Federation Blog

The Wilelinor restoration site received some holiday cheer over the weekend! On a beautiful December morning, a team of South River Federation volunteers came together to do maintenance work on the site. Volunteers began the day by spreading 15 bales of peat moss under the Atlantic white cedars (Chamaecyparis thyoides) lining the stream and wetland pool. The peat moss served as a soil amendment to adjust the pH value. We hope that by spreading peat moss around the cedars, there will be an increase in germination and seedlings.

Next, volunteers armed with limb saws and loppers, tackled and removed sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua) and sycamore (Plantanus occidentalis) trees. Why would we want to remove these trees? Many had begun to grow close to the cedars, blocking out the full sunlight that the cedars need to grow. The shade makes it especially difficult for new seedlings to survive.

Atlantic white cedars were specially chosen for this restoration site because of their efficiency and effectiveness at processing pollution and removing nutrients. Cedars also tend to do well in acidic wetland environments and provide important habitat for wildlife. For example, in North Carolina, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service found that over 39 species of mammals, reptiles, and amphibians and over 46 species of birds were reported to use Atlantic white cedar wetlands.

While most of the group was hard at work tackling the sweetgum trees, others removed invasive vines and cleared out a large section of invasive green bamboo. Thank you to all of our volunteers and South River Watershed Stewards for making this day a success! We could not have done it without your hard work. Thank you Edgewater Starbucks for donating coffee to keep us warm and motivated!

What and Where is Wilelinor?

This beautiful site located right off of Route 2 across from Admiral Cochrane Drive. This area is one of the headwaters for the southern branch of Church Creek, a tributary to the South River. Located near large areas of impervious surfaces, this restoration site is able to properly convey stormwater going into Church Creek. This project has enhanced water quality, aquatic habitat, and ecological functions. Routine maintenance, such as this volunteer event on Saturday, is important to keep this site functioning properly.

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

Good Afternoon,

There were three locations of higher that the allowable concentration of bacteria (104cfu/100ml). These creeks are Warehouse Creek, Almshouse Creek, and Church Creek. Glen Isle has been preventing the Canada Geese by stringing CD's in the area to prevent the geese from landing, must be working because for the past two weeks the counts have been good. Congratulations to them!!

South River Federation 2011 Enterococci Counts (cfu/100 ml)
#	Site	5/18/2011	5/25/2011	6/1/2011	6/8/2011	6/15/2011	6/22/2011	6/29/2011
SR1	Hillsmere Shores	84	16	88	16	8	92	16
SR2	Glen Isle Community Association	272	2	3427	144	156	28	80
SR3	Harbor Hills Association	56	12	2	1	6	6	68
SR4	South River Manor	X	2	344	22	4	92	148
SR5	Pine Whiff Community Association	X	X	178	122	374	112	380
SR6	South River Park Comm. Ass.	20	8	160	20	22	4	16
SR7	Selby Community Association	X	X	X	10	16	74	48
SR8	Londontown Beach 5	X	X	X	X	X	X	60
SR11	Wilelinor Community Association	32	16	16	4	10	60	716
SR12	Shoreham Beach Citizens Association	184	4	86	4	1	1	40

From the mouth of the South River all the way to Bacon Ridge Branch, over 40 South River Federation volunteers participated in the 7^th Annual South River Snapshot.  Volunteers spread out across the entire South River watershed on the morning of Saturday, April 9^th and conducted water quality tests to assess the River’s health.   Although the data represents just a “snapshot” in time, collecting the data from over 40 sites around the River simultaneously, and doing it at about the same time each year, gives a good general barometer of the relative health of our streams and creeks.  While most of the sites had safe or normal bacteria levels, a few sites did have high levels.  You can see the bacteria results on Diana’s blog. 
Patch.com wrote a nice article on the Snapshot!  Click here to read it.

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

Project Clean Stream 2011 was a great success thanks to the 42 hard working volunteers that came out to support this annual event organized by the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay. The South River Federation and its volunteers cleaned up a portion of Church Creek, bordered by Rt. 2, Forest Dr., and the Forest Plaza parking lot. Notorious for illegal dumping and prone to trash run-off from nearby roads and parking lots, this creek was in desperate need of attention. Our dedicated group of volunteers picked up 83 bags of trash, up to 50% of which was plastic bottles and bags. Other interesting items included: part of a Lazy-Boy, TV, sink, two filled trash cans, 6 tires, and a vacuum cleaner. In total, the volunteers picked up 1.38 tons of trash!  Needless to say, after all this was removed, Church Creek looked beautiful!

We would like to thank our generous local sponsors who helped make this event a success:

Home Depot donated 10 boxes of eco-friendly heavy duty contractor bags, allowed us to use their trash-grabbers, and recruited eight Home Depot Associates and Managers to help with the cleanup.

Bertucci’s generously donated eight delicious pizzas for the volunteers to enjoy as a thank you for their hard work.

Keeper Springs Natural Spring Water provided water bottles to keep the hard working volunteers hydrated.

We also received great media coverage from Patch.com and the Capital. Enjoy the slideshow below!

Looking for something to do on Saturday? 

Join the South River Federation’s 2011 Project Clean Stream!

 

Saturday, April 2^nd from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

Home Depot, 55 Forest Plaza, Annapolis

 

Project Clean Stream, coordinated by the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay and partnering watershed organizations, is an annual stream and shoreline clean up. This event is held the first Saturday of April and engages community volunteers throughout the Chesapeake Bay watershed.  By engaging volunteers in stream clean ups, we are promoting and reinforcing the direct relationship that cleaner, litter-free streams and woodlands result in a healthier, more beautiful Bay.

 

In 2010, more than 3,600 volunteers helped out at 140 cleanup sites, including a site hosted by the South River Federation along Beards Creek, to remove an estimated 118,000 pounds of trash and debris from streams and wooded areas throughout the Chesapeake Bay Watershed.  This year, the goal is to have 4,000 volunteers remove 150,000 lbs of trash at 165 different sites.  
 

Be one of the 4,000 people volunteering to clean up the Chesapeake Bay watershed on Saturday.  Email Jennifer to signup and help clean up an area around Church Creek.

 

Special thanks to Home Depot for donating trash bags and to Bertucci’s for donating pizza for our volunteers to enjoy.

 

This week's bottom dissolved oxygen measurements indicate the expanding hypoxic zone from mid-river up to the Rt 50 bridge.  Many of the tidal creek are also experiencing hypoxic conditions (2.0 mg/l or lower).  This is due to the excessive nutrients causing the algae blooms, which then cause the low dissolved oxygen.  Blue Crabs need above 3mg/l of dissolved oxygen to live, therefore at the moment the South River is not that hospitable for the blue crab. ---Diana