipeliners Local Union 798, Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Wild acknowledged the sediment and Virginia, the Southern Environmental erosion issues that plagued Mountain Law Center and a half-dozen other Valley Pipeline construction last year organizations signed the letter. but pointed to “an abnormal amount of Considering the number of lawsuits rain” that contributed to the problem. filed against nearly every permit “I’m sure our guys are doing what granted to the pair of pipeline projects, the state has asked them to do to their fate is likely to be decided by control the erosion. We’re not against the courts. Early last week, a federal doing it right,” Butterworth said, point- appeals court said it would not recon- ing out that state regulators at the time sider a decision to throw out a key didn’t require them to do more. “Just permit for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline tell us what we gotta do, you know?” that would have allowed it to cross two “We just always take a black eye national forests, including parts of the if there’s a problem,” he continued. Appalachian Trail. “It’s not like we’re not willing to fix Judges have reversed three federal something.” permits that would have allowed In an attachment to their letter, the Atlantic Coast Pipeline to cross environmental lawyers said that fixing national parks and trails or to impact Skirting rules that did not permit signs during the meeting, some protesters taped violations that are ongoing should have endangered species, halting construc- messages to their shirts or bodies. (Sarah Vogelsong) been the board’s first priority before tion while Dominion Energy, the granting the project de facto permis- project’s backer, regroups to appeal. The Atlantic Coast Pipeline “could East Coast and to replace coal-fueled sion to continue. The court’s decision in February reroute,” said SELC senior attorney power generation with natural gas. “If this pipeline never gets built to reject Dominion’s appeal on the D. J. Gerken, “but instead it should But, with so many federal permits where they want it built because of Appalachian Trail permit came in a scrap this boondoggle and stop currently rejected by the courts, the some of the lawsuits, [the board is] lawsuit filed by the SELC on behalf running up a bill it wants to stick to Atlantic Coast Pipeline had to stop all going to be even more embarrassed of the Sierra Club and other organiza- customers.” construction activity. Construction that they let this damage happen for no tions. In a press release, the SELC said Dominion officials contend that on the Mountain Valley Pipeline has reason at all,” Sligh said. “We could the decision should send the project the pipeline is essential to meet stopped around all stream crossings have miles and miles of carnage out “back to the drawing board.” growing energy demands along the but continued in some areas. there that never leads to a pipeline.” 14 Bay Journal • April 2019 Court overturns permits for transmission line built over James ≈ Ruling calls Corps analysis to construct what became known as and the Captain John Smith National live and work on the peninsula.” ‘scientifically unsound’ and cites the Surry-Skiffes Creek-Whealton Historic Trail. Looking forward, the National Trust project. The plan called for the Based on this finding, the Corps for Historic Preservation on March concerns of federal agencies. construction of not only a 500-kV line claimed that it did not need to prepare a 7 announced that it “intends to push By Sarah Vogelsong passing just south of Jamestown near formal environmental impact statement Dominion Energy to deconstruct the Mere days after Dominion Energy Hog Island but also a switching station and could instead rely on a more basic towers and find an alternative solution powered up its new transmission line in James City County and a 230-kV “environmental assessment” — a conten- that protects the historic landscape and across the James River from Surry to line running down to Hampton. tion disputed by opponents of the project resources along the James River.” Jamestown, VA, a ruling by a federal The Surry-Skiffes Creek portion of and highlighted in the original suit against Slayton said that at present, Domin- court of appeals has cast the controver- the project crossing the James River the Army Corps, which was brought by ion is “not really speculating on what sial infrastructure’s future in doubt. proved the most controversial, requiring the National Parks Conservation Associa- the ultimate ruling means for the line.” On March 1, the U.S. Court of the construction of 17 steel-lattice towers tion, National Trust for Historic Preserva- The Court of Appeals ruling does Appeals for the District of Columbia between 127 and 296 feet in height across tion and Association for the Preservation not appear to affect the roughly issued an opinion overturning the the waterway designated by the U.S. of Virginia Antiquities. $90 million in mitigation payments project’s key permit from the U.S. Army Congress as “America’s Founding River.” In its March 1 ruling, the U.S. Court Dominion made as part of an agree- Corps of Engineers on the grounds that Dominion’s application justified the of Appeals for the District of Columbia ment with state and federal agencies. the agency did not meet its obligations project on the basis of “continued load found that the Corps’ determination of Slayton confirmed that all of those under the National Environmental growth” in the northern part of the “no significant impact” was “arbitrary funds have already been paid out. Protection Act and directing the Corps to Hampton Roads region, “coupled with and capricious.” “Since the mitigation dollars were prepare an environmental impact state- aging infrastructure and increasingly The ruling relied heavily on the criti- meant to offset any disturbances or ment on the 17-tower, 500-kilovolt line. stringent environmental requirements cisms offered by other federal agencies, damages associated with the work on “Congress created the EIS process on emissions.” including the National Park Service’s the transmission line which has already to provide robust information in situ- These more stringent environmental finding that the project “would forever been completed, we doubt that the ations precisely like this one, where, regulations included new standards set degrade, damage, and destroy the historic appeals court decision will have any setting of these effect on the mitigation funds,” wrote iconic resources” Joe Maroon, executive director of the and the Argonne Virginia Environmental Endowment, National Labora- which received about $16 million from tory’s finding that Dominion, in an email. “We haven’t the Corps’ envi- received any word to the contrary.” ronmental analysis Chesapeake Conservancy president had been “scien- and CEO Joel Dunn commented that tifically unsound” the transmission line controversy and “completely revealed the need for states to “take a contrary to much more comprehensive approach” accepted profes- to large-scale linear energy projects. sional practice.” In 2018, the Environmental Law “These Institute issued a report for the Chesa- are hardly the peake Conservation Partnership, a hyperbolic group of nonprofits and government cries of ‘highly agencies that works to protect the agitated,’ not- region’s landscapes, that sought to offer in-my-backyard states the tools to assess the impacts neighbors ‘willing of proposed projects of this type and to go to court over mitigate their conservation effects. the matter,’ ” the That report, Dunn said, emerged Court of Appeals directly from the Skiffes Creek wrote regarding its proposal as the Conservancy Partner- These transmission line towers, located near the James City County side of the James River, are shown here decision. “Instead, ship realized that the Army Corps under construction in the summer of 2018. (Jamie Brunkow) they represent of Engineers would likely issue the the considered permit for the transmission line. following an environmental assess- by the U.S. Environmental Protection responses — many solicited by the Corps “The state of Virginia had numerous ment, the scope of a project’s impacts Agency on ozone and sulfur dioxide itself — of highly specialized governmen- opportunities to impact this power line remains both uncertain and controver- emissions, coal combustion residuals tal agencies and organizations.” before it even got to the Army Corps sial,” the three-person court’s opinion, and mercury, among other emissions. After the Court handed down its of Engineers,” Dunn said. “I don’t fault penned by Judge David S. Tatel, reads. The Surry-Skiffes Creek-Whealton opinion, Dominion Energy issued anyone who was in charge, because I Furthermore, it states: “Important project sparked broad protest from a statement saying: “The Corps of think they did the best they could with questions about both the Corps’ chosen not only environmental groups but Engineers spent four years on its the policies that were in place at the methodology and the scope of the also federal agencies, including the environmental assessment of this time, but I think there’s an opportunity project’s impact remain unanswered, National Park Service, the federal project, going above and beyond what moving forward to improve these state- and federal and state agencies with Advisory Council on Historic Preser- was required. We are disappointed this level policies even before [a permit] gets relevant expertise harbor serious mis- vation and the Department of Energy’s ruling dismisses that effort.” to the federal level.” givings about locating a project of this Argonne National Laboratory. The ruling does not affect the The definition of state-level land- magnitude in a region of such singular The heart of this opposition centered immediate operation of the Skiffes scape objectives and new approaches importance to the nation’s history.” on the Army Corps’ conclusion that the Creek transmission line, which to permitting could help avoid siting The decision was the culmination transmission line across the James River Dominion Energy communications controversies, the report suggests. of a battle that has raged since 2013, would have “no significant impact” on specialist Jeremy Slayton confirmed is “We need to think like the Native when Dominion applied to the U.S. surrounding historic resources such as “energized and … sending power and Americans,” Dunn said, “and think Army Corps of Engineers for a permit Historic Jamestowne, Carter’s Grove electricity to the 600,000 people who seven generations ahead.” Bay Journal • April 2019 15 New Bay Program director has worked on water quality, Bay issues for decades ≈ Dana Aunkst tackled water “I think it is a problem that discharge and fracking issues is solvable. It is not going to in PA and wrote state’s ‘reboot’ be easy.” strategy to meet Bay cleanup goals. That will be tested in the coming months as states By Karl Blankenship need to complete new When Dana Aunkst grew up in watershed implementation Northcentral Pennsylvania, he didn’t plans showing how they have to look far from home to see will meet Bay cleanup water quality problems. goals by 2025. Plans are He grew up in Watsontown, a small due to the EPA for review community along the West Branch of in April, with final docu- the Susquehanna, one of the state’s ments expected in August. most troubled waterways, with vast But the Bay restoration stretches rendered largely lifeless by a is about more than just legacy of acid mine drainage. water quality. The 2014 Watsontown wasn’t near the worst Chesapeake Bay Watershed of the problems. Still, Aunkst recalled, Agreement, which the Bay “the fishing at that time was limited Program is in charge of to what we called trash fish — carp implementing, outlines 31 and warmwater types of fish that were specific outcomes, only pollution-tolerant.” three of which relate to Over time, efforts to fix damaged reducing nutrient and sedi- headwater streams have delivered ment pollution. results for the river — and created a Other goals address popular bass fishery. “I am someone who really, really enjoys being challenged in my work,” said Dana Aunkst, who became issues as varied as restor- “It’s obvious that a lot of the work the new director of the Chesapeake Bay Program in late December. (Chesapeake Bay Program) ing oysters, improving that’s been done in the upper part of stream health, expanding the watershed has really benefitted the headquarters in Harrisburg, often has periodically intersected with the tree canopies in urban areas, improving lower part,” Aunkst said. “It’s a com- tackling assignments related to devel- Bay ever since. fish passage, increasing the diversity of pletely different fishery at this point.” oping permits and programs that would In the early 2000s, he helped people involved in restoration efforts, Now, Aunkst hopes to see upstream protect water quality from discharges. develop the state’s permitting strategy conserving land, and expanding environ- efforts pay off on an even greater scale. He rose steadily through the ranks of for wastewater treatment plants to mental education, among many others. As the newest director of the U.S. what is now the Department of Envi- meet Bay restoration goals. And, with Efforts to meet many of those goals Environmental Protection Agency’s ronmental Protection, and even served Pennsylvania facing threats from the are starting to fall behind as well, and Chesapeake Bay Program Office — and as acting secretary in 2014. EPA over its lagging cleanup efforts, Aunkst acknowledged that the Bay the first native Pennsylvanian to hold A number of difficult assignments Aunkst was given the task of writ- Program will need to quickly pivot to that position — he oversees a multibil- came along the way. In the wake of ing the state’s “reboot” strategy in put more focus on those initiatives once lion-dollar effort aimed at restoring the the fracking boom that began a decade 2016, which continues to serve as the the watershed implementation plan health of the nation’s largest estuary by ago, he was the primary author of new blueprint for accelerating its efforts to process is complete. improving rivers and streams that drain regulations to control discharges of total meet Bay cleanup obligations. “Right now, the water quality piece, its 64,000-square-mile watershed. dissolved solids, or TDS, from rapidly That on-and-off involvement with the because of the TMDL, is the regulatory Although the Bay has seen improve- expanding natural gas drilling activities. Chesapeake over the years made him driver,” Aunkst said. “And yet, in order ments in recent years, it remains far During hydraulic fracturing, large interested in the Bay Program position to sustain water quality once we get from meeting its water quality goals, and amounts of water are pumped into the after its last director, Nick DiPasquale, there, we really need to be accomplish- scientists are still assessing the extent of ground under high pressure to break retired at the end of 2017. “I enjoy being ing all of those other things as well.” damage inflicted by last year’s record- up rocks and release pockets of natural challenged and solving problems,” Without improving local stream high rainfall that flooded the Chesapeake gas — a process that creates huge Aunkst said. “And this is one that — health and fish habitats, restoring with water-fouling mud and nutrients. amounts of polluted wastewater. having been in and out of this program as water-filtering wetlands and building “I am someone who really, really “Their discharges [have] really part of Pennsylvania over the years — I engaged and diverse public support for enjoys being challenged in my work,” highly concentrated TDS,” Aunkst said. just can’t let go.” those initiatives, “all of this effort could said Aunkst, who started in the new “Our watersheds really wouldn’t sustain Indeed, the region as a whole is off easily go away in the future,” he said. position in late December. “I don’t get that type of load over a lengthy time.” track for meeting nutrient reduction “Without everything else in place as we much from coming to the office and He had to come up with new regula- goals established in the 2010 Chesa- move forward, the sustainability of that doing the same thing.” tions and treatment technologies to peake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load, water quality effort is in question.” Aunkst, 58, has been working on protect streams, many of which were in or pollution diet. And nowhere is the In the end, that goal ties back to his water quality issues for more than three some of the most pristine areas of the problem more acute than in the Key- own roots. Growing up, Aunkst said, he decades since graduating from Penn state. As a result, he said, “the industry stone State, which needs to accomplish gained an appreciation for the outdoors State University with a degree in chemi- has really changed the way it manages roughly six time more nitrogen reduc- from his father and grandfather, who cal engineering. He worked on environ- its wastewater. It really pushed them tions in the next seven years than it has were avid hunters and anglers. mental programs for local governments toward recycle and reuse versus treat- done since the TMDL went into effect. When he began working in the and private industry before joining ment and discharge because of cost. So But Aunkst said he is encouraged environmental field, he said, he was the state’s environmental agency, then we prevented the potential for a lot of that Pennsylvania — which could face helping to preserve those opportuni- called the Department of Environmental problems in Pennsylvania.” actions from the EPA if it doesn’t make ties for future generations. “That got Resources, in 1985 as an entry level His interactions with the Bay adequate headway — is starting to me back into what I loved — not just engineer stationed in its regional office Program go back to 1991, when he come to grips with its problem, and not the engineering component, but also in Meadville, not far from Lake Erie. worked with its modelers in establish- just at governmental levels, but with the component about conserving and Over the years, he worked in other ing the first round of state and river stakeholders such as farmers. “I think protecting the resources for my kids regional offices and the department’s nutrient reduction goals. His worked it really has changed course,” he said. and my grandkids.” 16 Bay Journal • April 2019 New data from VIMS finds sea-level rise is accelerating in Bay ≈ Tide gauge data from 5 cities controlled,” concluded a paper accompa- reveal rate is faster in Lower Bay. nying the 2018 Sea-Level Report Cards by VIMS scientists John D. Boon, Molly By Sarah Vogelsong Mitchell and Jon Derek Loftis and com- munications director David Malmquist. As sea-level rise increasingly becomes The report cards are intended to provide part of public discourse and the public policymakers and local communities with agenda, the Virginia Institute of Marine the data needed to plan for the rising water. Sciences is ramping up efforts to provide “Success here may mean that a coastal reliable data for policy makers seeking to community receiving these reports will be combat the changing circumstances. able to use the information to its advantage “There’s a lot of resiliency planning when revising or updating its flood defense going on looking at sea-level-rise projec- plans,” the 2018 VIMS paper noted. tions, and we feel it’s important to know Mitchell described the VIMS projec- when we’re doing this planning how the tions as an “outlier” among forecasts data match up with the projections,” said because of its planned yearly frequency. Molly Mitchell, a marine scientist with The two other major sea-level rise VIMS’ Center for Coastal Resource forecasts, put forward by the U.S. Army Management. Corps of Engineers and the National This winter, VIMS released the second Masons fill in holes from steel beams used to raise a house in the Larchmont neigh- Oceanic and Atmospheric Administra- iteration of its annual Sea-Level Report borhood of Norfolk, VA. The Lafayette River often floods the area. (Dave Harp) tion, are issued less frequently. Cards, a set of data from 32 coastal VIMS projections differ from those stations around the United States that also in the Bay region and along the Gulf at three Gulf Coast locations: Grand Isle, of the Corps and NOAA in other ways projects sea-level trends forward to 2050. Coast. According to the new projec- LA; Galveston, TX; and Rockport, TX, as well. Most notably, they are based on For the first time, VIMS has included tions, of the 32 locations monitored in where rise rates are 7.75 mm, 6.24 mm the observed water level record, which a Chesapeake Bay–specific report card the broader study, Norfolk will have the and 6.77 mm per year, respectively. Mitchell said would be the closest to “the drawing on tide gauge data from five sites highest rate of sea-level rise on the East Depending on whether these rates experience of a person standing on the in the region: Norfolk and Yorktown in Coast, with the water’s height expected to remain relatively steady or accelerate over land” and monitoring sea level in person. Virginia and Annapolis, Baltimore and increase 5.2 millimeters per year, a slight time, those projections ultimately mean In contrast, the Corps and NOAA Solomons Island in Maryland. uptick compared with last year’s projec- that, in 2050, Norfolk’s sea level could forecasts are based on computer models “We have a higher rate of sea-level rise tion of 5.14 mm per year. be between 0.3 and 0.49 meters above its involving global sea-level trends that in the Bay than along most of the Atlantic In the Bay region, Yorktown trails Nor- 1992 level, while Baltimore’s could be 0.2 incorporate global, regional and local Coast, so there’s a lot of interest in how folk for the second highest predicted rise to 0.38 meters higher than that baseline. factors. They also project forward much the rate of rise may vary around the Bay rate, at 4.92 mm per year. Solomons Island The Chesapeake has long been known further than the VIMS estimates, provid- and for a lot of localities,” Mitchell said. is next at 4.73 mm per year. Baltimore’s to be especially vulnerable to sea-level ing forecasts to 2100 rather than VIMS’ What the new data primarily show, rise rate is expected to be 3.51 mm per rise because of land subsidence in the 2050 cutoff. Mitchell said, is stronger evidence that year and Annapolis’ 3.84 mm per year. region, which Mitchell said is “a little bit VIMS has chosen that year as its sea-level rise is accelerating, particularly These rates continue to be outstripped higher at the southern part of the Bay than horizon, a Center for Coastal Resources the northern part of the Bay.” Management newsletter explains, “because Such subsidence is the result of both of the likelihood that patterns controlling geologic and human activity. sea level rise (and therefore, sea level rise The larger geological processes involved trends) will change in the future.” in the sinking of the region’s land as ice “There are pros and cons for both sheets from the last glacial maximum of those [approaches], and that’s why continue to retreat are unavoidable. having both of them is very informative,” Nevertheless, these changes, as a 2015 study Mitchell said. published by the Geological Society of Among other uses, the new projections America points out, risk “exacerbating the have been incorporated into the AdaptVA effects of global sea-level rise and impacting portal developed by the VIMS Center for the region’s large population centers and Coastal Resources Management, Virginia valuable coastal natural resources.” Coastal Policy Center, College of William Other major contributors to subsidence & Mary Public Policy Program, and include large withdrawals of groundwater Wetlands Watch. and development on marshes. Paper mills For Mitchell, the next step in applying in the Franklin and West Point areas of the data collected by VIMS is to increase Virginia have had a particularly signifi- awareness of how communities affected cant impact on the state’s groundwater by rising sea level will be impacted by reserves. A 2016 report by Virginia’s Joint events like hurricanes and high tides, Legislative Audit and Review Commis- because sea-level rise calculations focus sion found that together, these mills “used on the average level of the water without nearly half of all permitted groundwater” taking into account the high and low tides withdrawals in the commonwealth. that occur throughout the day. Large-scale chicken farming on the East- “We’ve been talking about mean sea ern Shore has also prompted concerns level for so long, [and] for a while that was about overstressing local aquifers. just trying to get people to understand “Understanding the magnitude and that sea level is changing,” she said. “But impact of [withdrawal-related subsidence] now we’ve been ignoring the tide and the is critical for adaptation and management storms, so we need to bring those back in efforts, since it can be relatively easily the conversation.” Bay Journal • April 2019 17 CREP program interruptions hinder streamside tree planting efforts ≈ Holdup threatens to worsen Carroll County, said there were six or lagging efforts to expand seven landowners he’d been working with who weren’t able to enroll, and forest buffers in Chesapeake one was “very frustrated” because he’d watershed. been counting on the CREP payments By Timothy B. Wheeler to help cover farm expenses. Israel Creek meanders through “He was not very happy with us rolling pastureland on Steve and Ruth when he found out this contract didn’t Ann Derrenbacher’s farm in Frederick go through,” Weaver said. County, MD. A fence keeps their sheep The CREP holdup has interrupted away from the clear, cold water as it plans in other Bay watershed states as flows toward the Monocacy River. well. Virginia farmer Bobby Whit- Alder, willow and sycamore escarver, who’s working for the Bay saplings in plastic tubes line a portion Foundation to enroll other Virginia of the stream. Steve Derrenbacher, farmers, said he’s got five who’d like a veterinarian and third-generation to sign up and also take advantage of farmer, said they’d like to add more state conservation funding. streamside trees and even permanently “CREP just threw a monkey wrench preserve the entire 148 acres their in our plans,” he said. family has owned since 1942. The holdup may aggravate an exist- “We intend to pass it on the way ing problem for the Bay’s restoration: we found it — in fact, better than we Some farmers are not renewing their found it,” Derrenbacher said. CREP contracts to maintain forested But their conservation hopes are stream buffers. on hold, because the federal program Steve Derrenbacher’s plans to install more trees along Israel Creek, which runs Under program rules, farmers can that would pay them to extend the through his pasture were held up when a USDA program to help farmers extend typically re-enroll even if their 10– to forest buffer is not taking any new their buffers stopped accepting new applicants. (Timothy B. Wheeler) 15-year contracts have expired — but applicants right now. Without it, they it isn’t so forgiving for those farmers can’t qualify for a lucrative state tion program. In Virginia, for instance, throughout the six-state watershed. with forest buffers. If they don’t renew conservation easement to preserve the farmers in the Bay watershed can get While there was progress early on, that before their contracts expire, they can’t pasture land. rental and maintenance payments of up campaign is lagging badly. Reasons re-enroll. The USDA spokeswoman The U.S. Department of Agriculture to $100 per acre per year, plus a signing vary — some farmers prefer grassy didn’t say whether that rule will stopped accepting new enrollments incentive of $10 per acre for each year buffers instead of trees and shrubs, and impact farmers whose contracts expire last fall in its Conservation Reserve of the 10– or 15-year contract, with some shy away from the red tape and while the enrollment and re-enrollment Enhancement Program, interrupting additional incentives and tax breaks oversight involved with taking govern- process is closed. one of the more attractive ways for available from the state. The bulk of the ment money. But another deterrent has There’s already been a decline in farmers in the Chesapeake Bay water- installation costs are also picked up. been repeated interruptions in CREP, the Bay region’s CREP-funded forest shed to voluntarily protect water qual- The USDA’s Farm Service Agency, observers say. buffers, according to Sally Claggett, a ity. It’s not clear when sign-ups will which administers CREP, suspended CREP was shut down “for a while” U.S. Forest Service program manager resume, and those working to restore enrollments near the end of the last about four years ago, recalled Anne in the Bay Program office. Across the the Bay say the holdup threatens to fiscal year on Sept. 30. At that time, Hairston-Strang, associate director of the six-state watershed, she said, contracts undermine already lagging efforts to according to those who work with the Maryland Forest Service. And for the covering 4,374 acres of forest buffers plant forest buffers along streams and program, the agency said it did so to last couple of years, she said, there have were not renewed in fiscal year 2017, rivers in the watershed. avoid exceeding a national cap set by been “program pauses” to keep from the most recent year for which data are “Any kind of disruption in this is not the 2014 Farm Bill on the number of exceeding the nationwide acreage cap. available. helpful,” said Craig Highfield, director acres of land that could participate. If the USDA resumes enrollments Dropping out of CREP doesn’t of forest programs for the nonprofit The new Farm Bill passed in soon, there shouldn’t be a major mean the trees automatically come Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay. December by Congress retains CREP interruption in CREP buffer plantings, down. But once farmers stop getting Under CREP, part of a larger USDA and increases the nationwide acreage say some of those working with the payments for the buffers, they’re free Conservation Reserve Program, farm- cap. But the hold on enrollments has program. But some farmers, like the to do something else with the land. ers take cropland or marginal pasture yet to be lifted. Those who work to Derrenbachers, were hoping to conduct Contracts covering another 3,500 land — typically located along or near encourage conservation practices say plantings this spring. acres of forest buffers in the Bay water — out of production and plant it they’ve heard it may be fall before the Maryland has been offering one- watershed are slated to expire on with native grasses, trees or other veg- process resumes. time payments of $6,000 an acre to Sept. 30, according to USDA figures. etation. In exchange, they get an annual Sylvia Rainford, a USDA spokes- acquire conservation easements on Nearly 2,000 of those acres are in payment based on the removed acreage, woman, said the Farm Service Agency is cropland and marginal pastureland Pennsylvania alone, with 600 in New plus incentive and cost-share payments. evaluating unspecified changes to CREP in Frederick County. To be eligible, York, 500 in Virginia, more than 200 The plantings serve as buffers that help and other conservation programs that 10 percent of the land must be under in West Virginia and 175 in Maryland. to reduce erosion, protect water quality may be dictated by the new Farm bill. CREP contracts. That’s why the Der- Delaware has none. and create wildlife habitat. “We will work to implement those renbachers want to enroll more acreage If CREP doesn’t come back online “It’s a great deal,” said Rob Sch- changes as quickly as possible,” she in the program. soon, advocates warn, the forest buffer nabel, a restoration biologist with the said. “We also will address resuming “We’re not going anywhere,” Der- effort could lose even more momentum Chesapeake Bay Foundation, who CREP acreage enrollment as quickly renbacher said, but he noted that some trying to achieve the 2025 Chesapeake helped the Derrenbachers put in their as we can.” farmers are already skittish about restoration goals. first riparian buffer. The CREP pay- CREP has played a major role in dealing with the government. “When “Every day or week that goes by ments to farmers, provided in a partner- creating forest buffers in the Bay [CREP] closes down, this is one more that we’re just left sitting on our hands, ship with states and nongovernmental region. The federal-state Bay Program reason for landowners to be skeptical is just opportunity lost for us to be organizations, are among the most has had a goal since 2003 to plant about the program.” reaching out to these landowners,” said generous of any government conserva- 900 miles of riparian forests annually Jamie Weaver, a state forester in Weaver of the Maryland Forest Service. 18 Bay Journal • April 2019 Conditions in James River lead to proposal for new chlorophyll levels ≈ Adjusted criteria could mean at improving hundreds of millions of dollars aquatic life in the river itself, said in savings for upgrade costs. John Kennedy, By Jeremy Cox director of the The James River poses one of the DEQ’s office most perplexing cleanup challenges in of ecology. The the Chesapeake Bay watershed, accord- metrics included ing to researchers who have attempted to water clarity, unravel its mysteries. acidity, the Its tidal waters range from nearly abundance of as salty as any ocean to as fresh as harmful algae any inland lake. Its many twists and bloom species and turns slow downstream flow to a crawl, dissolved oxygen. providing a potential breeding ground for The 2005 harmful algae blooms. And its shallow- regulation was ness only ensures that those blooms are underpinned, in never far from the sunlight they need to some cases, by explode. “best professional “It’s like a perfect storm there for judgment” about algae,” said Tish Robertson, an assess- the interplay ment coordinator with the Virginia between the Department of Environmental Quality. James’ nutrients But figuring out the acceptable levels and algae, Pletl of algae — enough to help feed fish but The alga (Margalefidinium polykrikoides ) blooms in the James River near the Monitor Merrimac Bridge said. Little was not cause water quality problems — has in August 2013. (Wolfgang Vogelbein / VIMS) known at the time proved to be a daunting task that has about how an gone on for more than 15 years. It’s the Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Before the study began, “we really uptick of nutrients would affect chloro- closely intertwined with determining the Daily Load, it estimated that even greater didn’t have a strong science guiding what phyll levels and, in turn, how to link a acceptable levels of nutrients, which feed nutrient reductions would be needed — a too much algae is,” Robertson said. “We rise in chlorophyll to ecological damage, algae blooms, that can go into the James. conclusion that raised immediate calls for feel like we have a more-sound basis for such as fish kills and toxic algae blooms. Now, Virginia officials have emerged more study. the criteria than what we had in 2005.” “Chlorophyll itself is not a toxicant,” with adjusted criteria and a proposed The result was a 70-page report, The chlorophyll standards are Pletl said. “Making that link back to regulatory framework to address which Brunkow said represents “a realis- receiving mostly positive reviews from actual impact to populations and aquatic concerns over algal growth. The proposal tic and scientific path to get to a restored wastewater officials. species is much more difficult.” allows for some cases in which nitrogen James River.” “The science that has been brought to The new limits reflect improvements and phosphorus — which feed the algae The report stemmed from a $3 mil- bear on this topic has just been tremen- in modeling technology and a greater blooms — can exist in the river at higher lion, state-led study that took six years dous and impressive,” said Jim Pletl, head scientific understanding of the river’s levels than those set by the 2010 Bay to complete and the development of a of water quality for the Hampton Roads plants and creatures, said Carl Hersh- cleanup plan, but are more in line with complex new computer model to better Sanitation District, which operates seven ner, director of the Center for Coastal earlier estimates. simulate the James’ unique conditions. of its 16 southeastern Virginia plants on Resource Management at the Virginia As a result, the new regulations could The work led to a revised set of limits on the Lower James. Institute of Marine Science. save wastewater treatment plants and the acceptable amount of chlorophyll in The proposal could go before the “It’s really encouraging that both DEQ other large polluters hundreds of millions the river. Virginia Water Control Board as early and EPA were willing to look at this issue of dollars in costs tied to upgrading their In what would be the first update to as this summer. If the board approves and realize there was the potential for nutrient-removal technology. But those the chlorophyll caps since they were the measure, Gov. Ralph Northam and something unique,” Hershner said. “It’s involved with creating the plan say it will established in 2005, the DEQ is propos- the EPA would have to sign off before it a sign of the increasing sophistication of still reduce algae blooms and their harm ing that eight of the seasonally averaged takes effect. our water-quality management efforts.” to the ecosystem. concentration levels be lowered and two The James is the only Bay tributary The James River carries water from as “It is counterintuitive,” said Jamie be raised. The limits vary by season and to have a specific numerical limit for far away as the Appalachian Mountains Brunkow, riverkeeper for the James river segment. Regulators also created chlorophyll except for tidal portions of and delivers it nearly 350 miles down- River Association. But his organization separate criteria that would apply to the Potomac and Anacostia rivers within stream to the Chesapeake Bay. The new and many other environmental groups durations of one day for certain segments the District of Columbia. A “narrative” chlorophyll measures target the 110-mile are nonetheless lining up to support the and one month for others. limit has been in force for other areas of tidal stretch below Richmond. new framework, save for a few tweaks. The new criteria overall are more the Bay since 2003. Algae blooms are common, particu- “I’ll admit it’s quite complicated. It’s stringent, but the new rules would allow Why the different treatment for the larly in the Hopewell area, from May to hard to communicate with the public,” them to be exceeded more often. The James? September, scientists say. The blooms added Brunkow, a member of an expert net effect would still require wastewater The nutrient reduction goals for most often produce microcystin, the same panel that helped shape the proposal. treatment plants and industries to reduce waterways in the Chesapeake watershed toxin that forced Toledo, OH, to tempo- “It’s not really a winners or losers kind of their nutrient discharges, but by smaller were based on what was needed to rarily shut off its water intake from Lake thing. It’s a consensus process. We had to amounts than the Bay TMDL had reduce algae growth in order to relieve Erie in 2014. all agree this is the right approach.” estimated. oxygen-starved “dead zones” in the Bay The James’ tidal flow ensures enough The history of the problem is complex. If they take effect, the new criteria itself. But that is less of a factor for the mixing in the water column to tamp down The state in 2005 developed criteria for would require roughly three dozen James, experts say, because it empties toxins. But even if no toxins are present, chlorophyll — a measure of algae growth affected dischargers on the river to spend near where the Bay meets the Atlantic algae can upend an aquatic ecosystem. — that would require additional nutrient about $250 million for upgrades instead Ocean. Its water quality has relatively In response to the 2005 chlorophyll reductions in the river. Then, in 2010, of the nearly $950 million previously little bearing on the Bay’s health. criteria, the state began requiring large when the U.S. Environmental Protection anticipated, according to state economic Instead, its nutrient reduction goals Agency put forth its Bay cleanup plan, forecasters. were based on chlorophyll targets aimed Algae continues on page 19 Bay Journal • April 2019 19 Bay Program advocates seek 23% funding boost as fed budget calls for 90% cut ≈ This is third year that Members of Congress administration proposal has from Bay states represent- ing both parties in March slashed money for program; introduced legislation in the Congress has restored support House and Senate that would in previous years. reauthorize the cleanup effort By Timothy B. Wheeler for another five years and Chesapeake Bay advocates are seek- increase its funding to $90 ing to boost Bay Program spending to its million next year and then highest-ever levels, even as the Trump allow for a $500,000 increase administration has once again called for in each of the next four years. deep cuts to the state-federal restoration Rep. John Sarbanes, partnership. D-MD, who is co-chair of the The competing requests between a Chesapeake Bay Watershed 23 percent increase or a 90 percent cut Task Force in Congress, from current funding levels were made called the $455 million to Congress in recent weeks as it begins authorized through fiscal its annual deliberations over how much 2024 a “critical investment.” it will appropriate for the Bay and other “States rely on the EPA programs. Chesapeake Bay Program In a budget proposal submitted to to provide federal account- Congress March 11 — just days after ability, enforceability members of Congress from the Bay and resources,” Sen. Ben watershed proposed a boost in spend- Cardin, D-MD, said in a ing — the Trump administration called Tundra swans fly over a classic Eastern Shore house at Bishops Head along Hoopers Straits in statement. “Less pollution for cutting funds to the Environmental the Chesapeake Bay. (Dave Harp) means more oysters and Protection Agency’s Bay Program Office crabs, healthier farmland, from $73 million this year to $7.3 million the Puget Sound, would be zeroed out Chesapeake Executive Council which more boats and tourism on the water, in the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1. altogether. oversees the restoration effort, issued and more jobs.” It was the third year in a row that the The EPA’s Bay office coordinates the a statement calling the proposed Bay Joining in the sponsorship of the bill White House has proposed slashing the Chesapeake restoration efforts among Program cut “potentially devastating.” was Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-WV, Bay Program. In President Trump’s first the states and other federal agencies, pro- “The EPA administrator himself who said that it would provide “critical year in office, he called for eliminating its vides grants to states, local governments called the Chesapeake Bay Program a grant funding” to her state for meeting its federal funding completely. Last March, and nonprofits for restoration work, and ‘high priority,’ ” the Republican governor obligations to help restore the Bay’s water he also proposed a 90 percent reduction. oversees regional water quality model- said, “making this week’s cut in the quality. Congress rejected both of those cuts and, ing and monitoring efforts to support budget a total betrayal.” The Chesapeake Bay Commission, in fact, slightly increased funding. restoration actions. William C. Baker, president of the which represents state legislatures in the The administration’s 150-page budget The proposed reduction drew quick Chesapeake Bay Foundation, also said region, wrote Congress in March support- summary provided no explanation bipartisan criticism. “Not only is the Bay the cut came only days after a meeting ing the increased funding level for next for the reduction, saying only that the a national treasure, its health is crucial in which EPA Administrator Andrew year, noting that as the region approaches Trump administration proposes to only to the health of our Maryland economy,” Wheeler “affirmed” his full support of its 2025 cleanup goal, “both the challenge fund programs that “measure and assess Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-MD, said. the federal-state cleanup effort, though and urgency of our work grows.” the health” of the Bay. He pledged to “fight tooth and nail” to he did not make any specific funding More than 100 representatives from The EPA’s Great Lakes restoration restore funding to the Bay Program. commitments. the Choose Clean Water Coalition, which effort is also targeted for a 90 percent Sen. Mark Warner, D-VA, tweeted Bay restoration efforts are working, represents more than 230 nonprofit reduction, from $300 million to $30 that slashing Bay Program funding Baker said, but “to achieve our long- groups in the region, visited Congress on million while other watershed efforts, would be “a complete disaster” for term goals the pace must be accelerated.” March 7 to make the same pitch. including those focused on cleaning up Virginia and the region. He and others are working with Karl Blankenship contributed to this the Gulf of Mexico, South Florida and Gov. Larry Hogan, chairman of the Congress to instead boost funding. article.

