Federation Blog

The Federation is working with a local landowner to undertake a massive restoration effort on the headwaters of Church Creek, just about Route 665 (Aris T. Allen Blvd).  As part of that effort, we have hired an environmental consulting firm to design and permit plans for the project.   Earlier this morning, I met out at the site with the consultant to walk the property and get a sense of the lay of the land.

Currently, the property is at the confluence of two streams (below), one coming from Route 2 and one from Old Forest Dr. (by the Allen Apartments) than drain some of the most heavily urbanized and paved portions of the South River watershed.  The restoration plan is to create a stream and wetland system that will trap and process sediment and nutrients from upstream and provide high quality habitat for fish, birds, and amphibians.

As was the case yesterday with Flat Creek, because the marsh was frozen much more solidly than usual, we were able to get down to tidewater where we found a pleasant surprise: Beavers!  This beaver lodge had clear signs of recent activity. 

 Not far downstream, I came across the biggest of several dams.  It's approximately 40' long by about 18" high, and is probably close to underwater at high tide.  Right now, you can see that it is impounding quite a bit of water in an area that would normally be dry.

 There are historic signs that beaver have been present further up the system, but the thinking is that perhaps, carrying the stormwater from Parole, Harbor Center, the Festival at Riva, and Old Forest Drive, the stream is too "flashy" and high energy  for their dams to remain stable in that location.  The hope is that through restoration we will have a stream and wetland complex that encourages beaver and other wildlife to once again inhabit this green corridor.

Well, not really.   It's just that the combination of a low tide and strong wind blowing out towards the Bay have de-watered the river and its creeks substantially, leaving water level several feet below the usual low tide mark.

Diana and I were out at the Wilelinor restoration project taking water quality samples and stumbled upon a beautiful, bushy red fox (Vulpes vulpes) who quickly scattered as soon as we came along (below).  Perhaps he was scavenging for small fish or shellfish that had been exposed by the low tide.   We've seen quite a bit of evidence of fox throughout the watershed recently.

Most of the aquatic beds at Wilelinor are frozen over several inches thick, but at each of the stone grade controls, where water is still running through the system, spectacular stalagmites of ice form where spray hits the cold, winter air.

Did you know that in the period before the Revolutionary War Catholic churches were illegal?  Apparently one of the earliest Catholic Churches in the region stood near the old graveyard on Priest's Farm near where Route 2 (Solomons Island Road) crosses the South River.  According to "A History of Anne Arundel County in Maryland: Adapted for Use in the Schools." (1905). By Samuel Elihu Riley, the Farm bordered what is now called Church Creek and gave the creek its name.

The church that once stood on the shores of Church Creek may have looked something like the one shown above.

As part of the development of the Homeport Farm property, Anne Arundel County Department of Recreation and Parks received approximately 25 acres of land alongside Church Creek for future use as a County park.  The advisory committee for the park consists of representatives from the surrounding communities and user groups such as the Chesapeake Paddlers, the Annapolis Rowing Club (below), the Anne Arundel Sierra Club, and the Federation.

 Thankfully, all of these groups support keeping the park largely in its natural state, with some opportunities for passive recreation and low impact activities.  Eventually, the plan is for the park to have a natural surface hiking loop, a launch for canoes and kayaks, and several community garden plots.  In addition, the plan calls for reforesting something on the order of 7 or 8 acres of the property which are currently fallow farmland.  

Last weekend, volunteers from the Federation, the Rowing Club, the Sierra Club, and the County came out, in the driving rain, to plant 400 trees and shrubs and begin the reforestation effort.  Thanks to all the volunteers who came out and put in a few hours to help improve the health of the river.

 From left to right: County forester, Bud Reeves; County Executive, John Leopold; Federation Executive Director, Erik Michelsen; Sierra Club Chair, David Prosten; County Parks Manager, Karyn Molines.

This weekend, we received reports from two different sources, one on Flat Creek and one on Church Creek, of hundreds of dead fish.  The species found included menhaden (shown below), catfish, rockfish, and croakers. 

Chances are, the fish died as a result of the very low dissolved oxygen (DO) in the river.  Diana has been finding extrememly low DO since early June, which is the result of nutrient-charged algae blooms decomposing and the aerobic bacteria consuming them pulling all of the oxygen from the water column.  Please report any fish kills that you come across on the river, and pictures are always appreciated.  

 Below are several of the croakers and catfish found dead on Church Creek. Necropsies performed by Diana indicate that they died as a result of suffocation.

On Monday morning, Kevin Smith and Ken Yetman from DNR shocked the Wilelinor Stream Valley Restoration project to see what fish and other aquatic organisms have moved up into the system  four years after the completion of the project.

Among the species spotted were several brown water snakes, an eastern painted turtle  (Chrysemys picta picta), and lots of American eel (Anguilla rostrata) elvers.  Two of the fish species found at the site were channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) and bluegills (Lepomis macrochirus), pictured below.

 

Believe it or not, there are carnivorous plants in the watershed.  The Wilenor stream valley restoration project contains a significant population of swollen bladderwort (Utricularia inflata), a floating plant that has small vacuoles (i.e. bladders) under the water surface that it uses to capture insect larvae as in the animation below.

Once trapped within the vacuole, the plant secretes digestive enzymes and dissolves the insect and absorbs it for its nutritional needs.  This time of year, this unique little pest controller sends up a single yellow flower mounted atop its pinwheel flotation structure as in the photo below.  

 

The Federation has some significant restoration plans in the works for Church Creek and I had been hoping for weeks to get a look at Bywater Branch from the water.  Up that high into the creek, the water is incredibly shallow, even at high tide, and the bottom is comprised of 5+ feet of muck (we couldn't probe down to solid ground with the boat hooks that we had on board).  Below is a photo of the creek. 

The plant below was a somewhat encouraging find. It's the first SAV (submerged aquatic vegetation) of the year that we've come across: floating strands of horned pondweed (Zannichellia palustris). Recall that last year we had zero acres of SAV on the river.

 The horned pondweed will begin to give way in late June or early July as water temperatures increase, but if you happen to see some floating in your creek or on the river, please take a picture and send it on into the Federation office.

The trip up Church Creek was part of our regular weekly monitoring effort.  In the photo below, Diana and Riverwatcher John Gambel sample the mainstem under threatening skies.

I took a quick jaunt out to get some photos of the headwaters of Church Creek in the rain and it is almost unrecognizable from even a month ago.  The whole area is entirely overgrown with vegetation and the skunk cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus) and cinnamon fern (Osmunda cinnamomea) are both in full display.

 Though it was just a drizzle, the storm flows, particularly coming down from Harbor Center and Parole, were ripping down the channel.

  

During our clean-up a couple of weeks ago, I spooked a strange looking bird while wandering through the stream valley.  It was a short, squat specimen with a long narrow bill, sort of like that of a sandpiper.  Going back to the avian reference guides, it looks like it was an American Woodcock (Scolopax minor).    They make their nests in wooded areas and are renowned for a spectacular courtship dance.