Federation Blog

This morning (Oct 7, 2011) I took my first flight in a small aircraft in 32 years. I rode with my collegue and board member Lynn Buehl over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge to the Bay Bridge Aiport and the whole drive I was fraught with excitment and trepedation. I always have been nervous about heights and have always been a nervous flyer. Lynn and I meet our pilot that flew down from New Jersey to take us on our adventure over the South River Watershed. Pilot Mr. Mike McNamara is one of many volunteer pilots for a non-profit group called LightHawk. This is a great organization set-up to provide flights to other non-profits or academics for research and advocay. I submitted a proposal to search for SAV, clean-water plumes, and 5 legacy landfills. As I first got in the plane, my thought was "oh my goodness, I am not going to make it". But, as we tore down the runway toward the Chesapeake Bay and delicately lifted off into the air and over the Bay Bridge- I became totally filled with excitement and started taking pictures. Being in a small plane over the Chesapeake Bay and the South River is indescribably amazing. I was horrified at the amounts of debris still in the Bay. Then, as we approach the South River- both Lynn and I became very distressed at how our beatiful South River looked. Sediment plumes and oil plumes everywhere- brown water all over. Then as week approached South River Farm Park, where Pam Wood of the Capitol and I kayaked looking for our Submerged Aquatic Vegetation- the planes wings tipped and there is was. Our SAV survived Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee!! What a blessing that our grasses survived such storms!! I am showing 300 pictures, and although I am not a professional photographer, I hope you enjoy them.----Diana, South Riverkeeper

The Enterococci data is now ready from this last Saturday's South River Federation's 7th Annual Snapshot.

On Friday the short rain event was only 0.38 inches of rain, but even with that small amount there were some spikes of bacteria in our watershed.  For a single sampling event the criteria is 104 cfu/100ml (colony forming units/100milliliters).  Therefore in the map above, anything in orange or red is higher than the State of Maryland's limit.

Thanks to our great volunteers I am now going back through the past 7 years of data and preparing a 'trend" analysis to find why our hot spot are HOT.  One stations is HIL 1, this is located in the Hillsmere community and is consistently high every year- now that we have the data to prove that there is a problem (thanks to our volunteers)- We can see what we can do to fix the issues.---Diana

Most of the time when we think of turkeys, visions of golden brown gobblers on the Thanksgiving table come to mind.  It wasn't until a few years ago when I came across a female turkey and several young walking along Patuxent River Road that it occurred to me that turkeys, other than perhaps the farm-raised variety, still existed between Washington, DC and Annapolis.  Turns out it's true, native, wild turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo silvestris) appear to be making something of a comeback in the region.

Just recently, I received word that wild turkeys had been spotted up near Bacon Ridge Branch, one of the headwaters of the South River.  These birds, unlike their domesticated cousins, are quite bright and are accomplished fliers, staying beneath the forest canopy and perching in branches to avoid predators. 

Recall, this is the bird that held such a revered place in American history that Ben Franklin had originally suggested it as the national bird.   If you happen to be hiking through the woods in the area, or driving along Chesterfield Road, be sure to keep your eyes peeled for these waddling wildfowl.

 

EPA Unveils Chesapeake Bay Restoration Strategy

 The Chesapeake Bay Restoration Strategy is now out as presented by Lisa Jackson (EPA administrator) yesterday.  She stated that only thing needed is money and resources.

I would like to include Three more things:

1)  The absolute old fashion American CAN DO.  With out the can do/will do we will not have anything.

2 ) Much better enforcement,  marinas have put large piers/bulkhead/and pilings into the South River and have only received a 43,000.00 fine, and they did not have to take out the structures that were installed.  So, in reality the company folded the fine into the cost of doing the construction.  The State and Federal agencies need to not only have greater fines but mandate that these structures be removed! 