Algae from page 18 But controversy continues. Some DEQ officials say that exceedances are Wastewater Agencies. environmental groups say the new expected to be small and unlikely to do Robertson said the short-term limits polluters along the river to scrub more criteria give polluters too much license to much harm. The daily and monthly limits are necessary to hedge the agency’s bets nutrients from their discharges. That led exceed their limits. The measure would will act like a backstop to keep the sever- against the uncertainty of the model. to at least $400 million in investments to allow chlorophyll limits to be surpassed ity of potential algae blooms in check. “We’re trying to ensure protection of jump-start the cleanup. So far, the James by as many as two seasons in six years. Wastewater industry representatives aquatic life, so having both sets of criteria River cleanup accounts for 65 percent of But because the regulation considers are pushing the DEQ to take those short- working in tandem shores up the protec- the statewide reduction in nitrogen and springs and summers separately, that term checks off the table. They question tion,” she said. 60 percent of its reduction in phosphorus could allow up to four failing seasons — whether a scientific link exists between The James River has been slow to from so-called “point” sources, accord- two springs and two summers — and a single day’s exceedance and a sudden give up its secrets. But those involved ing to a recent state tally. still produce a passing grade. If those downturn in the river’s health. The in the regulation’s development say the The DEQ’s Robertson said those high chlorophyll seasons happen con- short-term limits would force facilities to latest effort should help the river recover upgrades are factored into the new James secutively, the ecological consequences construct systems to unnecessarily high more fully. River water quality model. The improve- could be devastating, Brunkow said. and expensive standards, they say. “We’re happy with the outcome,” ments since 2005 account for some of the “Our concern is if you allow that “It doesn’t make sense to build Brunkow said. “It’s been a long process 70 percent decrease in projected costs back-to-back years of exceedances, 30-year facilities around one day,” said for sure. For the most part, these are good that large polluters face for complying you’re not allowing the system to rebal- Chris Pomeroy, general counsel for criteria and we’re excited to move them with the new framework, she said. ance itself,” he said. the Virginia Association for Municipal into the next phase of the process.” 20 Bay Journal • April 2019

Coal Ash from page 1 org, a searchable database of information from more than 4,500 monitoring wells at wells on or near the coal ash storage sites, 189 sites currently storing ash nationwide. and includes both sites with ongoing Seventy-seven percent of the wells have pollution problems and sites where the been contaminated at levels exceeding pollution has been addressed. safe drinking water standards established But Jim Roewer, executive director of by the U.S. Environmental Protection the Utility Solid Waste Activities Group, Agency, the website states. Those which represents the dozens of utilities standards are enforced differently by each that generate waste while producing state, though, and the groundwater may energy, said the data show that the federal not actually be tapped for drinking water rules regulating coal ash are working — — but it is a common source of drinking and that more analysis is needed to water, particularly in rural areas. determine whether the pollution actually Earthjustice attorney Lisa Evans said exceeds legal standards. she has spent most of the last two decades “It is important to note that even if the traveling the country to learn about the required monitoring finds groundwater impact of coal ash on communities. impacts in the shallow groundwater Combing over the power plants’ own immediately next to a disposal unit monitoring data over the last year, Evans on power plant property, this does not said, provided additional evidence of the necessarily mean that neighbors’ drink- contamination that residents near coal ash ing water is affected or that a health risk sites have long suspected. exists,” Roewer wrote in a statement. “Industry has dumped these billions of Sites that do exceed groundwater tons of ash in the cheapest way possible,” allowances under the federal rule, he AshTracker.org, an Environmental Integrity Project website, shows where moni- she said. “This is a crisis because it is noted, already are required to eventually toring wells are located at a coal ash site along the Susquehanna in Pennsylvania. poisoning an invaluable resource — take corrective action. Almost all of the 70 monitoring wells, pictured in red and green, at the Brunner groundwater — a resource for more than Among the sites included in the report Island Power Plant detected pollution of groundwater near the site, according to one-third of the United States’ drinking are nine in Pennsylvania, six in Virginia AshTracker.org. (Environmental Integrity Project) water, especially in rural areas.” and three in Maryland, though not all are Utilities across the country say they inside the Chesapeake Bay watershed. was reached in early 2013, and triggered along Virginia rivers and then recycled are working with federal and state According to the report, one of the 10 cleanup efforts. or placed in lined landfills. Water quality authorities on plans to clean up coal ash, worst coal ash contamination cases lies An EIP attorney at the time lauded the advocates vehemently opposed previous which can cost millions of dollars to dig within the Bay watershed at the Brandy- penalties as one of the toughest she’d seen plans by Dominion Energy’s to perma- up for recycling or removal to sites where wine Coal Ash Landfill near Mataponi a state impose on a coal ash site. nently store the ash in the existing pits. it is less likely to leak. The Supreme Creek, a tributary to the Patuxent River, In Virginia’s portion of the Bay Earthjustice and other national and Court decided last month to hear a Clean in Prince George’s County, MD. Ash watershed, a power station in Yorktown local groups are pushing for similar Water Act case that could have broad from three coal plants has been collected made the list for leaching unsafe levels legislation in North Carolina and Illinois. implications for how utilities store ash for years at the site, where groundwater of arsenic, beryllium and other pollutants In the new report, the Brunner Island and push more of them to consider lined was contaminated with unsafe levels into not only groundwater but also the Power Plant, just south of Harrisburg on landfills. of at least eight pollutants, including drinking water for about 55 residents in the Susquehanna River, posted unsafe Coal ash contaminants drew attention lithium at more than 200 times greater the years leading up to 1980. About 25 levels of contaminants such as arsenic, in 2008 when 1.1 billion gallons of coal than safe levels and molybdenum (which drinking water wells near a golf course nitrate and lead in 64 of its 70 groundwa- ash slurry breached a dam in Tennessee can damage the kidney and liver) at in Chesapeake, VA, where coal ash was ter monitoring wells in samples between and flowed into the Emory and Clinch more than 100 times greater than what is used as structural fill, had elevated levels 2011 and 2017. Run by Talen Energy, the rivers, tributaries of the Tennessee River. considered safe. of boron and other contaminants, the plant still burns coal for fuel but is adding Federal regulations that followed in 2015 The Maryland Department of the report states. natural gas-firing capabilities and has required utilities to begin dismantling Environment sued the facility for Virginia’s governor signed into law in “closed” several of its onsite coal ash stor- the long legacy of coal burning by more violations of the Clean Water Act and March a bill that requires coal ash to be age pits while sending the coal ash that safely disposing of its byproduct and state laws. A $1.9 million settlement excavated from four impoundments located is currently generated to another unlined closing the so-called ponds where ash is basin at the plant, according to the report. often stored for decades. A water discharge permit for the The Trump administration aimed to plant expired in 2006, and the EIP has soften the blow of those regulations to submitted comments to the Pennsylvania the industry, releasing last year a batch of Department of Environmental Protec- significant changes to the 2015 standards, tion asking that the permit be updated to which Earthjustice and others are chal- include modern pollution controls. The lenging in court. nonprofit also filed a notice of intent to The revisions incorporate “alternative sue in August. performance standards” that the EPA or A generating station north of Pitts- a state could use to approve a coal ash burgh, outside of the Bay watershed, was permit, such as those required to release among the report’s 10 most contaminated ash-tainted water into nearby waterways. sites for posting levels of arsenic in The agency also raised allowable levels the groundwater that were 372 times of contaminants in groundwater. Boron, greater than the amount considered safe an element that is considered a leading for drinking water. The drinking water indicator of the presence of other con- requirements are commonly referenced in taminants, was removed from the list. legal cases but, as Russ said, “this doesn’t Earthjustice’s Evans said the “new rule Lower Susquehanna Riverkeeper Ted Evgeniadis stands in front of a coal pile outside tell you about risks to aquatic life or risks encourages utilities to continue dumping the Brunner Island coal-fired power plant near Harrisburg. He filed an intent to sue the to fish that are eaten” if the groundwater into leaking pits.” She said the report owner of the coal plant alleging that its ash dumps have been leaking toxic contaminants also leaches into a nearby waterway. provides fresh evidence of the need for into both groundwater and a stream that flows into the Susquehanna. (Tom Pelton/EIP) The EIP also developed AshTracker. additional protections for water quality. Bay Journal • April 2019 21

Runoff from page 1 The most direct way to do that is through “green infrastructure” that col- expanded credit for measures of debatable lects and absorbs stormwater — ripping value in reducing polluted runoff — or, up pavement, for example, so rainfall in the case of trading, that simply put could soak into soil again, or covering off dealing with it until sometime in the roofs with moisture hungry-plants. Other future. approaches involved building or enlarging “This agency is trying to turn every stormwater detention ponds, creating a environmental restoration initiative into multitude of “rain gardens” or planting an accounting exercise, ripe for account- more trees. ing gimmicks to make the status quo But in heavily developed areas, it’s not look like progress,” said Evan Isaacson, easy to find enough open space to collect a policy analyst with the Center for Pro- rainfall. Forty-five percent of Baltimore gressive Reform. “Whether it’s a juiced city is covered with pavement and build- stormwater accounting guidance docu- ings, for instance, but in some rowhouse ment, nutrient trading market or rigging neighborhoods, it’s up to 85 percent stream restoration assumptions, there is impervious. Costs also were a challenge, just far too much talk of ‘credit.’ ” with early estimates for various retrofit The MDE’s Currey rejected the criti- projects ranging from $20,000 to more cism, insisting that the agency’s actions than $300,000 per acre. were based on research and expert advice. With local officials worried about “I don’t agree that this is being done logistical and financial challenges, the just to meet the [permit requirement],” he MDE issued guidance in 2014 approv- said. “I believe that the science is evolv- Stream sampling in Baltimore city has detected drops in phosphorus and bacteria ing a menu of practices and projects for ing, and we’re doing our best to adapt to levels in some places. City officials attribute the declines to their stormwater treating impervious surfaces, including that in a thoughtful and meaningful way.” reduction efforts, but acknowledge they could also be from fixing sewage leaks some, like street sweeping and stream The dispute matters because storm- and overflows. (Dave Harp) restoration, that only dealt with runoff water is a significant source of the indirectly. nutrients and sediment fouling the Bay urban areas, it is the number one cause way that directs runoff to holding ponds, According to state officials, those and, according to the federal-state Bay of stream impairment, according to the wetlands or open vegetated areas that can alternative measures provide equivalent Program Office, the only source of those Center for Watershed Protection, a nation- soak up the precipitation. But older cities benefits by reducing nutrient or sediment pollutants that’s still growing. ally recognized research nonprofit based and suburbs built before those controls pollution, or both. Others, though, are When rain falls on streets, highways, in Maryland. were required must find ways to retrofit skeptical. parking lots, sidewalks and rooftops, it The best way to curb stormwater storm sewer systems that were designed The five-year stormwater permits for runs off, flushing fertilizer, sediment, pollution is to let rainfall simply soak into mainly to siphon rainfall off streets and five localities have now expired. Here pet waste, oil, chemical contaminants the ground. States are now required to into streams as quickly as possible. is a summary of what each says it has and litter into nearby waterways. In most ensure that new development is built in a The Bay watershed’s older communi- achieved: ties are all struggling to get stormwater under control, especially in Maryland, Baltimore City the nation’s fifth most densely populated With 52,000 storm drains across its 81 state. Controls on new development square miles, Baltimore had been ordered runoff are far from complete, and prog- by the state to deal with runoff from 4,300 ress retrofitting older areas has been slow. acres of pavement and buildings. City Since the 1990s, the U.S. Environ- officials announced earlier this year they’d mental Protection Agency has required succeeded in treating the equivalent of large and medium cities everywhere, as 4,530 acres. Four-fifths of that came from well as counties with at least 100,000 sweeping streets. residents, to regulate their stormwater. Kimberly Grove, chief of compliance Under EPA oversight, states have issued and laboratories for the city’s Department those localities discharge permits for their of Public Works, said officials originally storm drain outfalls. The permits typi- planned to install a greater amount of cally require plans for controlling polluted green infrastructure. But Grove said plan- runoff and must be renewed every five ners had to scratch many projects because years. of difficulties getting access to private The initial stormwater permits didn’t property. And some sites were so small require much. Pressure to do more grew the projected expenses were exorbitant. In in later years, especially for the Bay states one case, she said, it would have cost up after 2010, when the EPA imposed nutri- to $250,000 per acre. ent and sediment reduction requirements The city did go after stormwater in through its Baywide “pollution diet.” other ways, cleaning more than 500 tons About that time, Maryland ordered of dirt and debris out of storm drain its localities with more than 250,000 inlets last year. The work the city is doing residents to essentially double their efforts separately under regulators’ orders to fix to either reduce or treat their stormwater and replace leaky sewer lines also likely discharges. The state’s stormwater reduced stormwater pollution, Grove said. permits required those localities to restore But the city needed to find less expen- the runoff-absorbing capability of 20 sive ways to make stormwater progress, as percent of their “impervious” surfaces, its mandated sewer overhaul is expected meaning their lands covered by pavement to cost more than $2 billion by 2030. The and buildings. That was a tall order — MDE had blessed street sweeping as an unrealistic, some say — requiring them to treat thousands of acres. Runoff continues on page 22 22 Bay Journal • April 2019

Runoff from page 21 are in design or under construc- tion at this point — during the alternative to retrofitting storm drains and next permit cycle.” other capital projects, even though it has to be repeated constantly to have any effect. Baltimore County The MDE’s Currey said regulators Suburban Baltimore County based their decision on the findings of a had also hoped to use nutrient trad- panel of experts for the Bay Program. ing to help it meet its requirement But the panel revisited the issue a to treat 6.036 acres of impervious couple of years later and concluded that surfaces. But the county found they had overestimated the pollution itself in a bind because Baltimore reduction benefits of street sweeping. city owns and operates the “No monitoring studies have shown treatment plants that process the a detectable water quality change within county’s wastewater, and it wasn’t storm drains that can be attributed to clear what, if any, credits the upland street sweeping, and it is doubtful county might be able to take. whether future monitoring efforts will be So, county officials began any more successful,” the panel’s 2016 searching for whatever might report said. count to close the gap. Currey acknowledged the new find- “We’ve got a pretty accom- ings but said state officials decided not plished restoration program, and to change the rules because it would be when we noticed we were looking unfair to localities like Baltimore that had like we were behind, that gave us acted on the earlier guidance. Baltimore Baltimore city relies heavily on vacuum-powered street sweepers, like the one shown some pause and reason to go back city bought a fleet of nearly 40 street- here with its operator Alonzo Ames, to pick up dirt, litter, sediment and other pollutants. and make sure we were account- sweeping trucks equipped with vacuum Experts’ reviews found the practice only modestly effective at cleaning up stormwater, even ing for what we were doing,” equipment to whisk dust and dirt from if done frequently. (Dave Harp) said Robert Hirsch, manager streets and gutters. of watershed management and “It’s only a five-year permit,” Grove Baltimore neighborhoods. Stream restora- relied more on reducing shoreline erosion, monitoring for the county’s Department pointed out, “and to find the funding and tions rework and sometimes armor stream retrofitting stormwater detention ponds, of Environmental Protection and Sustain- execute things, it’s difficult to do that channels to reduce bank erosion. In some stream restoration and pumping out septic ability. when the rules suddenly change midway cases, they also recreate flood plains or tanks. But by year’s end, with its permit Officials found some related projects through.” wetlands to enhance wildlife habitat. This about to expire, the county had treated the that were done before the stormwater Frequent sweeping using vacuum project also involves moving a failing equivalent of just 2,300 acres, less than permit had been issued, which MDE trucks does keep some sediment and sewer line out of the channel. half of what was required. credited. But what put the county over contaminants out of the streams, experts Stream restorations in the city have The county just couldn’t get enough the top was the MDE’s decision late last say. It also picks up some litter, which proven controversial, as the projects runoff treatment projects built by the year to increase the stormwater reduction helps the city with another regulatory require felling trees in an urban land- permit’s five-year deadline, explained credit for stream restoration projects. mandate it faces — to halt the torrent of scape that lacks adequate canopy. Along Erik Michelsen, administrator of water- Baltimore County has been a leader trash getting into the harbor from streets Chinquapin Run, hundreds of trees shed protection and restoration for Anne regionally in such projects. and parking lots. were removed that had been planted by Arundel’s Department of Public Works. Using the new MDE guidelines, The trucks vacuum some streets in volunteers over the last several years. Anne Arundel managed to close the Hirsch said, the credits the county could the city’s core four times a week, Grove Grove called the tree removal unfortu- gap through nutrient trading, using state claim for stream restoration increased up said, with others getting weekly or nate, but said the environmental benefits regulations finalized last July. Trading is to eightfold. Hirsch welcomed the change, monthly sweeping. Larger debris clogs of the stream restoration, including the designed to let parties needing to reduce saying it was overdue. the vacuums, though, so the drivers have sewer upgrade, outweigh the temporary nutrient pollution acquire credits from “It’s like some of the pollution removal to stop and deal with that manually. And loss of foliage. She said the trees would be another party that has already reduced work that we’ve known stream restoration the sweepers can’t get at dirty gutters replaced elsewhere. its pollution more than the law requires. has done simply wasn’t accounted for in when residents don’t move their cars Jenn Aiosa, executive director of the For example, municipalities facing costly the [original] 2014 guidance,” Hirsch said. on scheduled street cleaning days — a nonprofit watershed group Blue Water stormwater requirements might be able There’s been debate for years among chronic issue in some neighborhoods. Baltimore, said she’s glad the city has to save taxpayers money by paying scientists and stream restoration practi- A recent study in Madison. WI. found met its stormwater permit requirements industries or farmers who’ve been able to tioners about the effectiveness of such that the rigorous removal of fallen leaves and avoided having to pay a fine. But she reduce their runoff for less. projects, with some agreeing that it from streets — including before every hopes to see more done to reduce runoff In this case, though, the trade will depends on how and where they’re done. rainfall — did reduce phosphorus in with projects that also enhance neighbor- be cost-free and in-house — taking Several consultants engaged in streams, but its authors acknowledge that hoods’ quality of life. advantage of state-subsidized upgrades stream restoration say that the state this is not realistic. Stream sampling in “We are seeing highly urbanized made to Anne Arundel’s wastewater initially gave such projects too little Baltimore has detected phosphorus and cities like Philadelphia, like the District treatment plants, which are now removing credit for reducing sediment and nutrient bacteria reductions in places, but those of Columbia, like Atlanta, like Cleveland much more nutrients than their discharge pollution. But the policy change last fall, could also be the result of fixing leaky that are committed to doing more green permits require. The trade essentially prompted by one consultant’s request sewers. infrastructure,” Aiosa said, “not only buys the county time to comply with its for credit on a single project, went too MDE officials say they may very well for the ... pollution reduction benefits but stormwater mandate, Michelsen said. far, they contend, and boosted the credit reduce the stormwater credit for street because there’s a whole slew of other But the county fully expects to do the beyond what the science supports. The sweeping in the next permit, which is to benefits associated with planting trees needed projects, he added, and already change effectively lets localities off the be issued later this year. If that happens, and perennials and letting rain seep into has them in the pipeline. hook, they say, even though more is the city will have to find other ways to the ground.” “We will be using the credits gener- needed to curb stormwater pollution. meet most of its treatment requirements. ated by the overperformance of the “It’s going to reduce the amount of The city is also at work on other Anne Arundel County county’s wastewater treatment plants restoration we have to do to comply with projects to be completed in the next two Just south of Baltimore, Anne Arundel to close that 2,700-acre gap,” he said, the law, but it won’t get us the restoration years. One involves restoring more than County faced a different dilemma. Need- “with the expectation that we will ‘burn we need,” warned Jim Gracie, president two miles of Chinquapin Run, a channel- ing to treat runoff from nearly 5,000 acres off’ that nutrient trade with stormwater ized stream that flows through northern of pavement and buildings, the county projects in the ground — all of which Runoff continues on page 23 Bay Journal • April 2019 23

Runoff from page 22 “Hopefully, the next permit will be and achieved it,” he said, “and Prince for stream restoration. Dawson said the written differently,” Stack said. George’s spent $200 million, and we decision came too late for county officials of the environmental consulting firm haven’t achieved it. Houston, we have a to factor it into their reporting. But he said Brightwater, Inc., who has been doing Prince George’s County problem here.” if the MDE guidance remains unchanged, stream projects for three decades. Though lauded by some as a trailblazer he hopes the county can take additional “There’s a huge disconnect,” he added, for forging a public-private partnership Montgomery County credits from already completed stream between doing what it takes to meet the to tackle stormwater pollution, Prince Long recognized as a leader among projects to apply to the next stormwater state’s stormwater permit and actually George’s County appears likely to fall state localities in tackling stormwater pol- permit the county must work on. improving water quality. short of the state’s treatment requirement. lution, Montgomery County discovered Hirsch rejected such criticism and County officials are still finalizing their that it was still difficult to meet the state’s The next permit? suggested that stream consultants are report on the permit, which expired Jan. permit requirement. But after admitting With permits issued in 2013 and early complaining because they fear they might 1, according to Jerry Maldonado, head failure last year, county officials say 2014 now expired, state officials are pre- not be hired by counties and municipali- of water quality and compliance in the Montgomery has now caught up and paring to issue new ones this year, setting ties to do as many projects. stormwater management division of the achieved compliance, albeit more than goals for localities’ stormwater pollution Gracie acknowledged that he’s con- county’s Department of Environment. three years after the original deadline. reduction efforts from 2019 to 2023. cerned about the impact on the industry. Under the county’s permit, it was The county reported to the MDE that it Some want the state to keep the But he and other stream professionals say required to reduce or treat runoff from had reached the permit goal of treating pressure on localities to treat another 20 they’re more concerned about the impact 6,100 acres of pavement and buildings. runoff from 3,778 acres of impervi- percent of their built landscape. Others on the pace of the cleanup. Last year, county officials reported they ous areas and also completed its extra want to apply a different yardstick, “Does it affect what work we might had completed work on 2,215 acres, with stormwater project. requiring measurable reductions in get?” asked Rich Starr, a senior water another 2,860 acres in planning, design or “We used every single possible tool pollution rather than awarding credits for resources scientist with Ecosystem Plan- construction. we could to meet this,” said Amy Stevens, various surrogate practices and projects ning and Restoration, a Columbia consult- The county had hoped to cover the gap section chief for watershed planning deemed equivalent. ing firm. “Yeah, potentially, but I do this with credits from overperforming waste- and monitoring in the Montgomery “We would like to see actual water because I’m passionate about streams and water treatment plants, as Anne Arundel Department of Environmental Protection. quality improvements rather than partici- want to see the Bay get better. I want to did. But the county’s waste is treated by a “Everything in the guidance that MDE put pation awards,” said Elaine Lutz, a lawyer see it done right.” regional authority, MDE’s Currey said the stormwater the Washington treatment credits given to stream restora- Suburban Sanitary tions are “the best estimate we have Commission, and today” of the benefits, based on estimates a credit-sharing from the Bay Program’s expert panel. agreement has But Tom Schueler, co-chairman of the not been reached, panel, said he can’t vouch for the way the according to MDE converted the group’s estimates of Maldonado. pounds of pollutants reduced into acres of Three years impervious surface treated. And Schueler, ago, Prince executive director of the nonprofit George’s drew Chesapeake Stormwater Network, said the widespread panel is taking yet another look at available attention when it research and may revise its estimates. signed an agree- Bill Stack, deputy director of the ment with a private Center for Watershed Protection, said he company to take thinks the MDE significantly overesti- over much of the mated the sediment removal benefits of job of dealing with stream restorations in deciding how much its stormwater credit to give them. issues. Corvias “They’re pretty sharp people,” said Solutions had Stack, who’s the other co-chair of the Bay partnered before Program panel. “But I do question their with the Pentagon making such a dramatic change.” and universities to Currey said regulators had tried to build and manage account for uncertainties about stream military housing restoration benefits, imposing a cap on complexes, college how much credit could be taken for any dormitories and one project. But he said the MDE would other government revisit its decision if the experts decide facilities. County that stream restoration is less effective. officials said the “Stormwater management is an evolv- deal promised Amanda Oxendine and Matt Cherigo, pollution control analysts with the Baltimore City Department ing science,” Currey said. “In some ways to save costs and of Public Works, check water quality in Gwynns Run. City crews make regular checks for nutrients, it’s still in its infancy.” speed pollution bacteria and other pollutants at dozens of storm outfalls and stream sites. (Dave Harp) Stack said that, while he’s a believer reductions. in stream restoration, he worries that the “Their contracting targets are being out, we worked to try to access that credit.” with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. MDE crediting decisions put too much met,” Maldonado said of Corvias. But The county did street sweeping, outfall The MDE’s Currey said that state emphasis on such projects now, discourag- the company was only responsible, he repairs, stream restorations and even officials haven’t decided yet what to ing efforts to reduce or treat runoff in pointed out, for doing about a third of the planted more than 11,000 trees, she noted. require next, but he indicated it’s likely to upland areas. And too many of the projects required impervious surface treatment. “It was a tremendous lift, even in an be different. he sees are focused almost exclusively on Maldonado, though, questioned the eight-year period to get this work done,” “It’s going to be tailored to each juris- reducing nutrient and sediment pollution, logic behind the state’s stormwater credit said Frank Dawson, the department’s diction,” he said, “because we’ve learned he said, without also trying to restore system. chief of watershed capital projects. the last five years, trying to achieve that aquatic life to the waterway — which he “Baltimore [city] spent $20 mil- The county did not take advantage of 20 percent … each jurisdiction faces said should be the ultimate goal. lion in four years on street sweeping the MDE’s decision to increase credits different challenges.” 24 Bay Journal l Tr avel l April 2019