3)  I would also like to include more education on the true causes of the destruction of the Chesapeake Bay and the South River.  I speak beyond the choir quite often and have learned that most adults really do not know what stormwater runoff it,  they do not know how fertilizer can harm the Bay/River,  they do not realize how poor the infrastructure of our septic and sewer systems is.  I see very well educated folks over-fertilize their lawns in order to get the Crayola crayon green color, instead of managing their lawns in a River-friendly way.

http://wjz.com/local/Bay.foundation.epa.2.1689773.html

 

Meeting with a landowner last week, I came across this 1970s era photo of their farm above Bacon Ridge Branch. The photo is taken looking southeast towards the river, with St. Stephen's Church Road in the lower right-hand corner.  It really gives a great sense of how little development there was in the headwaters during that time, and just how rolling and dramatic the topography is throughout that entire area.

 Photo courtesy Tommy Boehm.

As luck would have it, a couple of weeks ago I was talking with the Choptank Riverkeeper (and former South Riverkeeper) Drew Koslow about a huge stand of wild rice (Zizania aquatica) I thought I saw while driving over the Choptank.  Drew confirmed that what I saw was, in fact, wild rice, near the Route 404 crossing of the river, and we chatted a bit about how I had seen patches of it on Flat Creek and elsewhere around the river.

Within minutes of hanging up, Drew called back.  He was crossing the headwaters on Route 450 and looking north up Bacon Ridge Branch he saw acres of wild rice stretching as far as the eye could see.  We were both audibly excited (we're kind of odd that way) and I told him I'd check it out next time I had the chance.  Well, today, out for a living shoreline site visit with Diana, we had the opportunity to see for ourselves and it was pretty beautiful (see below).

You may be saying to yourself at this point, "What's so special about wild rice?"  Well, among other things, it's not that common a site in the watershed, but historically it was quite abundant and was a very important food source for both waterfowl and humans.  The native Americans considered it a very important part of their culture and in many places today it is considered a culinary delicacy. That's to say nothing of the beauty of the plant's showy seed heads (below).

It also tends to occur side-by-side with phragmites, and I hold out some hope that eventually it may be able to crowd out the invasive wetland plant. 

Want to join field experts in identifying the plant and animal communities present in the headwaters of the South River?  Come spend some time during 24 hours of botanizing, birdwatching, and butterfly chasing.  From noon on June 27th to noon on June 28th, volunteers will be out scouring the South River greenway, cataloging all the insects, birds, amphibians, reptiles, and plants they come across.   

This area is very rich in wildlife and was designated as an important bird area by the MD/DC Audubon Society.

For more information or to get involved, contact: Alyssa Domzal, South River Greenway Coordinator for the Scenic Rivers Land Trust, alyssa@srlt.org or (248) 860-7635.

Below is the Prothonotary Warbler (Protonotaria citrea), one of the forest interior dwelling birds that rely on large tracts of forest like those found in the greenway.

 

 The above picture was taken while water quality sampling under Rt50 bridge on the South River on May 29, 2009.  Notice the green-brown water color;  this happened to be a mixture of suspended sediment and an algae bloom.  The Secchi depth was only 0.2 meters or about 6 inches, meaning that sunlight could not penetrate below 1 foot.  The cause:  Stormwater runoff from the previous day's light rain bringing suspended sediment and nutrients from the headwaters (Bacon Ridge Branch and North River).   

I perform weekly water quality monitoring on the South River for dissolved oxygen, salinity, pH, conductivity, water clarity, turbidity and nutrients.  Since early May I have seen a drastic drop in water clarity and dissolved oxygen, this is very disturbing considering the hot weather is not here yet- what are we going to see this summer? 

Diana

"Around Crownsville", a blog on all things Crownsville did a very nice write-up on last weekend's walk for the walks through the headwaters of the South River.  Read about it here.

Route 450 runs right across the headwaters of the South River, crossing Bacon Ridge Branch, and running alongside the floodplain of much of the North River.  The photo below is taken from 450 looking north up Bacon Ridge Branch.