Old Wye Grist Mill still grinding after all these years as he led photographer Dave Harp and I around the three- story building. The mostly volunteer organization has owned and operated the mill since 1996. “We don’t really know if he used this mill as one of his [test sites], but people speculate that he did,” Nizer said “He was selling the system himself, so it’s assumed that he came down to oversee the installation here. He invented it in the late 1780s, so we think [it was installed] somewhere between 1790, when he got the U.S. patent, and 1810 or 1820. That was patent number three, by the way.” Yes, patent number three, as in only the third U.S. pat- ent issued. Indeed, only three were issued in 1790, when the first U.S. patent law was enacted — the first for a sys- tem of manufacturing potash and the second for a candle- making process. Thomas Jefferson was in charge of patents that year, as a sort of side gig to his main job as Secretary of State. Jefferson reviewed and signed off on Evans’s pat- ent, as did President George Washington and Attorney General Edmund Randolph. “It’s completely, 100 percent automated, all powered by the waterwheel,” Nizer said. The miller pours in the grain, he told us, pointing to wooden hatch on the main floor, and the machinery takes it from there, driven by the big red iron waterwheel on the south side of the building. “Downstairs it gets picked up by an elevator, goes [to the top floor], where it goes through a fanning process, on rollers, to dry it out a little bit,” Nizer said. Then it drops down a chute into the hopper above the grinding stones, which feeds the grain into a sort of squared-off funnel, called a horse, which in turn feeds it into the axle hole in the center of the running stone. A volunteer at the Wye Grist Mill on It was 1682, the year that Delaware and From there, Nizer explained, the grain fans out be- Maryland’s Eastern Shore pours corn Philadelphia were founded, and the year that tween the stones, following geometrical grooves carved kernels into a hopper beneath the into the grinding surfaces of the massive wheel-shaped mill’s floor. The corn is transported to French explorer Robert Cavelier de La Salle stones, each about 4 feet in diameter. The stationary bot- the griding stones by a waterwheel- canoed into the lower Mississippi River ba- tom stone, or bed stone, weighs about 1,800 pounds, while driven system of driveshafts, gears the running stone on top is closer to 2,600 pounds. The and belts. sin, claimed the land for his king (Louis XIV), miller controls how finely the grain is ground by a turning named it accordingly (Louisiana). a wheel on the floor next to the grindstone housing, which minutely raises and lowers the running stone. It was also the year that a new grist mill was built at But wait, there’s still more to the process. The pulver- the end of a 50-acre pond on what is now the upper Wye ized grain falls to the floor of the grindstone housing, East River on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. And that is where where it is fed into another chute and returns to the lower I found myself on a mild, late winter day for a preseason tour of that very mill — a mere 337 years later. Here’s the thing: The mill still works. On the first and Story by T. F. Sayles third Saturday of the month, from May to mid-November, Photos by Dave Harp it grinds out whole wheat flour, buckwheat flour, rye flour, barley flour, cornmeal and grits — all of which are sold at the mill, $8 per 2-pound bag. The equally old and historic Robert Morris Inn in Oxford, MD, still buys grits from the mill, when available, and proudly advertises it on its menu. Granted, the mill only runs two days a month, but it works. It’s more than three centuries old and it still works. And here’s the other thing: For the last two thirds of its life, the mill has been fully automated. Originally, the churning of the waterwheel only operated the millstones, which grind the grain. But in the late 1700s or early 1800s, the building essentially became a fully water-powered machine. The upgrade was courtesy of Oliver Evans, the Delaware inventor who developed and patented the water- powered “Automated Flour Mill” and likely supervised its installation at the Wye Grist Mill. Winthrop H. Blakeslee (center) was the last private owner “Oliver Evans at the time was living up in the Tuckahoe and miller of the Wye Grist Mill, which at one point was area,” said John Nizer, president of the Friends of Wye Mill, owned by an American colonel in the Revolutionary War. 25 Bay Journal l Tr avel l April 2019

now tightly sealed two-story brick house. “A lot of the [archi- tectural detail] inside goes back to the original, so we got per- mission from the owner at the time to board it up and help cut down on the vandalism… Now the Cloverfields Foundation owns it, and they came in and cleaned things up and tempo- rarily replaced some roof struc- tures. They have it all closed up and sealed, with dehumidifiers and fans and everything. So somewhere along the line, when [Cloverfields] is done, this is their next project.” The more immediate proj- ect, Nizer noted as we said our good-byes, is the annual April prep and cleanup necessary for this year’s opening on May 1. The mill may be fully automated thanks to Oliver Evans, he said, but getting ready for its annual coming out party takes good The Wye Grist Mill was built in 1682 near what is now the Wye East River in Maryland. Along with providing a place for local old-fashioned, hands-on work. farmers to process their corn and other grains, the mill helped supply the Contintental Army with flour during the Revolutionary The Wye Grist Mill (900 Wye War, when troops in northern states were struggling for food. Today, volunteers operate the mill from May through mid- Mills Road in Wye Mills, MD) is November and produce flour, cornmeal and grits for sale to the public. open daily from May 1 to mid- November. Hours are 10 a.m. floor. There, it’s picked up by another of the mill and its surroundings. related “miller’s house,” a 1740s fixer- to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday elevator (these are vertical conveyor Perhaps even more important to the upper perched on a small hill a few and 1–4 p.m. on Sundays. Grinding belts, about 4 inches wide, fitted with Revolution than his role as command- hundred feet south of the mill. days are the first and third Saturday copper scoops every foot or so) and er of the county’s militia, Hemsley is “We used to come up here and of every month. Flour, cornmeal and taken once more to the top floor, credited with supplying flour to feed board this place up because kids used grits are available for purchase as long where it’s sifted to remove the chaff. the Continental Army in the criti- to come in here and have drinking as supplies last. For information, call In the case of wheat, the sifted cal later years of the war — as were parties,” Nizer said as we circled the 410-827-3850 or visit oldwyemill.org. flour finally goes down one last chute many other mills on the into a large bin, where it’s ready for Eastern Shore. Partly bagging. The wheat chaff is kept by because of wheat crop the miller to either grind again for a diseases plaguing north- bit more flour or sell as animal feed. ern states in that period, For corn, there’s one more product the Eastern Shore be- to extract. The fine cornmeal goes came the “breadbasket into the meal bin just like the wheat of the Revolution” and flour, but the corn chaff is sifted again, continued as a major coarsely, to produce grits. wheat producer well Little is known about the very early into the 1800s. history of the mill, except that it was In the not-to-distant built in 1682 by Edward Barrowcliff, future, the Hemsley on or near the site of a mill that had name will figure even stood there since the late 1660s. Bar- more prominently in rowcliff operated the mill for a decade the story of the mill. In or so before selling it to Richard 2017, the Annapolis- Sweatham, who died in 1697, pass- based Cloverfields ing it on to his son, William. After Foundation — founded a procession of owners and mostly by Stephen J. Hemsley, hired millers through the 1770s, the a descendent of the mill was purchased late in that decade colonel and executive by Col. William Hemsley, head of the chairman of the United- Queen Anne’s County Militia dur- Health Group in Minne- ing the American Revolution and sota — began restoring grandson of Philemon Hemsley, a Cloverfields, the family’s prominent citizen and planter who ancestral home across had established a nearby estate that the Wye East River a became known as Cloverfields. mile or so from the mill. Hemsley’s portrait hangs on the And late last year, the John Nizer, president of the Friends of Wye Mill, explains the automated system — given the east wall on the lower floor, over an foundation purchased third patent issued by the United States — that was installed in the mill during the late 1700s 8-foot-wide, glass-enclosed diorama the even more closely or early 1800s. 26 Bay Journal l Tr avel l April 2019

White Horse Mountain worth the millions paid to protect it

A view from White Horse Mountain Hugging the slow s-curves of road winding it turned the ownership of White Horse Mountain over to in West Virginia includes the the state. West Virginia’s Division of Natural Resources is South Branch of the Potomac into a mountainous sliver of West Virginia’s maintaining it as a wildlife area, open to hunters, hikers, River. The Potomac Conservancy Hampshire County, I remembered why they birders, mountain bikers and others whose uses align with led a successful effort to save the conservation goals. mountain, now a state-managed call this portion of the Chesapeake Bay water- The state played a similar role 15 years ago when a tim- wildlife area, from development. shed “wild” — and why clean water advocates ber company that owned White Horse Mountain leased (Bill MacFarland) were desperate to keep it that way. it to the DNR to be managed as the Springfield Wildlife Management Area. The relic title still appears on the I was headed to White Horse Mountain, an almost Google Maps label for the green area that includes White entirely tree-covered heap of rocky hills hugging and Horse Mountain. The area gained a reputation over the By Whitney Pipkin draining into the South Branch of the Potomac River. It’s years as prime hunting grounds. one of the largest undeveloped forestlands remaining in “When it got sold to the developer, it was a big loss to the region, home to rare wildflowers and habitats, hike- the local community,” said Rich Rogers, a wildlife biolo- worthy vistas and the occasional bobcat or black bear. And it’s only recently been reopened to the public. Five years ago, the Potomac Conservancy began raising more than $3 million — twice the nonprofit’s annual op- erating budget — to buy White Horse Mountain and keep its 1,730 acres of hardwood forest, rocky outcroppings and shady streams from being developed into 70 homes. Their fundraising efforts trumpeted the importance of preserv- ing the forest not only because it filters cool, clean water headed for the Potomac but so the public could continue to visit and enjoy the mountain. Now, they can. “The ability to get onto land that’s [been] conserved — being able to enhance wildlife and having places where the public can get on and experience those animals — is unique,” said Emily Warner, the conservancy’s senior di- rector of land conservation and a West Virginia native. Last year, after successfully completing the months- long purchasing process and protecting the land from de- Eastern red columbine hugs the base of a tree on White velopment through a conservation easement, the nonprof- Horse Mountain. (Tracy Lind) 27 Bay Journal l Tr avel l April 2019

The diversity of both ages and species of trees on White Horse Moun- tain is a remnant of its history as a landscape that was, in Rogers’ opinion, well-managed for years by a local timber company. Other pock- ets of the mountain are home to clusters of black cherry trees, fowl-friendly grasslands and rare rocky habitats that Warner said increase the diversity of plants and wildlife that can be spotted in one small space. The Nature Conservan- cy donated eight of the Wildlife biologist Rich Rogers (above) of the West Virginia Division of area’s acres to permanent- Natural Resources said the mixture of tree species and ages in the forest ly protect one of those is one reason that White Horse Mountain harbors a wide range of plant habitats, called the Rock and animal species. (Left / Bill MacFarland; Above / Whitney Pipkin) Dome Preserve, located wildlife manage- through April/May for turkey), be on a southeast part of the ment areas in sure to wear bright-colored cloth- mountain that’s not easily accessible West Virginia: ing and stay on the trails to avoid a and not open to the public. A recent no campgrounds hunter mistaking you for an animal. study found that the mossy rockface, or swing sets or Black bear, bobcats and fishers — a made of rare sandstone and acidic ballparks. There dark-colored weasel that can look like glades and sandstone cliffs, is likely are a few trails, some sort of black panther when it home to two types of equally rare but mostly it’s leaps past your headlight beams — wildflowers: the imperiled oldfield woods and dirt are here, too. Rogers and others at the toadflax and critically imperiled r o a d s .” DNR are studying the bobcats and eastern fameflower. gist with the DNR who has hunting “Whatever you can do to amuse should know more about their activi- Portions of the rocky area — and stories of his own tied to this land. yourself with that,” she said, “go for it.” ties soon. a rockface that Rogers said contains The land reopened to the pub- Just east of the small town of Birds like the powder-blue, ceru- a historic shell midden — are visible lic this fall, and the hunters who’d Springfield, Rogers and I turned off lean warbler, whose population has on a drive-by from Clarence Taylor sought deer and turkey in these Springfield Pike onto Swisher Hollow been diminishing, depend on a variety Road. After taking the long drive up forests for decades flocked back. Road, where a small bridge straddles of habitats, including early succes- and around White Horse Mountain, While local hunters might know Abernathy Run. The nondescript road sional forests. West Virginia “is a big pull off the road for a moment here, their way through these woods “like winds past the homes of a couple of part of their range,” Rogers said. where it runs alongside the South the back of their hand,” Rogers said, private landowners — one of whom “This [younger] age of forest is Branch of the Potomac River, to take the state has only begun its work to has discarded old vehicles and trash what we’re really missing in West Vir- in the height of it. make the property more accessible along the road, an eyesore that DNR ginia, where a lot of our forests have Don’t forget to admire that cool, to other outdoors enthusiasts. The staff say they’ll deal with soon. The matured,” Rogers said, gesturing to clear water in the river, for which the division recently hired a wildlife road forks twice and we kept to the the saplings sprouting nearby. “This is mountain was preserved — at least manager to oversee White Horse left, then right, with a gate closing what really seemed to be lacking.” in part — to protect. Mountain and three other wildlife off an old road that made the second areas, and he’ll be logging plenty of choice clear. Explore White Horse Mountain hours at White Horse this spring and Under a late-March sky that was summer. still making up its mind between l For a direct route to the best roadside parking spot, type “Swisher New signs will go up at the en- snow and rain, we decided to drive Hollow Road & White Horse Loop, WV” into Google Maps. trance, parking areas will be built and up a well-trod portion of the road l The gate to White Horse Loop is closed after hunting season ends roads left rutted by winter hunting that loops around the mountain. If we (in April/May), but visitors are welcome to travel the road by foot. vehicles will be restored, Rogers said. weren’t in a sturdy truck, or had bet- In the future, the division will work ter weather and a half-day to kill, I’d l The path from Swisher Hollow Road to a powerline clearing on on removing invasive mile-a-minute say the route would be easier by foot. White Horse Loop is just less than 2.5 miles one way, with a vines in the forests and weedy fescue The forest around us was a diverse change in elevation of more than 700 feet. The full White Horse in the fields, replacing them with na- mix of hardwoods with some saplings tive species. just getting a foothold along the road. Loop to the powerline and back along White Horse Ridge Road is 4 But there are already plenty of Rogers said that the mix of tree ages miles. The road continues another 1.5 miles beyond the powerline unique and native habitats to take in is one feature of the property that for an even longer hike. makes it so appealing to conserva- during an excursion on White Horse For information, visit potomac.org/white-horse-recreation. Be sure Mountain — as long as you remem- tionists — and wildlife. ber it could be a wild one. It’s not uncommon to see white- to follow the links there for safety information about hunting season “Right now, it’s more like a refuge tailed deer and wild turkey in these dates and times and the recommendation for wearing blaze orange than a state park,” said the conser- parts. If the hunting season is open apparel during those periods. vancy’s Warner. “It’s similar to other (in the fall for deer and from fall 28 Bay Journal • April 2019 The wonderful, weird world of water-dwelling worms

The mud flats, waters and shores eat the bivalve from the inside out. of the Chesapeake Bay and its rivers are home to more than 100 species of 3. This flat, white to yellowish pink benthic or “bottom-dwelling” worms. worm can be 3–4 feet long. When Here are five of those fascinating lifted out of the water, it will twist worms. Match them with their and turn until it is a pile of knots. It descriptions. Answers are on page 6. lives in the Lower Bay and in high- salinity areas of tributaries, where it Acorn Worm devours bivalves and crustaceans. In Bamboo Worm late spring or summer, its breeding Common Clam Worm season, the worm turns dark red. It Bambo Worm (Clymenella torquata) reproduces through mating or by Milky Ribbon Worm breaking into pieces that grow into Oyster Flatworm new worms. 1. The most abundant bristle 4. There’s no mistaking this worm in the Bay looks like a squishy worm, which has three distinct body centipede. The 5– to 6-inch worm sections: a brown body, bright orange has a bristled appendage on each side collar and pale pink proboscis. It of the many segments that make up sucks in oxygenated water through its reddish bronze body, and it is able it mouth, which then flows out of to regenerate any lost or injured part. gills located on its trunk, much like a Unlike some worms, its head is easily fish, leading some to think it is a link identifiable with its tentacles, four between invertebrates and verte- eyes and two palps (protuberances brates. It eats by swallowing sand or used for touching and tasting). It uses mud that contains organic matter and two hooks at the end of a long tubular microorganisms. At low tide, it sticks Common Clam worm (Alitta sp), above sucking proboscis to snatch soft its rear end out of its tunnel, where it Milky Ribbon Worm (Cerebratulus lacteus), right food — worms, dead organisms and deposits coils of processed sediments, algae — and pull it into its mouth. called casts. This worm can be found roaming on the bottom or in its tunnel. When tun- 5. This 6-inch worm, which neling, it discharges mucous, which looks like a reddish segmented hardens into a flexible tube that the twig, lives head-down in a vertical, creature can quickly enter or leave. mud-encrusted tube that sticks slightly above the surface of a mud flat. 2. Observers of this worm moving This worm cannot turn around in its through water have likened it to a tube and is nourished by organisms flying carpet. Out of the water, usually found in the sediment it takes in. It is hiding under a shell or rock, it looks frequently found in colonies, which like a small (1 inch or less) blob of attracts other marine life. The worm’s pale jelly with tiny tentacles on top tail has a fleshy growth that can and eye specks in front. Juveniles eat close off the tube, but it is not always algae, and nutrient-fed blooms have successful. An amphipod often found helped a greater number of them in the tube is harmless, but one type Oyster Flatworm (Stylochus ellipticus) (Robert Aguilar) Acorn Worm (Saccoglossus kowalevskii) reach adulthood. The preferred food of snail eats this worm. of the carnivorous adults is young Photos courtesy of Smithsonian Environmental Research Center & Florida Museum of Natural History oysters. They ooze into the shell and — Kathleen A. Gaskell

April showers C. Pineapple B. Earthworm where it wants to go. than one heart. Up to B. It grows a hard bring…earthworms to D. Raspberry poop, called “casts,” is D. Scientists haven’t how many hearts can shell to seal the the surface to escape 5. Earthworms are a great plant fertilizer. figured it out yet. a worm have? moisture in. soggy soil! This quiz Bay Buddies detritivores. What’s (It is even sold in 8. An earthworm A. 2 C. It dens with other will test your wiggle that? some garden stores.) does not have eyes, B. 3 worms to keep each wisdom. Answers are Earthworms! A. An organism that C. Their tunnels although one end C. 4 other wet. on page 6. does not have teeth makes soil more of its body is more D. 5 D. It shrinks. United States, how absorbent sensitive to light. If it is 1. Why do worms B. An organism that 10. Worms need many are native? eats decaying plants D. Some eat nema- outside in light for too 11. Earthworms can secrete a slimy fluid? moist soil or they survive in soggy soil A. 82 or animals todes — harmful plant long, an earthworm dehydrate and die. In A. It helps them B. 102 C. An organism and animal parasites. will die. As a rule, under what condition? move through dirt dry conditions, they C. 122 that is detrimental to E. All of the above how long is too long? have two choices: A. There is enough more easily. D. 142 agriculture A. Half an hour or oxygen in the water. B. It tastes bad, so it 7. Worms can crawl move to deeper, D. An organism that backward & forward. more wetter soils or enter B. The soil is sandy. repels predators. 3. True or False? Each eats garbage B. 1 hour or more C. The area has C. It keeps their skin earthworm is both How do they move? a hibernation state A. It has tiny toes. C. 4 hours or more called diapause. What just experienced a moist. male and female. 6. How do earth- B. Its body consists D. 24 hours or more does a worm do in drought of 6 weeks or D. A & C worms help plants? 4. An earthworm egg A. Their tunnel- of ringlike segments 9. An earthworm’s diapause? more. 2. At least 3,000 resembles a miniature ing aerates the soil, covered with small blood is red, just A. It ties itself up D. The worm is earthworm species fruit. Which one? making it easier for bristles that propel it. like humans. Unlike in a knot in a slimy more than 10 years are found on Earth. Of A. Banana roots to take in C. It bunches up, humans, some earth- little hole to prevent old. the 182 species in the B. Lemon oxygen. then pushes itself worms have more moisture loss. — Kathleen A. Gaskell Bay Journal • April 2019 29 Thank you for your blooming wonderful contributions! There’s no greater Thomas L. Louden sign of the Bay Journal’s Annandale, VA success than the compli- Mr. & Mrs. Blake Marles ments and donations Macungie, PA received from readers Joan C. Matthews like you. Your gifts to Bryans Road, MD the Bay Journal Fund Peter McChesney continue to make our Richmond, VA work possible, from cov- J. Kent McNew erage of the Bay restora- Annapolis, MD tion and the health of its Mr. & Mrs. E. Kent Merkle rivers, to the impacts of Chestertown, MD climate change, toxics, Leslie Middleton & Pat Punch growth and invasive Charlottesville, VA species on the region’s Edgar L. Miller, Jr. ecosystem. Our staff Cambridge, MD works every day to bring Michael Moore you the best reporting on Chestertown, MD environmental issues in Mr. & Mrs. W. Tayloe Murphy, Jr. the Bay region. We are Warsaw, VA grateful for your dona- Waldo Nelson tions. Please continue to Waldorf, MD support our success! New Moon Press Golden Meadow, LA Steve Paley Philanthropist Bethesda, MD Wye Hall Queenstown, MD Richard & Carol Parrish Charlottesville, VA Champion Alan R. Griffith Wild azaleas bloom along the upper Choptank, a clear sign of spring. 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Marty & Al Sikes Easton, MD  Charge my Visa/MasterCard/Discover/AMEX.  $150–$249 Benefactor Robert & Marion Silcox Card # _____ Expires: Security Code:  $250–$499 Advocate Bel Air, MD  $500–$999 Booster Hugh Simmons Name(s): Phoenix, MD  $1,000–$2,499 Champion Address: Eliza Smith  $2,500–$4,999 Guarantor Baltimore, MD City, State, Zip Code: Daniel H. Street  $5,000 & Up Philanthropist Ashburn, VA Is this a memorial? Write name here: Peter & Janet Terry Hutchinson Island, FL Is this in someone’s honor? Write name here: Drew Thompson  From time to time, the Bay Journal may include a list of its supporters in the print edition. Please check here Scranton, PA if you would like your gift to remain anonymous and not be recognized in the Bay Journal. Lori Timan Please mail your donations to The Bay Journal Fund, P.O. Box 222, Jacobus, PA 17407-0222 Alexandria, VA The Bay Journal Fund does not share the names of its donors or their addresses with other organizations. 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Continued from 29 Back River Neck Peninsula Mr. & Mrs. H. Douglas Community Association Cunningham Christopher Toleman Baltimore, MD McLean, VA Cambridge, MD Joe Barley Amanda Cunningham Baltimore, MD Jeffrey Wainscott Union Bridge, MD Burgess, VA William Barnes Brian & Karen Czarnowski Galesville, MD Lucinda Wakefield Mercersburg, PA Queenstown, MD Daniel Barringer Harold Davis Elverson, PA Ellicott City, MD Dale Weammert Glen Burnie, MD Mr. & Mrs. David Bauereis Jeanne Davis Wilmington, NC Cape Charles, VA Mitchell Wein Annapolis, MD James Bell Glenn Dawson Goode, VA Baltimore, MD Marjorie & David Wellman Washington, DC Norm & Sara Bell Kristin Dennen Monterey, VA Leesburg, VA Roberton Williams & Jane C. Hilder Louis & Mary Lou Bercheni C. W. Dexter Alexandria, VA Dillsburg, PA Newport News, VA Jeffrey Wright Allen Berrien John Dinges Ophelia, VA Shelton, CT Washington, DC Wayne Zink & Estelle Skinner Margaret Biber Robert J. Dixon Baltimore, MD Richmond, VA Millersburg, PA Dudley Biddlecomb Gail Domalakes Supporter Reedville, VA Bethlehem, PA Robert & Lucia Bragan Bethesda, MD Luis Blandon Patricia Dove Kensington, MD Huntingtown, MD Julie & John Ambler Lancaster, PA Amy & Wes Blow Frank Duchacek Newport News, VA Kingsville, MD Kathleen Baldwin Annapolis, MD Peter Bouxsein Betsy Sener Durham Baltimore, MD Church Hill, MD James Block Chestertown, MD Janet Boyd Cleveland Duvall Henrico, VA Annapolis, MD Bernard & Josephine Bodt Churchville, MD Charles Boyle & Kelly Ervin E. Polk Kellam Jr. Trust Perryville, MD Franktown, VA Bill Breakey Cockeysville, MD Bob Bradenham Leif Eriksen Williamsburg, VA Shepherdstown, WV William Browne Dennis Bronzert Gladwyne, PA Ralph Eshelman Shady Side, MD Lusby, MD Bill Burleigh Monica Brown Fuquay Varina, NC Terry Euston Pasadena, MD Lancaster, PA James & Mary Campbell Jack & Audrey Buck Centreville, MD Katherine Feldman North East, MD Ellicott City, MD Nina Beth Cardin Elizabeth Bullock Pikesville, MD Ronald Fisher Rockville, MD Severna Park, MD Wild violets brighten the floor of wooded wetland. (Dave Harp) William & Marion Carroll James Bunce George & Nancy Forlifer Baltimore, MD Annapolis, MD Corriganville, MD David Jones In Memory John & Margaret Christie Randy Stadler Reston, VA Manokin, MD of William C. Crewe Jim Burch Jason Forrest Chestertown, MD from Donny & Cathie Dickerson Phoenix, MD & Patricia Fanning Patrick Kangas Jack L. Craven Philip Stokes Seaford, DE Philadelphia, PA Tracys Landing, MD Charlottesville, VA Thomas Burnside Arnold, MD In Memory Silver Spring, MD David Foster Mary Kilbourne David & Laura Strom Tina & Harry Critzer of Megan Richardson Arthur Bussiere Joppa, MD Upper Marlboro, MD West Orange, NJ from Karen Richardson Fredericksburg, VA Virginia Beach, VA Peter L. Freeman Jeanette Kim Pasadena, MD Eugene & Charlotte Dennis Bern Sweeney Catonsville, MD Deale, MD Avondale, PA Paul Bystrak Philadelphia, PA Anthony Adee Salisbury, MD Donald & Roberta Gallagher Matt Krafft Bowie, MD Nick DiPasquale Ken Webb Lititz, PA Bethesda, MD Richmond, VA Jack Carman Chestertown, MD Anayezuka Ahidiana Medford, NJ Katherine Garbacik Jeff Lape Baltimore, MD Sandra Erhart Helen B. Whitehead Virginia Carter Berwick, PA Chevy Chase, MD Richmond, VA Midlothian, VA George & Carol Alexander Wakefield, RI Ruann Newcomer George Earl & Vicki Letts Penn Yan, NY James Garner William Yeaman Bill Cole Boonsboro, MD North East, MD Washington, DC Roanoke, VA Margaret Algren Fredericksburg, VA William Gleason Karin Limburg & Harry A. Henshaw Gipe Associates, Inc. Doug Clark Sandra Collins & Carol Milan & Dennis P. Swaney Street, MD Monkton, MD Big Pine Key, FL Easton, MD Syracuse, NY Kingstowne, VA Allied Contractors, Inc. Donald W. Glasser Frank Mastro Ralph Comegna Rene & Matilyn Grace Edward Messina North Abington Township, PA Baltimore, MD Piney Point, MD Madison Heights, VA Briarcliff Manor, NY Joppa, MD Philip Anderson William Hammond Craig Schopmeyer Roger & Dora Copinger Harry Grauel Mrs. Edward A. Metcalf Kensington, MD Church Creek, MD Royal Oak, MD Huntingtown, MD Rockville, MD Middle River, MD Molly & Peirce Anderson Rugh & Sylvia Henderson David Wiecking Edson Crafts III Russell Green Mr. & Mrs. George Frank Bethesda, MD Neavitt, MD Baltimore, MD Palmyra, PA Meyerle Huntingdon, PA Armory Living Trust Oscar Hickox Easton, MD Dolly Meiser Larry Crandall Kevin Green Mount Pleasant Mills, PA Williamsburg, VA Annapolis, MD & Phyllis K. Hering Mr. & Mrs. Christopher Indian Head, MD Kinsale, VA Scharpf Joseph Cours John Bacon Fred Culbert Robert Greenfield Chesapeake Beach, MD Annapolis, MD William Johnson Baltimore, MD West Abington Township, PA East Springfield, NY & Valerie Chase Scott Smith Richard & Kathy Abend Doris Bailey Bruce Cumming Parkton, MD Forty Fort, PA Madison, MD Lancaster, PA Bainbridge, NY Continued on page 31 Bay Journal • April 2019 31

Continued from 30 James B. Robertson Chocowinity, NC Capt. & Mrs. Rick Gupman James E. Rogers U.S. Coast Guard (Retired) Richmond, VA Saint Michaels, MD Dan Rohrbeck Paul E. Hagen Catonsville, MD Washington, DC Mr. & Mrs. Edward Sabin Willie Hall Pasadena, MD Mechanicsville, VA Larry Sanford John Hanson Easton, MD Jefferson, MD Donald Sargent Joan Harn & Shannon Barrett Bethesda, MD Owego, NY William & Karen Harris Karen J. Schettler Easton, MD Upper Marlboro, MD Alan Harris Jane Schlegel Norfolk, VA Hydes, MD Kenneth Hastings Henry Schlenker Mechanicsville, MD Solomons, MD Mark Headly Jerome O. Schorr III Warrenton, VA Bel Air, MD Judith Hearthway Ludmilla K. Shannon Eden, MD Willingboro, NJ Fredrick Heider Elizabeth Sherman Kensington, MD Hollywood, MD Carl Hobbs O. Shreaves Gloucester, VA West Point, VA Bruce & Madi Hoffmann Jerry Smrchek Jarrettsville, MD Longs, SC Eileen Hofmann Paul Solomon Norfolk, VA The fringe tree blooms in late April to early May. (Dave Harp) New Freedom, PA Stanaforth Hopkins Stuart & Bonnie Stainman Laurel, MD Jerry Kickenson Debi & Bryan MacKay Ron Melchior Dave Oshman Baltimore, MD Silver Spring, MD Catonsville, MD Nottingham, MD Middle River, MD Sam Hribal Brennan Starkey Virginia Beach, VA Julia Klapproth Janet Mackey Milton & Sandra Menchey Charles Pawl Galena, MD Galena, MD & Ronald Ketter York, PA Afton, VA Duane Hunt Easton, MD Lynette Stehr Baltimore, MD Dennis Kowalski David Mershon John Peel Berwyn Heights, MD Dundalk, MD Margaret & Erney Maher Havre De Grace, MD Chatham, NJ Stephen Jackson Chestertown, MD Vytautas Penkiunas Stanley & Barbara Stepura Red Lion, PA Mr. & Mrs. Harry Wayne & Delores Mills White Plains, MD Kriemelmeyer, Jr. Hutchinson Island, FL Annapolis, MD Jon Janowicz Laura Malick Russ Stevenson Waldorf, MD Baltimore, MD Marc Mitchell Robert & Penelope Pestronk Riverton, NJ Frederick, MD Chevy Chase, MD Severna Park, MD David & Sherry Jeffery Steve & Sue Kullen Jan & Rich Mallardin Amy Stowe Port Republic, MD Monrovia, MD Bill & Priscilla Mitchell Jeff & Ida Peterson St. Michaels, MD Annapolis, MD Falls Church, VA Silver Spring, MD Ann Jennings Joseph N. Larish Tim Maret Kim Tayloe Mocanaqua, PA Shippensburg, PA Patty Mochel & Gerry Willse Jonathan Phinney Mattaponi, VA Towson, MD Alexandria, VA Virginia Beach, VA William Johnson Joe Lawrence Lloyd Mcallister William Taylor Hanover, PA Woody & Kathy Morris M. L. Pierce Frederick, MD Salisbury, MD Lottsburg, VA McLean, VA Mashpee, MA Ernest & Rebecca Johnson Lloyd Lewis Stephen & Mary Angela Ronald Teller Edgewater, MD Dr. & Mrs. Kent Mountford William Polk Roanoke, VA McDaniel Lusby, MD Newport News, VA Perry Hall, MD Manchester, MD Chris Jones Robin Lighty Sylvia Moyer Roseanne Price Edwin & Anne Thomas Fairfax, VA Camp Hill, PA Douglas McElrath Schwenksville, PA Silver Spring, MD Pasadena, MD Sylvan Kaufman Steven L. Llanso Riverdale, MD Mr. & Mrs. Ralph Naranjo William & Joy Rains Harriett Tinker Easton, MD Newark, DE Patrick & Mary Ellen Annapolis, MD Bethesda, MD New Freedom, PA Christine & Dan Keen Mike Lofton McGrath Charles Nemphos Michael C. Reusing Mr. & Mrs. Richard Todd Bethesda, MD Harwood, MD Churchton, MD Pasadena, MD Lusby, MD Dearborn Heights, MI Ellen Harvey Kelly Rebecca MacDonald George Keen McLellan Antoinette Orsini Susan Rivers Merle Van Horne Baltimore, MD Leonardtown, MD Gloucester, VA Kennett Square, PA Frederick, MD Washington, DC Thank You To These Philanthropic Donors The Curtis and Edith Munson Foundation 32 Bay Journal • April 2019

Commentary • Letters • Pers pectives Go big:orum Constitutional amendment needed for climate change By TFamara Toles O’Laughlin emerged in real life in more than 2,000 protest In August 2018, the Maryland sites in 125 countries. Environmental Health Network and Every shout, every sign, its membership of impacted residents and every single body in the community, health advocates in motion (and empty and environmental activists came classroom chair) served together to strategize on ways to as a referendum for confront the root causes of climate immediate action on and health threats in our state. Among climate and the end of other ideas, we decided to raise our incrementalism in the age collective voice in favor of bold action. of extinction level threat. What developed was a proposal for an More than a few gathered addition to the state constitution, now in Annapolis as a part of known as the Healthy Green Maryland a growing response to Amendment. the static promise of the While it may seem like a legislative session. difficult task, amendments to state And on hand at this constitutions happen with relative year’s legislative session frequency when the state legislature was 14-year-old Kallan determines that there is a need. For Benson, a single silent example, Pennsylvania and Montana protester, an energetic have amended their state constitutions standard bearer for to provide for a green amendment, her generation. Kallan a right to clean air and pure water dedicated 90 days for their citizens. Twice since 2013, of her young life to individuals used Pennsylvania’s protest, preceding the amendment (passed in 1971) to win weekly gatherings for victories at the state’s highest court #climatestrike Fridays. to prevent fracking because of the Students demonstrate in support of climate action and the Healthy Green Maryland Amendment She was supported health issues it causes. New York and during the General Assembly session in Annapolis. (Tamara Toles O’Laughlin) by numerous faith New Jersey are considering similar partners and members of proposals. happiness, be it crab, beach, or Old ahead of our need for it. In fact, the ecumenical traditions who have long The bill for a Heathy Green Bay-related. All of it — including United Nations Environment Program understood that creation care happens Maryland Amendment, sponsored human health — is threatened by published its firstGlobal Report on beyond church halls. by Del. Stephen Lafferty among rising tides, eroded shores and the Environmental Rule of Law, in It’s time to admit that we are at the others, built on a 2018 proposal and development that occurs without January where it explicitly recognized end of incremental campaigning for made explicit the right to a healthy consideration of these impacts. the rights of future generations and piecemeal wins. It’s time to go big or environment, now and for future A recent poll of statewide voters the need for action on climate within risk our place on the planet. generations, vested in the government from OpinionWorks found that a a constitutional framework as a right A growing number of legislators as a plain duty to hold the promise resounding 74 percent of Marylanders to a healthy environment. The Healthy recognize the necessity of action of public lands and the enjoyment of support a Healthy Green Maryland Green Maryland Amendment was at this scale, and understand the them as a multigenerational pledge. Constitutional Amendment. Not only supported by attorneys from four power of an environmental rights This amendment, alongside plans to that, but 71 percent of Maryland voters states covering the Chesapeake. amendment. During a hearing for the add community solar projects, clean are worried about climate impacts The validation of environmental bill, our favorite inquiry (paraphrased energy jobs and climate-conscious on their property, health or family. and health rights is necessary, here) came from Del. Vaughn Stewart, transportation, would make Maryland Similarly, 75 percent, including urgent, possible, and inevitable, if who asked how we could reasonably the first state in the nation to realize more than half of the Republicans we can hold onto it in the face of the hesitate to act on climate and health the vision for a Green New Deal. polled, expressed concern about the unsubstantiated fear of change. when Maryland has considered By taking the form of an weakening rollbacks or lack of action Change is already here, and it’s constitutional amendments to enable amendment, this pledge would be on climate change at the national level, coming at the speed of climate. sports, slots and marijuana, among bound by our state’s declaration of with 65 percent of voters supporting Maryland could be well-positioned to other things. rights. And why not? That’s where we increased action in the state to act if we can recall that constitutions It’s time to “go big.” We have keep the highest values of our union, combat climate change. This is a clear are meant to be shaped and sheared the entire future of Maryland to where we balance our freedoms for, mandate to ramp up environmental to meet the challenges of the time. consider — and it demands action. and responsibilities to, one another. action in Maryland. Rather than become stale and held in Our mandate is scrawled on the We have built constitutions at every Although the Healthy Green unnecessary reverence — they should placards of tweens and teens. Let’s level to imperfectly defend against amendment bill will not go forward adapt to the challenge of the day to follow their direction to act, and do it tyranny and oppression, and it’s more in 2019, we have the opportunity in remain relevant. next in the run-up to the next general clear than ever that there is no greater 2020 to give people the chance to In recent days we’ve witnessed one election. Otherwise, we may have no threat to liberty in this age than make their own decision and hold a of the largest mobilizations on climate, place to call home. what climate change will do to our referendum in the state. ever. On March 14, 1 million youths Tamara Toles O’Laughlin is the way of life, our freedom to migrate, The 2019 bill may have been answered the call to camaraderie, executive director of the Maryland and our pursuit of the state vision of ahead of its time, but it was surely not made possible by technology, and Environmental Health Network. Bay Journal • April 2019 33

Commentary • Letters • Pers pectives Bay Program’sorum 2017-18 Bay Barometer shows Chesapeake’s resilience ByF Rachel Felver Lafayette River — reef construction has been Pick up any article about the health completed. of the Chesapeake these days and you ≈ Between 2012 are sure to see the term “resilient.” It’s and 2017, 1,236 miles become the trendy way of saying that of waterways were despite pollution continuing to run opened to fish passage, off into the Bay and extreme weather marking a 124 percent events, the Bay is thriving. achievement of our goal From record acreage of underwater to open 1,000 miles of grasses to an unprecedented effort to historical fish migration restore oysters, experts are cautiously routes. optimistic that the Chesapeake is ≈ In 2017, the bouncing back. The Bay Program’s highest acreage of 2017-18 Bay Barometer provides the underwater grasses was science and data to back up this senti- noted throughout the ment. Bay since monitoring The Barometer is the Bay Program’s began more than 30 annual report on environmental health years ago. At 104,843 and restoration in the 64,000-square- acres, this marks a 57 mile watershed. Containing the most percent achievement up-to-date data and information from toward the restoration the program’s many partners, it is a goal of 185,000 acres science-based snapshot that presents and is the first-time the whole picture about the region’s that total abundance health — from the blue crabs in tidal has exceeded 100,000 waters to the brook trout in freshwater Oyster reef construction has been completed at Harris Creek in Talbot County, MD. (Chesapeake acres. streams to the progress being made in Bay Program CC BY-NC 2.0) ≈ According to pre- training the next generation in envi- liminary data, during ronmental literacy. The Bay Barometer looks spe- areas of the Bay are worse than others the 2015–2017 assessment period, an The Chesapeake Bay Program — cifically at stream temperature, air — for example, the water level in Balti- estimated 42 percent of the Chesapeake the regional partnership that sets the temperature and sea-level rise. (The more rose about 7 inches in comparison Bay and its tidal tributaries met clean policy and management decisions for full suite of nine indicators is avail- with Norfolk’s 10 inches. Flooding water standards. This is the highest restoring the Bay and is primarily able on chesapeakeprogress.com.) has become a regular issue across the record for water quality reported since funded by the U.S. Environmental In a nutshell, the air we breathe and watershed — Annapolis, where the Bay monitoring began in 1985. This increase Protection Agency — tracks 31 indica- the streams that flow through our Program Office is located, experienced is due in large part to reductions in tors to keep an eye on the progress of backyards are growing warmer. Data 63 days of nuisance flooding in 2017 chlorophyll a (a measure of algae the Bay cleanup. This information is observed across the entire watershed compared with an average of 3.8 days growth) and increases in underwater accessible at chesapeakeprogress.com. from as far back as 1901 found that the 50 years ago. grass abundance and dissolved oxygen Other organizations use the Barom- temperature of the air has increased There are other areas our partners in the open waters of the Bay. eter data and information in their anywhere from 0.4 degrees Fahrenheit can help to improve — we need to ≈ Water quality monitoring shows own assessments of the Bay’s health, in southern West Virginia to more than plant more forest buffers, reduce that in 2017, approximately 240 million including the Chesapeake Bay Founda- 2.5 degrees Fahrenheit in Delaware. the toxic contaminants flowing into pounds of nitrogen, 12.7 pounds of tion’s State of the Bay report and the Areas closer to the mainstem of the the Bay, restore and/or create more phosphorus and 4.3 billion pounds University of Maryland Center for Bay are more likely to feel these wetlands and work on improving the of sediment reached the Bay: a 0.4 Environmental Studies’ Chesapeake changes than those farther upstream. health of our streams. Our indicators percent, 7 percent and 14 percent Bay Report Card. Since 1960, the U.S. Geological for environmental health are all con- decrease from the previous assessment Now, for the very first time, the Survey observed that 79 percent of nected — progressing in any of these period, respectively. This indicates that Bay Barometer is tracking climate monitoring stations throughout the areas will also help to improve climate the many efforts by Chesapeake Bay resiliency. watershed recorded an increase in the resiliency. Program partners to reduce pollution In the Chesapeake Bay Watershed average annual stream temperature. Don’t let these observations depress are working. Agreement, the Bay Program com- Overall, this means the water flowing you. The good news is that the Bay The collaboration and efforts of the mitted to increase the resiliency of in our streams is at least 1.1 degrees Program is regularly tracking and Bay Program’s many partners — from the Chesapeake watershed, including Fahrenheit warmer than it was six reporting this information, helping to local communities to nonprofits its living resources, habitats, public decades ago. This may not seem like a better realize the impact that a chang- to state governments and federal agen- infrastructure and communities, drastic change, but to species like the ing climate is having on the entire cies — are reason enough to celebrate to withstand the adverse impacts brook trout, it becomes a life and death Chesapeake watershed. these successes. But to see the Chesa- from changing environmental and situation. Brook trout thrive in cold, And there are a lot of other signs of peake show these positive signs of climate conditions. These indicators clean water. resiliency to celebrate: resilience, proving that our collective provide scientific evidence of what Then there is sea-level rise. Monitor- ≈ Nine tributaries have been actions do make a difference, makes many watershed residents have long ing stations throughout the Bay noted selected in Virginia and Maryland for all of the hard work worth it. suspected — our climate is changing, that since 1960, the water is rising at oyster restoration. Of these, eight are Rachel Felver is the communica- and the entire watershed is seeing the a rate of one-eighth to approximately in different levels of progress, and in tions director for the Chesapeake Bay impacts. one-sixth of an inch each year. Some two of those — Harris Creek and the Program. 34 Bay Journal • April 2019

Commentary • Letters • Pers pectives Timeorum to swat the litterbug again Hi citizens … who remembers “the paper, plastic, Styrofoam and old rugs, litterbug?”F are mini dumps for rubbish Two generations ago, when empty Rubbish accumulation in public bottles, cans, paper bags and ciga- places sends a clear message that rette butts littered our public places, despite waste management efforts, we sidewalks, trails, and roads as well as are losing the war against trash. Rub- beaches and along the shores of rivers bish on our roads declares the litterbug and streams, the litterbug campaign is alive. was the nation’s most effective In this age of pinched pennies, message against trashing the public dedicating tax dollars to cover the environment. irresponsibility of a litterer is not hip. The litterbug cleanup campaign Ignoring throwaway rubbish in public in the 1950s heightened our aware- places is in vogue. ness about the beauty of our natural Government maintenance staff environment. Litterbugs, the trash throw up their hands in exasperation as villains, depicted the negative impacts rubbish grows in public spaces. “What of rubbish in public spaces much like to do, what to do?” Corporations that the more recent symbolism of broken package the stuff we buy for conve- windows for neighborhood blight. nient snacks march on, giving us more Sixty years ago, the anti-litter cam- trash to throw away. paign was so effective that no one but The word, litterbug, was first coined Rubbish no one wanted to be called a litterbug. in 1947. Perhaps it is time to bring accumula- Brigades of volunteers walked along back the that campaign. Radio, cable tion in public roads to bag trash. Civic clubs adopted networks, social media and newspa- places sends a highway. City and state leaders pers have public service components. a clear passed fines for littering. It was not These important public education message that popular to be a litterbug. networks can to remind us again that despite waste Over time, the litterbug public not all trash is beautiful and that the management broadcast message for a clean environ- litterbug villains are no longer wel- efforts, we ment faded. Today, generations later, come to trash the world around us. are losing litterbugs have returned in full force. It is time to recycle that message. the war Our highways, lined with plastic bags Ellen Moyer against waving from trees and gutters full of Annapolis, MD trash. (Dave Harp) Letters to the Editor Don’t just be a tree-hugger; our forests need no-net-loss heroes Marylanders have an exciting opportu- land.” As an English-major-turned-urban- years in Ellicott City), and reduces the no net loss of the priceless services our nity right now to stake a claim in protect- forester in the city of Baltimore, I can see runoff of pollution into our waterways. forests provide. ing our forested land. To protect the health how people get lost in these semantics, but Forests are environmental powerhouses. Maryland can define its role in protect- and well-being of generations to come, we I can assure that this change is essential to Without trees, our quality of life ing our status of 40 percent forested land must pass the “No Net Loss” bill of the the health of our state and its residents. diminishes greatly. And without the and be a nationwide example of what it Maryland Forest Conservation Act. Tree canopy typically reflects the forests that contain them, our state suffers means to truly prioritize the land that A lone tree can remove an average of individual trees that form a connected from the current and impending costs of serves us so readily. 48 pounds of carbon dioxide from the buffer to shade and cool our streets during climate change on our health, agriculture Sheila McMenamin air each year, but a forest of trees has a increasingly hot summer months. It is and economic infrastructure. “No net Director of Programs far greater impact on the air we breathe, essential in its own right: At the same time loss” means far more than maintaining Baltimore Tree Trust water we drink, and the temperature we of day during a heat wave last summer, 40 percent forested land — it also means [email protected] feel. Maryland’s forests are responsible some neighborhoods in Baltimore city for removing thousands of metric tons of faced temperatures that were 16 degrees pollutants from our air and water supply hotter than other neighborhoods. This each year — an estimated ecosystem incredible public health disparity, called value of tens of billions of dollars — all the urban heat island, is largely dependent The Bay JournalLet welcomes Us letters Know pertaining to Chesapeake Bay while providing a space for exploration, on the tree canopy that protects residents issues. Letters should be no more than 400 words. Send letters to: Editor, education and enjoyment. from the dangers of extreme heat. Bay Journal, 619 Oakwood Drive, Seven Valleys, PA 17360-9395. Currently, the state of Maryland touts Forested land encompasses more than E-mail letters to: [email protected] a goal to maintain its level of “40 percent just the tree canopy — it reflects a full Letter writers should include a phone number where they can be of the state covered in tree canopy.” ecological system that significantly filters reached. Longer commentaries should be arranged in advance with the The operative word here is “canopy.” and cleans our air, supports a diverse editor. Call: 717-428-2819. The Forest Conservation Act’s “No Net wildlife habitat, prevents the extremity Views expressed are those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect Loss” bill would change this wording to of devastating floods (like the “thousand- those of the Bay Journal or Bay Journal Media. “40 percent of the state covered in forest year floods” that occurred twice in two Bay Journal • April 2019 35

and the Chesapeake Bay. There is no p.m. Carpool info: 301-277-7111. registration for this free event. Info: bit.ly/ WatershedStewards, 410-638-3217 x2448 WorkdayMake sure that when Wisdom you par- Creek Critters App or [email protected]. ticipate in cleanup or invasive plant Audubon Naturalist’s Creek Critters removal workdays to protect the App empowers people to check on their Masonville Cove cleanup Chesapeake Bay watershed and local streams’ health through finding and The Aquarium Conservation Team its resources that you also protect identifying the small organisms that live needs cleanup volunteers 9:30 a.m.–12:30 yourself. Organizers of almost every in freshwater streams, then generating p.m. April 13 at the Masonville Cove Envi- workday strongly urge their volun- stream health reports based on what they Volunteer Opportunities ronmental Education Center in Baltimore. teers to wear long pants, long-sleeved find. The free app can be downloaded Participants, who must be 10 or older (17 shirts, socks and closed-toe shoes from the App Store and Google Play. Info: Irvine Nature Center & younger w/ a supervisory adult), will (hiking or waterproof). This helps to anshome.org/creek-critters. To learn about Irvine Nature Center in Owings Mills, minimize skin exposure to poison ivy MD, needs Weekend Weed Warriors, ages remove harmful marine debris from the partnerships or host a Creek Critters event: and ticks, which might be found at [email protected]. 14 & older, to remove oriental bittersweet center’s shoreline. Debris data collected the site. Light-colored clothing also and multiflora rose May 11 & 25 and June will be used by Project Clean Stream, an makes it easier to spot ticks. Hats are Tree planting events 1, 15 & 29. Training and tools are provided. initiative coordinated by the Alliance for the strongly recommended. Although Volunteers are needed to help plant Wear sturdy shoes that can get wet/muddy Chesapeake Bay. Preregistration is required. some events provide work gloves, trees 9–11 a.m. April 13 in Walkersville, and bring water and nonrefrigerated Info: Andrea@[email protected], not all do; ask when registering. MD, and April 27 in Frederick, MD. Info: snacks or a lunch. Meet at the main 410-576-1079. Events near water require closed- toe shoes and clothing that can get streamlinkeducation.org/plantings, entrance. Info, including hours: 443-738- [email protected]. 9230, [email protected]. York County (PA) Parks wet or muddy. Always bring water. Upcoming volunteer opportunities in Sunscreen and an insect repellent Eden Mill Help out at CBEC York County (PA) Parks include: designed to repel both deer ticks and Eden Mill Nature Center in Pylesville, The Chesapeake Bay Environmental ≈ NestWatch: March to August. Various mosquitoes help. Lastly, most organizers ask that MD, invites volunteers, ages 5 & older, to Center in Grasonville, MD, has a variety parks. Become a certified Nestwatcher help on its Plant Invaders workdays, 1 p.m. of volunteer opportunities for those who in the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s nest volunteers register ahead of time. Knowing how many people are going May 1 & 9:30 a.m. May 25. Participants want to drop in a few times a month to monitoring program. Visit boxes about will learn about native and invasive assist with a project or event, or help out twice a week in the breeding season to to show up ensures that they will have enough tools and supervisors. plants, then remove invasive plants. on a more regular basis. Volunteers are check on the progress of nesting birds. They can also give directions to Preregister 24 hours in advance. Info: needed to help with educational pro- This long-term citizen science project the site or offer any suggestions for [email protected]. grams, such as School’s Out and Summer helps track trends in bird populations, apparel or gear not mentioned here. Camp, early childhood education such as environmental health. Occoquan River cleanup Creepy Crawler, and guided kayak trips or ≈ Earth Day Service Project / Garlic Prince William Trails and Streams hikes. Help staff the front desk of the visitor Mustard Pull: 1–4 p.m. April 27. Nixon have all of the support and supplies they Coalition’s Ninth Annual upper Occoquan center. Lend a hand with trail mainte- Park, Jacobus. Learn about this invasive need for trash removal projects. Participat- River Cleanup takes place 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. nance, landscape projects, landscaping, weed then hit the trails in teams or ing groups receive an Adopt-A-Stream April 20 (rain date 4/27), at nine sites along mowing, maintaining the Pollinator individually to remove it. Return to center sign in recognition of their stewardship. the Occoquan River, ranging from Cedar Garden. Consider becoming a feeder or 3–4 p.m. to taste dishes containing garlic Adopt a stream or get a proposed site. Info: Run/Broad Run, through Lake Jackson, handler of CBEC’s captive birds of prey. mustard. Good for Scout service projects. [email protected]. Groups can and from the base of Lake Jackson Dam Help maintain birds’ living quarters. Registration is required for both projects. register their events at to Hooes Run. Experienced kayakers, Participate in the team of wood duck box Info: 717-428-1961. trashnetwork.fergusonfoundation.org. canoeists, jon boaters and pontoon monitors or other initiatives to support boaters are needed for this on-the-water wildlife. Or, take part in fund-raising events Little Paint Branch Park Magruder Woods effort. Some kayaks and canoes will be as well as behind-the-scenes operations, Help the Maryland-National Capital Help Friends of Magruder Woods 9 available for loan. Info: pwtsc.org. To including website development, writing for Park and Planning Commission remove a.m. to 1 p.m. the third Saturday in April, register: [email protected], newsletters and events, developing photo invasive species 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. the last May and June remove invasive plants in 571-379-7514, [email protected]. archives and supporting office staff. Vol- Saturday in April, May and June at Little the forested swamp in Hyattsville, MD. This effort is part of the Alice Ferguson unteers donating more than 100 hours of Paint Branch Park in Beltsville. Learn Meet at farthest end of parking lot. Info: Foundation’s Potomac River Watershed service per year receive a complimentary about native plants. Sign in for a safety [email protected], 301-283-0808, Cleanup (fergusonfoundation.org). 1-year family membership to CBEC. Info: orientation. Gloves and tools are provided. (301-442-5657 the day of event); or Colleen [email protected]. Info: [email protected], Aistis at 301-985-5057. Resources 301-442-5657. Atlantic white cedar planting American Chestnut Land Trust 5 MD libraries offer fishing gear The National Aquarium’s Conservation Cromwell Valley Park The American Chestnut Land Trust in The Maryland Department of Natural team, The Nature Conservancy and the Cromwell Valley Park in Parkville, MD, Prince Frederick, MD, needs volunteers Resources’ Aquatic Resources Education Chesapeake Bay Trust need volunteers to needs volunteers for: for invasive plant removal workdays 9–11 Program is providing rods and reels, plant Atlantic white cedar trees, a vulner- ≈ Earth Day Celebration: 1–3 p.m. April a.m. Thursdays and 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. tackle and fishing books geared toward able species in Maryland, 9 a.m.–2 p.m. 20. All ages. Learn how important the Earth Wednesdays. All ages (16 & younger w/ children to the Eastport-Annapolis Neck March 30 at Nassawango Creek Preserve is to human beings. Help plant a pawpaw adult) are welcome. Training, tools and Community Library and Mountain Road in Snow Hill. Participants must be 10 or forest to reduce carbon dioxide. Bring water are provided. Preregistration is Community Library in Anne Arundel older (17 & younger w/ a supervisory a trowel if possible. Free. Preregistration required. Info: acltweb.org, 410-414-3400, County; Westminster Branch Library in adult). Preregistration is required. The required. [email protected]. Carroll County; Brunswick Branch Library cleanup takes place rain or shine; dress ≈ Habitat Restoration Team / Weed in Frederick County; and Joppa Branch for the weather. Register at aqua.org/ Warrior Days: 2–4 p.m. April 20, 24 & Ruth Swann Park Library in Harford County. The libraries, conservation-events. Info: 410-576-1068, 27 and May 4, 8, 11, & 15. All ages (12 & Help the Maryland Native Plant which are close to public fishing areas, [email protected]. younger w/adult). Remove invasive species, Society, Sierra Club and Chapman have partnered with local fishing clubs to plant native ones, maintain habitat. Service Forest Foundation 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. the ensure inventory levels and maintenance Watershed Stewards Academy hours available. Meet at Sherwood House second Saturday in April, May and June of the equipment. Learn how to become a Harford parking lot. Preregistration required. Info: remove invasive plants at Ruth Swann County Master Watershed Steward at [email protected]. Park in Bryans Road. Meet at Ruth Swann Potomac paddle-in camping sites an information session 6–7 p.m. May Park-Potomac Branch Library parking lot. The Maryland Department of Natural 14 at the McFaul Activities Center in Adopt-a-Stream program Bring lunch. Info: [email protected], 301- Resources and National Park Service Bel Air, MD. Stewards become leaders The Prince William Soil & Water Con- 283-0808, (301-442-5657 day of event). last fall enhanced paddle-in camping in their community, helping to improve servation District in Manassas, VA, wants Carpoolers meet at the Sierra Club MD the health and function of local streams to ensure that stream cleanup volunteers Chapter office at 9 a.m. and return at 5 Bulletin continues on page 36 36 Bay Journal • April 2019

up founder. ≈ PlasticWatch - Reducing Plastic Waste on Solomons Island: April 23. CBL scientists New Submission Guidelines and Solomons Island restaurants are team- The Bay Journal regrets it is not advance. See below. ing up to reduce single-use plastics, plastic always able to print every notice it ≈ Submissions to Bulletin Board pollution. Associate Research Professor receives because of space limitations. must be sent either as a Word or Pages Helen Bailey will describe the project, how Priority is given to events or programs document, or as simple text in the body that most closely relate to the of an e-mail. PDFs, newsletters or other to help. preservation and appreciation of the formats may be considered if there is Bulletin from page 35 Admission is free. Seating is first-come, Bay, its watershed and resources. Items space and if information can be easily first-served. Info: bit.ly/Science4Citizens. published in Bulletin Board are posted extracted. opportunities in Southern Maryland along on the online calendar; unpublished ≈ Programs must contain all of the Potomac River with enhancements at Fly Fishing for Women items are posted online if staffing the following information: a phone The Donegal Chapter of Trout Unlimited permits. Guidelines: number (include the area code) or Point Lookout State Park and Newtowne is offering Introduction to Fly Fishing for ≈ Send notices to e-mail address of a contact person; Neck State Park, both located in St. Mary’s Women 1–4 p.m. April 27. Participants at [email protected]. Items sent the title, time (online calendar County. At Point Lookout, amenities this free event will brush up on their skills to other addresses are not always requires an end time as well as a start and infrastructure were upgraded at 15 or learn basics of fly fishing: casting, fly- forwarded before the deadline. time), date and place of the event or existing campsites. These campsites are ≈ Bulletin Board contains events program. Submissions must state if the tying, equipment, aquatic insect identifica- that take place (or have registration program is free, requires a fee, has close to the shore and near existing piers tion, knot-tying and the TU conservation with floating dock facilities for canoes and deadlines) on or after the 11th of the age requirements, has a registration mission. Info, including location: 717-368- month in which the item is published deadline or welcomes drop-ins. kayaks. At Newtowne Neck, two primitive 9741, [email protected]. through the 11th of the next month. ≈ May issue: April 11 paddle-in campsites were added along Deadlines run at least two months in ≈ June issue: May 11 trails through the property’s forests and Native bees of Maryland meadows. Info: Enter Point Lookout State The Chesapeake Audubon Society Park or Newtowne Neck State Park into invites the public to An Introduction to vendors, live music, refreshments. Shop public works, has been leading an effort search engine. Maryland’s Native Bees, a presentation online for early purchases through April 15. to evaluate the practicality of managed by Sam Droege of the Patuxent Wildlife Info: [email protected], manada.org, aquifer recharge for the county. A question Research Center at 6 p.m., April 27 at Forums / Workshops 717-566-4122. & answer session takes place after their St. Batholomew’s Church in Baltimore. presentations. Registration is not required. MD stream survey training The discussion includes high-definition CBMM decoy talk, boat sale Info: [email protected], The Maryland Department of Natural photographs of the state’s 450+ bee species Upcoming events at the Chesapeake [email protected]. Resources is offering training and certifica- as well as how to use binoculars when bee Bay Maritime Museum in St. Michael’s, tion in Maryland Biological Stream Survey watching. Fee of $10 includes spaghetti MD, include: Backyard Chicken Keeping sampling protocols May 28–31 at Howard dinner. Info: 443-423-1847. ≈ Deconstructing Decoys - The Culture The Maryland Agricultural Resources County Community College in Columbia. of Collecting: Exhibit runs April 13 through Council is offering Intro to Backyard Participants will learn about and be Choptank River talk Nov. 1. Learn what makes a decoy col- Chicken Keeping at 6 p.m. April 23 at The University of Maryland’s Center for tested on benthic macroinvertebrate/ lectible, how collectors study a decoy to the Baltimore County Agricultural Center Environmental Studies’ Horn Point Labora- fish sampling methods, physical habitat determine its maker, history, significance. in Cockeysville. Attendees will learn tory in Cambridge, MD, invites the public assessment, fish taxonomy and how to be The exhibition is free with general admis- about the steps, equipment, time and to Good news for the Choptank: Improving a crew leader. Sessions are intended for sion. Info: cbmm.org, 410-745-2916. money needed to raise layer hens and Water Quality in the Estuary! 5:30–6:30 professionals but are open to anyone. The ≈ Spring Boat Sale: 10 a.m.–4 p.m. how chickens can be a form of integrated p.m. April 29 at the Easton Branch of Talbot registration deadline is May 1. The fees are April 14. More than 50 craft, from luxury pest management. The fee is $20. Info: County Library. Tom Fisher’s presenta- $250 for all four days or $100 per single boats to dinghies, are for sale. All offers marylandagriculture.org/intro-to-backyard- tion will discuss that while the Choptank will be considered. Titling will be done on chicken-keeping, 410-887-8973. day. Info: Enter Maryland Biological Stream estuary station near the U.S. Route 50 Survey into search engine. site. Discounted two-day admission will bridge is showing improvements in water be offered to guests on the day of the sale: Cromwell Valley Park Upcoming programs at Cromwell Events / Programs quality primarily because of upgrades in $10/adults; $7/ages 65+, retired military, wastewater plants in the Choptank Basin, students w/college ID; $3/ages 6–17; free/ Valley Park’s Willow Grove Nature Center in Parkville, MD, include: Boating safety classes that is not the whole picture. Learn about ages 5 & younger, active military w/ID. U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary Flotilla the many factors impacting improvements CBMM accepts and sells donated boats ≈ Bird Walks: 8–10 a.m. Saturdays 25-08 is offering Boating Safety classes in the estuary’s water quality. The free year-round, with proceeds benefitting through May 25. Meet at Willow Grove 7:30 a.m.–5 p.m. April 13, May 18 and presentation is part of Science After Hours the museum’s education, restoration, Farm gravel parking lot. June 15 at the Washington Farm United with Horn Point Laboratory, which helps exhibition programs. To preview boats: ≈ Children’s Garden Club: Meets about Methodist Church in Alexandria, VA. to make the science of the Chesapeake cbmm.org/boatdonation. Other queries: twice a month 9:30–11 a.m. Saturdays, Learn about boat handling, regulations, Bay accessible. Register online: usmf.org/ [email protected]. April 13 to Oct. 19 in the Children’s nautical rules of the road, trailering and events/41118-science-after-hours. Info: Garden. Ages 5 to 13 w/adult. Grow veg- required gear. Preregistration is required. 410-221-8408, [email protected]. Managed Aquifer Recharge etables, flowers, herbs; explore a garden’s Info: [email protected], 703-307-6482. The Chesapeake Environmental Protec- natural world. Participants play, learn, The auxiliary’s website, wow.uscgaux.info/ Manada Conservancy tion Association invites the public to a free craft, eat food they grow themselves. Only content.php?unit=B-DEPT, also features Upcoming events offered by Manada forum, The Future of Sustainable Water registered children attend (no siblings). Fee: boating safety tools and materials. Conservancy include: Supply in Anne Arundel County & South- $45 includes all sessions. Registration for ≈ Backyard Pollinator Habitat: 7 p.m. ern Maryland at 7–9 p.m. May 10 at Anne this program must be done online. CBL spring seminars April 24 at Grace United Methodist Arundel Community College’s CALT Build- ≈ Polliwog Preschool Club: 10:30–11:30 Learn about Training the Future Face Church in Hummelstown, PA. Ryan Davis, ing in Arnold, MD. Learn how Managed a.m. Tuesdays, April 16 to May 21 or of Science, Technology, Engineering, & Pennsylvania Forests Program manager Aquifer Recharge, which involves purified Wednesdays, April 17 to May 22. Ages Math (STEM) at the University of Maryland for the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay, wastewater being injected into aquifers, 2–5 w/adult. Explore the natural world Center for Environmental Studies’ Chesa- will discuss native pollinators, from their can address: aquifer sustainability, meeting through nature play, stories, crafts. Non- peake Biological Laboratory’s Science biology to ways to improve property to Bay Total Maximum Daily Load-mandated mobile siblings only, parent/guardian is for Citizens seminars, which take place give these beneficial insects a home. Free. requirements, ineffective and failing septic an active participant. Dress for outdoors. 7–8 p.m. in the CBL Bernie Fowler Lab in Preregistration required. fields, and aquifer saltwater intrusion. A Fee: $80 for 6 sessions. Registration for this Solomons, MD. Upcoming seminars are: ≈ 19th Annual Spring Native Plant representative from the Hampton Roads, program must be done online. ≈ Embracing Uncertainty - From Sale: 10 a.m.–3 p.m. May 4 at Schaffner VA, Sanitary District, which is operating ≈ Garden Club: 8:30–10:30 a.m. Scientist to Entrepreneur: April 16. Recent (Boro) Park in Hummelstown, PA. Native a demonstration plant, will discuss their Thursdays, April 18 to Oct. 24. Meet at CBL graduate Suzan Shahrestani will perennials, trees, shrubs grown by Manada, experience. The other speaker, Chris discuss her journey from student to start- regional vendors. Nature-themed art Phipps, Anne Arundel County director of Bulletin continues on page 37 Bay Journal • April 2019 37

May 10. Adults. Bring binoculars, wear contact the park office. Info: 410-887-1815, Preregistration is required for each shoes for hiking. Free. [email protected]. For program; payment is required at time ≈ Shoots & Letters: 10–11 a.m. April 11 disability-related accommodations, call of registration. Info: ExploreNature.org, (Aquatic Insects); April 18 (Worms); April 410-887-5370 or 410-887-5319 (TTD/ 443-738 -9211. 25 (Earth Day); May 2 (Pollinators); May 9 Deaf), giving as much notice as possible. (Snakes). Ages 3+ Outdoor activities. Fee: Ladew Topiary Gardens $2/child. No registration. Irvine Nature Center Upcoming events at Ladew Topiary ≈ Turtle-y Awesome: 1–2:30 p.m. Upcoming events at Irvine Nature Gardens in Monkton, MD, include: Center in Owings Mills, MD, include: ≈ The Healing Power of Nature: 10:30 Bulletin from page 36 April 13 & 14. Ages 3+ Learn about turtle adaptations, meet resident turtles, explore ≈ Tales & Tails - Danny Joe’s Treehouse: a.m.–12:30 p.m. April 13. Ages 16+ Heidi 10–11 a.m. Fridays. All ages. Story, songs, Schreiber-Pan, who has studied the Children’s Garden at Willow Grove Farm. the park to learn where turtles live, make a craft. Fee: $3 per child. puppet show, animal encounter. Free. connection between one’s well-being and Ages 18+ Like to garden but don’t have Day Off Camps: 8:30 a.m.–4 p.m. Amphibian Walk: 2–3 p.m. April 16 & ≈ nature, will discuss how nature impacts the space? Meet twice a month to grow ≈ (Aftercare, 4–6 p.m.) April 16 (Into the May 21. Ages 10+ Visit the wetlands, listen human resilience and overall mental vegetables, herbs, flowers; tend to com- Deep Blue); April 22 (Pollinator Power); for calling frogs, toads. Learn about the health, and the role of spirituality in this munity plots. Seeds, seedlings provided. June 5 (Aquatic Adventures). Age groups: FrogWatchUSA monitoring effort. Free. relationship. Explore the Nature Walk after Share recipes. Fee: $45 for all sessions. 5–7 and 8–10. No school? Children can her indoor presentation. Fee of $30 is ≈ Full Fish Moon Hike & Campfire: ≈ Garden Growers Club: 10–11:30 a.m. explore outdoors (even if there is snow), Tuesdays, April 16 through May 14. Ages required when preregistering and includes 8–9:30 p.m. April 19. Ages 5+ Fish migrate expect trail walks, nature games, crafts, admission to Ladew. Info: 410-557-9570 through the park’s waterways to spawn 3–5 w/adult. Nonmobile siblings only, adult stories, animal encounters. Wear nature- is an active participant. Learn gardening x213, [email protected]. in April. Take an aquatic hike, then eat friendly clothing, bring a lunch. Fee: $85. ≈ Renewal of the Blue Garden in s’mores around a campfire. Shoes or boots basics while planting in the Children’s Aftercare is an additional fee. Garden. $20 fee includes all 5 sessions. Newport, RI: 10:30 a.m. April 17. The will get wet. Fee: $4. ≈ White Swans & Sauvignons: 6:30–9 Blue Garden, designed by Frederick ≈ Easter Sunday Self-Guided Trail Trek: ≈ Wicked Big Puddles Hike: 7–9 p.m. p.m. April 18. Adults. Learn about April 19. Ages 5+ Explore the pond, Law Olmsted Jr., opened in 1918, it was 11 a.m.–3 p.m. April 21. All ages. Pick Maryland’s three swan species. Fee: $55. famous for its architectural and horticul- up a booklet at the center, set off on a vernal pools searching, listening for calling ≈ City Nature Challenge: 9 a.m. to 5 amphibians. Fee: $4. tural riches. By the 21st century it had self-guided hike, return to the center for a p.m. April 27 & 28. Join Irvine and the become subsumed under a thick covering prize. Meet a special guest bunny. Free; no ≈ Homeschool Nature Days / National Aquarium for this year’s City Remarkable Reptiles! 10–11:30 a.m. of weeds and invasive trees. Sarah Vance registration. or Nature Challenge in Baltimore City and will discuss how the restoration team 1–2:30 p.m. April 26, May 3, 10 & 17. Ages ≈ Garlic Mustard Pull & Pesto: 1–2:30 County. Find wildlife, take a picture, share used archived materials from the garden’s 6–13 Parents welcome, no siblings. Learn p.m. April 27. Ages 5+ Pull this invasive observations on the iNaturalist App. Free. creators to reinterpret and rebuild the about the center’s native reptiles. $20 fee weed, then learn how to make garlic A naturalist challenge walk offered at garden using contemporary sustainable includes all 4 sessions. mustard pesto. Fee: $5. 12–2 p.m. April 28 is $10. standards. Fee: $35. Preregistration Earth Day Scavenger Hunt: 10 a.m.–3 ≈ Girl Scouts Day: 1–3 p.m. April 28. ≈ ≈ Outdoor Adventures: 9–11 a.m. April recommended. p.m. April 27. All ages. Follow clues on Ages 5–11 (Daisies, Brownies, & Juniors) 27, May 19 & June 9. Ages 7–12. Outdoor Little Explorers Nature Preschool drop-in self-guided hike to learn how to ≈ Meet animals, explore their natural habitat. skills, science projects, spring discoveries. / Rotting Log: 10:30–11:30 a.m. or care for the Earth. Moderately difficult hike Participants receive a Cromwell Valley Work as a team to explore, respect, protect 12:30–1:30 p.m. April 24. Ages 2-6 w/ may take 60–90 minutes. Return to center Park patch. Fee: $5. nature. Fee: $25/session. adult. Explore the tiniest critters under a ≈ Primitive Technology Weekend: 10 to check answers, claim prize. Fee: $2. No ≈ Overnight Adventure / Appalachian log. Nature walks, stories, songs, nature a.m.–4 p.m. May 4 and 10 a.m.–1 p.m. registration. Trail’s Harper’s Ferry Section: 8 a.m. ABCs and 1,2,3s. Fees (per session): $18/ May 5. Willow Grove Farm. All ages. ≈ Bookworm Story Time: 11–11:45 a.m. April 27 to 12 p.m. April 28. Ages 14+ child & adult pair; additional siblings Hands-on experience replicates items May 3. Toddlers to age 6. Nature story w/ Participants must have all their own gear. $6 each. Fee includes admission to the composed of stone, bone, wood, natural storyteller’s choice of an activity (animal Irvine Bus Transportation included on first- gardens, and nature walk. Preregistration fibers. Free; no registration. encounter, puppets or craft). May include come, first-served basis. Fee: $175. recommended. ≈ Night Out with Nature / Backyard outdoor experience. Free. No registration. ≈ Wildflowers & Wildlife:12–1:30 p.m. Info: LadewGardens.com, 410-557- Gardening to Save the Bay: 7–9 p.m. May ≈ Senior Stroll: 10:30 a.m. April 20, May April 30. Adults. Learn about animals that 9570. 10. Meets at Sherwood House. Adults. 4. Adults. Take a stroll along the Marble depend on native wildflowers, the ways Deborah Bacharach of Baltimore County Quarry Loop, a paved, 0.3-mile interpretive they interact. After lunch (provided), stroll CBEC events Master Gardeners will discuss how trail. Stay for a guided reflection activity. through the Woodland Garden. Upcoming events at the Chesapeake mowing, mulching, watering, fertilizing Free. Fee: $20. Bay Environmental Center in Grasonville, and planting affect the health of the Bay, ≈ Wildflower Walk: 10 a.m.–12 p.m. ≈ Spring & Summer Intern Symposia: MD, include: environment. Learn about Bay Wise April 28. Ages 8+ Look for spring ephemer- 10 a.m.–12 p.m. May 3. Learn about ≈ School’s Out Camp / Egg- practices. Fee of $10 includes dessert. als, learn their lore on easy-moderate hike. Irvine’s internships for college, high school stravaganza: 9 a.m.–3:30 p.m. (after-care ≈ Orioles - Neo-Tropical Migrants: 11 Fee: $3. students. Light refreshments. Applications available until 5 p.m.) April 19. Activities a.m. to 1 p.m. May 11. All ages+ Look for ≈ Cane Pole Fishing: 10 a.m.–12 p.m. for summer & fall 2019 internships are include hands-on environmental educa- an oriole’s nest, listen for its song. Bring May 4 & 5. Ages 5+ Fish for bluegill, being accepted. Info: Ben Fertig: tion lessons & games, hiking, exploring binoculars. Free. largemouth bass with cane poles, worms [email protected]. the woods, arts & crafts, healthy snacks. Programs take place at the Willow (provided). Ages 16+ must have a valid ≈ Mud Painting: 12-1:30 p.m. May 4, 11. Participants should dress for the weather Grove Nature Center unless noted MD fishing license to participate in this All ages. Take a short hike to collect mud, (bring layers & a change of clothes in case otherwise. Ages 12 & younger must be catch and release program. Fee: $5/person natural materials to create art. Fee: $10. they get muddy). Pack a lunch, water accompanied by an adult. Except where fishing. ≈ Plantastic Mother’s Day Gifts: 12-1 bottle. Details will be sent in an email to noted, preregistration is required for all ≈ Native Plant Swap: 1–3 p.m. May p.m. May 5. Families. Learn about the best all registrants 1–2 days before the camp. programs. Info: info@cromwellvalleypark. 11. All ages. Bring extra perennials to wildflowers for butterflies, fill a pot with Fee: $45. After-care an additional $10. org, cromwellvalleypark.org, 410- trade with others in this drop-in event. wildflower seeds. Fee: $10/families. Info: [email protected]. Regis- 887-2503. For disability-related Identification resources available. Free, no ≈ Feathers, Scales & Tails in Focus: ter: bayrestoration.org/schools-out-camp. accommodations, call 410-887-5370 registration. 9–10:30 a.m. May 11 & June 1. Adult ≈ Critters & Cocktails / Vultures - The or 410-887-5319 (TTY), giving as much Ages 16 & younger must be accom- professional, amateur photographers. Pho- Face Only a Mother Could Love: 6:30–8 notice as possible. panied by an adult. Except where noted, tograph Irvine’s Animal Ambassadors up p.m. April 24. Jean-Francois Theirrien preregistration is required for programs close. Learn tips on wildlife photography, will dispel myths about the misunder- Oregon Ridge Nature Center and payment must be made within five then go outside for a field study. Fee: $10. stood vulture and its quirky behaviors. Upcoming programs at the Oregon business days of registration All programs ≈ HOOT-enanny! 1–3, May 19. All ages. He will also review recent results from Ridge Nature Center in Cockeysville, MD, take place rain or shine. Programs are Join Hoot the Owl to celebrate spring. Hawk Mountain Sanctuary’s research include: designed for individuals and families, not Sneak preview of the butterfly house, ≈ Bird Walks: 8–9:30 a.m. April 12 & groups. To arrange a program for a group, scavenger hunt, spring treats. Fee: $5. Bulletin continues on page 38 38 Bay Journal • April 2019

Heritage Rail Trail: 6:30-8:30 p.m. April wet. Fee: $3. Straw on April 26 and Flowers on May 16. (Meet at Brillhart Station, York); April ≈ Meet a Critter: 2:30 p.m. April 28. All 3 at the Baltimore County Agriculture 23 (Meet at Glatfelter Station, Seven ages. Meet a live animal up close, learn Center in Cockeysville. Each class Valleys); April 30 (Meet at Seven Valleys what makes it special. Free. No registration. features movement, stories and arts parking lot). Ride a 13– to 15-miles round Ages 12 & younger must be accom- & crafts. Participants must choose trip. Group determines the pace. Light, panied by an adult for all programs. between two sessions: 9:45–10:45 a.m. helmet, water required. Snack money is Events meet at the center and require or 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The fee for optional. preregistration unless otherwise noted. children ages 9 months and older is Bulletin from page 37 ≈ Moonlight Bike Ride / Heritage Rail Payment is due at time of registration. $8 per workshop. Parents are free. (If Trail: 8:30-10:30 p.m. April 20. Meet at Info: 410-612-1688, 410-879-2000 x1688, financial constraints prevent someone on vultures worldwide. Refreshments, Hanover Junction. Ride about 9 miles. otterpointcreek.org. from attending, contact MARC to beverages served at 6:30 p.m. The Bring bike, light, helmet. see if arrangements can be made.) ≈ Meet Nixon Park’s Live Reptiles: Patuxent Research Refuge Preregistration is required; no walk-ins. presentation runs 7–7:45 p.m. Fee: $15. Upcoming programs at the Patuxent Registration required. Info: 12:30–3:30 p.m. (drop-in program) April Info: [email protected]. 21. Nixon Park, Jacobus. Research Refuge’s North Tract [T] and bayrestoration.org/speaker-series. National Wildlife Visitor Center in Laurel, ≈ Guided Kayak Tour: 10 a.m.–12 ≈ Native Plants Drop-in Program: 9 Eden Mill Nature Center a.m.–4 p.m. April 27 & 12–4 p.m. April MD, include: Upcoming programs at Eden Mill p.m. May 5. Beginner to intermediate ≈ Introduction to Birding: 9–10 a.m. kayakers. Explore Marshy Creek’s 28. Nixon Park, Jacobus. Visit self-serve Nature Center in Pylesville, MD, include: stations to learn benefits of planting native April 12. [T] Ages 10+ Learn how to find, ≈ Adult Hiking Series / Hiking 101: 1–2 watershed while looking for wildlife. identify birds. Binoculars provided. Instruction on equipment, paddling/ species. Pick up information on species, p.m. April 16. Ages 18+ Hiking games, ≈ Bird Walk at Cash Lake: 8–10 a.m. safety techniques, loading/unloading where to shop. learn about essential items to bring on April 13. [C] Ages 5+ (parent participation the vessels included. Cost of $20 per ≈ Spring Wildflowers: 2:30-4 p.m. every hike, look for animals that have required) Take a 2–mile leisurely bird person includes kayaks, equipment. April 28. Nixon Park, Jacobus. Look for come out of hibernation. Fee: $3. walk around Cash Lake searching for Preregistration is required. Info: wildflowers. ≈ Child & Adult Paint Afternoon / and identifying birds. Walk is weather- bayrestoration.org/guided-kayak-tours. Except where noted, programs do not Spring Bird: 3–5 p.m. April 18. Ages 5–10 dependent. Water bottle, binoculars require registration. Info: 717-428-1961. w/adult. Child & adult each complete a recommended. Walk is not stroller-friendly. MD youth fishing rodeos 14"x 18" acrylic painting on canvas with BSA 10+ Mile Hike: 9 a.m.–4 p.m. The MD DNR Fishing & Boating Anita Leight Estuary Center ≈ instruction provided throughout event. Programs at the Anita C. Leight Estuary April 13 (15 miles) & 27 (20 miles). [T] Do Services and partners in local Fee: $50 per pair. Center in Abingdon, MD, include: two of the hikes required for the Scouts communities are running free Youth Nature Storybook Art for ≈ Bluebell Hike: 11 a.m.–12:30 p.m. BSA Hiking Merit Badge. ≈ Fishing Rodeos for ages 3–15. Participants Homeschoolers / Native American April 13. Ages 6+ Meet at Gunpowder Turtle Time: 10–10:45 a.m., April 13. learn basic angling skills; develop an ≈ Themes: 12:30–2:30 p.m. April 24, State Park. Look for signs of spring. Free. [C] Ages 4+ Meet a painted turtle. Learn understanding of the environment and May 1 & 8. Ages 6–12, parents do not ≈ How to Attract Birds to Your about its habitat, diet, what to do if you natural resources; and have an experience attend. Learn about books, illustrators, Backyard: 9–11 a.m. April 13. Ages 8+ encounter one. that fosters interest in conservation and art techniques such as drawing, painting, Learn to manage plants to complement ≈ Meet the American Kestrel: 12:15– fishing. The DNR helps raise and supply collage, crafting/constructing. Fee: $44 for feeders, food to attract birds. Hike to view 12:45 p.m. April 13, 20, 27. [C] All ages. thousands of hybrid sunfish, channel the month. birds, habitats, food supplements. Free. Meet this tiny bird of prey, learn how to catfish and rainbow trout for this year’s Critter Dinner Time: ≈ Full Moon Kayak: 7:30–10 p.m. protect their homes. Drop-in program, no ≈ 1–2 p.m. April fishing rodeos with support from the U.S. 20, May 4 & 18. Ages 5+ Learn about, Fish and Wildlife Service and Sport Fish April 19. Ages 10+ (16 & younger w/adult) registration. help feed some of the center’s animals. Restoration Program. Because of space Paddle the creek from Leight Park to the ≈ Bird Walk: 8–10 a.m. April 17. [C] Historic Grist Mill Tour: 10 –11 a.m. limitations, would-be attendees should marsh & back. Fee: $12. Ages 16+ participation). Search for spring ≈ April 27. All ages. Fee: $3. call the contact at each venue to register. ≈ Marsh Appreciation Pontoon: migrants in various habitats. Binoculars Spring Blooms: Upcoming rodeos include: 9:30–11 a.m. April 20 Ages 2+ Look, listen recommended. ≈ 1–2:30 p.m. April ≈ High Point Pond / Harford County: for signs of spring. Fee: $10. ≈ Family Fun / Spring Fling! 10 a.m.–1 28. All ages. Make a paper seed bomb, 7 a.m. April 20. Info: Mary Beth O’Bryan / ≈ Osprey Adventure: 3–4:30 p.m. p.m. April 26 & 27. [C] Hands-on activities, sponge sprout. Take a short wildflower Ecotone, Inc., 410-346-518 April 20. Ages 8. Hike to spy on the park’s games, crafts for all ages. Drop-in program. hike. Fee: $5. ≈ Westminster Community Pond / osprey couple, their nest. Fee: $3. No registration. ≈ Preschool Nature Series: 10 –11:15 Carroll County: 8 a.m. April 28. Info: Loren ≈ Kayak Cruising on the Creek: 10 ≈ North Tract Bicycle Ride: 1–3:30 a.m. April 30 (Seeds of Life); May 7 Lustig / Carroll County Parks & Recreation. a.m.–12:30 p.m. April 25. Adults. Explore p.m. April 28. Ages 10+ Learn the (Slithering Snakes). Ages 2–5 w/adult. 410-386-3705. nooks, crannies of Otter Point Creek and importance of reducing one’s footprint & Nature games, story, craft, hike. Fee: $10 ≈ John Carroll High School/ Harford upper Bush River. Fee: $12. leaving no trace on 12-mile guided ride. per session. County: 11 a.m. May 4. Info: Bob Wall / ≈ Earth Day 2019 Celebration at Discover local wildlife, plants, historical ≈ Ferns & Fauna: 10:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m. Churchville Recreation Council, 410-245- Aberdeen Festival Park: 11 a.m.–4 p.m. sites. Bring bike, energy bar/snack, May 3. Ages 6+ Learn about Eden Mill’s 0854. April 27. All ages. Live music, native water bottle, helmet. Ride is weather- plants, animals. Fee: $3. ≈ Rising Sun / Cecil County: 8 a.m. animals, exhibits, games, recycled crafts, dependent. ≈ Herpetology Hunt: 9–10:45 a.m. May 5. Info: Joy Melton / Rising Sun local food. Stop by the Center’s booth for ≈ Nature Tots / Flutter Friends: May 4. Ages 8+ Help catch, catalogue the Chamber of Commerce, 410-658-5353. face painting. Free; no registration. 10:30–11:30 a.m. April 30. [C] Ages 3–4. reptiles, amphibians of Eden Mill. Learn ≈ St. Mary’s River / St. Mary’s County: ≈ Critter Dinner Time: 10:30 a.m. Learn about butterflies through songs, how to identify Maryland’s herps. Fee: $3. 8:30 a.m. May 12. Info: Will James / St. April 27. All ages. Learn about turtles, fish, crafts, stories. Preregister by April 20. Marys River State Park, 301-872-5688. snakes while watching them eat. Free. No All programs are free; donations ≈ Nature Storybook Art for registration. are appreciated. Except where noted, Homeschoolers / Creek Life: 12:30–2:30 York County (PA) parks ≈ Children’s Garden Club: 1–2 p.m. programs are designed for individuals/ p.m. May 15, 22 & 29. Ages 6–12, Upcoming programs at York County April 27. Ages 5–8 w/adult. Cook, create, families and require preregistration. Con- parents do not attend. Learn about (PA) Parks include: explore while learning how a garden is tact: 301-497-5887. For disability-related books, illustrators, art techniques such ≈ Boardwalk Bird Walk: 8:30–10:30 connected to the wild world. Fee: $5. accommodations, notify the refuge, giving as drawing, painting, collage, crafting/ a.m. April 14. Kain Park, York, Meet at ≈ Marsh Meander Canoe: 2–4:30 p.m. as much notice as possible. Info: constructing. Fee: $44 for the month. Hess Farm Road parking lot. Hike to the April 27. Ages 8+ Canoe on the winding fws.gov/refuge/Patuxent. Preregister by May 1. boardwalk to view early spring migrants channel of Otter Point Creek as it travels Preregistration is required for all and migrating water birds. Take a slow- through marsh and swamp. Fee: $12. MARC Farm Sprouts programs and closes 24 hours in paced half-mile walk on a woodland trail ≈ Night Froggin’ Fun: 7:30–9 p.m. The Maryland Agricultural Resource advance of each program. Weekend along the lake’s edge. Lending binoculars April 27. Meet at Bosely Conservancy. Center invites children, ages 5 & younger program registration closes at noon available. Preregistration required. All ages. Traipse through wetlands to and their parents to its Farms Sprouts on the prior Friday. Info: ≈ Sunset Scramble Bike Ride / search for frogs. Wear boots that can get programs, Welcome to the Farm: Hay vs. [email protected]. Bay Journal • April 2019 39 It’s time to ruffle feathers again – seek actions to protect birds By Mike Burke percent of their diets. Most prey on minnows and the It was April 28, 1988, and I was like, but great egrets can eat aboard Amtrak, heading to Washing- surprisingly large fish, too. I ton, DC, to see the Pennsylvania con- remember seeing one use its gressman whose re-election campaign daggerlike bill to spear a cat- I would soon be running. As the train fish. After carefully shaking slowly pulled out of the BWI station, I loose the mortally wounded looked out the window at the forested fish, the egret tossed the wetlands that border the tracks. A bril- catfish into the air and caught liantly white long-legged wading bird it head-first in its mouth. The stood at the edge of some open water, outline of the oversized meal its imposing yellow bill in profile. was clearly visible in the I had just started watching birds egret’s long white throat as it in an organized way. Not knowing a swallowed the fish whole. heron from an egret, that night I looked The diet of the great egret up the bird in my new field guide. It is not limited to finfish. It may was a great egret (Ardea alba), and it also include eels, crustaceans, became one of the first entries on my frogs, salamanders, snakes life list of birds. and small mammals. Seeing the great egret when and Aboard the train all those where I did was no fluke. These birds years ago, I knew little about love wetlands of all kinds, from fresh- the important role laws played water to estuarine to marine, from in the recovery of the great forested to riverside to open marsh. egret. In the intervening This generalist nature has facilitated 30 years, I changed careers the recovery of the species from near from political campaigns to extirpation in the United States. environmental policy. My From the 1870s to 1910, herons and understanding of the law grew egrets were slaughtered in vast num- alongside my knowledge of bers. Unlike oysters and waterfowl, birds. Laws governing the which were also being devastated, the establishment of wildlife wading birds were not being harvested refuges, protection for for the dinner table. They were being The bright green fleshy area in front of the eyes is only visible during the great egret’s breeding migratory songbirds, recovery killed for their feathers. season. This bird was photographed on Wade Island in the Susquehanna River near Harrisburg. of waterfowl, banning of A century ago, beautiful plumes (Joe Kosak of the Pennsylvania Game Commission / U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) certain pesticides, and many were an essential part of any fashion- more left me impressed with able woman’s hat. The craze lasted for the breadth and effectiveness decades and decimated the nation’s pop- The of legislative action. ulation of wading birds. The number of lace-like Every time we stand in great egrets plummeted to less than 5 aigrettes are the woods, beside a river or percent of their 1870 numbers. only visible overlooking wetlands with The wanton slaughter finally during the binoculars in hand and birds awakened the conscience of many. great egret’s in view, we owe a great debt Organized efforts to save the birds breeding to the laws that make that multiplied quickly. The National Audu- season. viewing possible. bon Society, formed in 1905, led the These But the job is far from legislative effort in 1910 to ban killing plumes, finished. Discarded plastic can birds for the millinery trade. An once prized kill birds as surely as DDT international treaty protecting the birds for women’s did. Habitat loss of forests soon followed. Legislation putting the hats, nearly and wetlands devastates avian pact into action, the Migratory Bird led to the communities just as clear- Treaty Act of 1913, also contributed bird’s cutting and marsh filling did to the heartening recovery of multiple demise until years ago. And climate change avian species. add lovely aigrettes, long lace-like protective threatens vastly more birds The conservation effort — and Audu- white plumes that gracefully fall off laws were than the millinery trade did a bon — took the great egret as its emblem. the shoulders. put into century ago. The reason is simple: It’s a beautiful bird. Except for Antarctica, great egrets place. (U.S. We need to emulate those Great egrets are easy to identify can be found on every continent in the Fish and passionate advocates from because of their all-white feathers, world. In the eastern United States, Wildlife 100 years ago who saved the yellow bill and black legs. Both sexes they have established permanent Service) great egret. Birders need to look alike, and juveniles look like their homes from coastal Virginia south organize and advocate for parents. through Florida and across the south- Virginia, Delaware and Pennsylvania new laws that will address these new The bird’s appearance changes for a eastern states. as well. After the young have fledged, threats to the objects of our passion. short time during breeding season. The In spring, some of these egrets great egrets scatter across the water- Indeed, the perils are graver now than bare yellow skin in front of the eyes migrate north to nest. The largest shed and much of the nation in late ever before. Are we up to the chal- turns a brilliant lime green, the upper breeding colony in the Chesapeake summer and early fall. lenge? bill becomes dark while the lower bill watershed is in Maryland, but rook- These birds primarily eat fish, Mike Burke, an amateur naturalist, becomes orange-yellow. The birds also eries are established annually in which can constitute more than 90 lives in Cheverly, MD. April / 2019 Volume 29 Number 2 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 Plant native shrubs, trees for their blossoms; get birds as a bonus By Kathy Reshetiloff turn golden yellow in the fall. Arbor Day and Earth Day. Both Another excellent of these celebrations encourage tree tree choice is the planting. Whether you are working on familiar flowering a community greening project or just dogwood (Cornus want to add a tree to your landscape, florida). Large consider planting one (or all) of these white four-petal early blooming natives. flowers bloom from Creamy white blossoms of the April through May. shadbush tree (Amelanchier spp.) pop Flowering dogwood out in April against an often still gray is native throughout background. There are about a dozen the eastern United Amelanchier species native to the States and grows United States. They range from low best on well-drained spreading shrubs to tall trees. soils and in mid In the East, there is shadbush or to full sunlight. shadblow — so named because it Loved for its bright flowers around the same time that spring display, the American shad are returning to their dogwood leaves springtime spawning grounds. The paint the autumn term “blow” means blossom. landscape with Another common name, scarlet hues. serviceberry, may have originated Red berries, which from colonial times. After the spring develop in the fall, thaw, clergy would visit outlying areas are an important to provide services to those who had source of food for died over the winter. These coincided resident and migrating with the blooming of the tree. songbirds, as well Blooming in spring, these flowering as small mammals. shrubs and trees provide a site for White-tailed deer may early-pollinating insects. The insects, also graze on leaves in turn, provide fuel for our spring and twigs. migratory songbirds, as well as attract Shadbush, resident birds, tired of their winter diet Clockwise from left: The eastern redbud’s flower provide nectar for pollinators and its seeds are food for eastern redbud and of seeds. songbirds. The flowering dogwood’s blooms will yield to red berries that feed songbirds and small mam- flowering dogwood The word Amelanchier is an mals in the fall. Insects attracted to the shadbush’s flower are eaten by resident and migratory songbirds. are three of the ancient Celtic word for apple. The (Redbud & shadbush by Britt Slattery / USFWS Dogwood by R. Harrison Wiegand / MD DNR) many native trees sweet, reddish purple shadbush fruit that can be found at were eaten by Native Americans and nectar of eastern redbuds. local nurseries. Native trees, shrubs, are an important food for songbirds, A member of the pea family, flowers and grasses are a great addition squirrels, bears and other woodland eastern redbuds produce clusters of to any yard as they are already adapted wildlife. flat green pods that turn brown when to local conditions and provide food Besides being an excellent source mature. Each pod contains four to and shelter to our local wildlife. of food for wildlife, the shadbush is 10 small hard black or brown seeds. To find out about other native plant a great tree for your yard. In addition Bobwhite quail and songbirds eat the choices, visit nativeplantcenter.net to to the early white blossoms and dark seeds. Squirrels occasionally eat the search for plants that fit your location, fruits, shadbush leaves are gorgeous buds, bark and seed. White-tailed deer and soil, moisture and light conditions. in fall with colors of yellow and orange browse the foliage and twigs in the Or download a copy of Native Plants that deepen to red. spring and summer. for Wildlife Habitat and Conservation Another early spring tree (and Plains and eastern United States. Typically found in the woodland Landscaping: Chesapeake Bay my personal favorite) is the eastern Like the shadbush, these early understory, the eastern redbud is also a Watershed by putting “Landscaping: redbud (Cercis canadensis). Flowers bloomers provide nectar for bees and lovely tree for your yard, with an aver- Chesapeake Bay Watershed” in your of the redbud paint the landscape with other pollinating insects, which in turn age height and spread of 20–35 feet. search engine. shades of pink to reddish purple from are food for resident and migratory After blooms are done, heart-shaped Kathy Reshetiloff is with the U.S. March through May. Eastern redbuds birds. Ruby-throated hummingbirds leaves appear on arching branches that Fish and Wildlife Service’s Chesapeake are found throughout the lower Great are also attracted to the flowers and form a spreading graceful crown. They Bay Field Office in Annapolis.