Federation Blog

 

After a year of coping with the effects of three major rain storms, we were thrilled to end 2011 with the otter-ly fantastic news of a return of one of the River’s top predators. Even more exciting than sharing the news, was the response we got from our members! Coming with four reports, Gingerville Creek takes the lead in sightings followed closely by Beards Creek with three. Other sightings were reported in Duvall, near the mouth of the River past Cherrytree Cove, Glebe Bay, Harness Creek, Granville Creek, Flat Creek, and Boyd’s Cove. Below are excerpts from the many stories we received:

-Perhaps the most memorable experience came from a member that was fortunate enough to see an entire family of otters! “I have kayaked on the South River for 6 years and have seen river otters each and every one of those years...in fact, 4 years ago my friend and I were in the headwaters of Beard's Creek and not only did a large male otter swim across the front of our kayaks with a smaller (I assume the female) behind him and they were both hissing at us and not long afterwards, three small younguns swam between our kayaks, it seemed that they were either swimming extraordinarily close behind each other or swimming sort of piggyback and kept looking up at us and chirping...they were close enough that I could have reached down and picked one up. It was one of those special moments that I will never forget.”

– Sandy, Beards Creek -A longtime South River resident and avid fisherman finally got an up-close look at an otter just recently! “I have seen them numerous times over the last few years, but always from a distance. Every morning I run my dog to the river and back. Three days ago, I was down on the neighborhood pier, and out of the skim ice popped this guys head. It is the first time I have seen them up close, and they are a really unique and cool thing to see on our river.” – Nick, Davidsonville

-“I thought it was a seal the way it was swimming and playing until I got a closer look. I couldn't believe my eyes. Hope to see them again!” – Carol, Granville Creek - “It has been spotted a couple of times in the past few weeks as well as last year. We think it may "hide" at my waters edge. It seems to disappear into the underground tunnels.” – Theresa, Harness Creek

-It’s great to know they have been in some areas for so long! “We've had them in Boyd's Cove for years - didn't know it was a big deal!” – Marj, Boyds Cove

-Looks like the otters even appreciate the beauty of Quiet Waters Park! “I have seen otters in Loden Pond, near the South River Overlook at Quiet Waters Park, and in the pond between the Ice Rink and Lighthizer Gazebo” – Michael, Harness Creek

-He may not have seen an otter, but beaver sightings are just as great! While kayaking in Gingerville Creek, one member “discovered a beaver dam in the marsh at the head of the creek. It created a small, tranquil pond filled with ducks.” – Dwight, Gingerville Creek

The South River Federation would like to thank each and every person that took the time to report their sightings. If you see an otter or beaver, please do let us know! We did receive a concern over protecting koi ponds so that issue as well as more information about otters will be addressed in Part 3 of the series. But for now, we hope you enjoyed the stories from our watershed!

Photo Credits: Nick Serio, John Koontz, John Summers, and Erik Michelsen

Talk about a whirlwind, my head has finally stopped spinning from all of the activities that went on in October with the Federation.

We started off the month of October in West Virginia at the 2011 Chesapeake Watershed Forum, where Carol and Jennifer presented their Chesapeake Conservation Corps project posters. The weekend was filled with seminars on various topics from social marketing to stormwater management. It was a great opportunity to network with other watershed organizations, and hear about what they are doing. It was really nice to be surrounded by people who think the environment should be a priority.

Then it was back to the office to gear up for our Fall Federation Celebration Week. We kicked off the celebration on Saturday with the First Friday Festival at South River Colony. It was their final festival of the season and the Federation was there to talk about the South River. It has been a great way to engage people about what we do as an organization and fish print with the kids. We look forward to more of these events next summer!

Then on Sunday, it was off to Harness Creek for the Flood Bucket Frenzy. With almost 700 Flood Buckets, we needed all the help we could get to be able to accomplish this task. And we did! With over 65 volunteers, coming from Americorps, SRF, Ben Franklin High School, and Laura Seltzer of The Last Boat Out and Do Good Adventures, we were able to open up all the buckets, empty all the oysters from last year onto the Harness Creek sanctuary, and then refill the buckets with new oyster spat for this years’ growing season. It was an arm workout for sure. This event was a great opportunity for people to not only see young oysters, but also see how Flood Buckets enrich the local diversity by creating habitat for many other critters.

We charged ahead in the week with the Federation general membership meeting on Tuesday night at the London Towne Community Hall. Each meeting we bring in speakers that present on a variety of subjects that pertain to either the South River or the Chesapeake Bay watershed. For this meeting, we had both CCC volunteers talk about their personal projects. Carol is working on how optical brighteners can be used to identify septic leakage and Jennifer gave a presentation on how people and communities can become involved with the MGO program. We also invited Dr. Walter Boynton, from CBL, to talk about the Chesapeake Bay, its history, and its future. I might be a biased daughter for saying this, but he has a great way of presenting information to a diverse audience, not everyone is a scientist and it’s important that everyone understands what’s going on with the Bay. He talked about how the Bay looked during John Smiths time, what changed over time, and how we can improve things. I really enjoyed his image of putting the Bay on a diet. I might not be able to comprehend all of the scientific lingo, but I can wrap my head around the concept that we feed our rivers and Bay too much and that we have to put the fork down. We also welcomed two new board members—Tom Reinert and Marilynn Katatsky! Each of them bring a lot to the table and I look forward to working with both of them.

The week finished strong with the 2nd Annual Fall Kayak Sojourn! To say it was an adventure was an understatement because it was not a calm day on the river. According to NOAA, winds were gusting 15-20 knots. However this did not deter the participants, all of who braved the windy weather and ventured out onto Duvall Creek to explore and observe what is going on in and around the South River. Carol, CCC volunteer for the Federation, said it best “it was awesome!” When they returned to shore, they were greeted with delicious hot clam chowder, hot chocolate, and cookies! A big thank you goes out to SeaWatch International for the chowder, Keeper Springs Natural Spring Water for the water, Starbucks for the coffee, and DoubleTree Hotel for the cookies. It’s events like these that make me realize how special of a resource we have in our backyard and that we need to make protecting it a priority. I hope many of you this fall get the chance to go outside and celebrate the awesomeness which is the South River.

Thank you to everyone who joined us for all of these events. We truly appreciate all of your help and support!

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 Morning All,

This weeks bacteria data had two communites that were above the allowable limit of 104cfu/100ml. These were Hillsmere and Pine Whiff. Congrats to the Glen Isle community for defeting the Canada Geese, I hope the deterants work all summer!!

Diana, South RIVERKEEPER

Enterococci (cfu/100ml)
#	Site	7/13/2011
SR1	Hillsmere Shores	1016
SR2	Glen Isle Community Association	12
SR3	Harbor Hills Association	14
SR4	South River Manor	28
SR5	Pine Whiff Community Association	196
SR6	South River Park Comm. Ass.	36
SR7	Selby Community Association	24
SR8	Londontown Beach 5	6
SR11	Wilelinor Community Association	84
SR12	Shoreham Beach Citizens Association	16

This week's bacteria results, for the most part the results are below 104 colony forming units/ 100ml- which indicate a better swimming/recreating environment. ---Diana

 

#	Site	5/18/2011	5/25/2011	6/1/2011	6/8/2011
SR1	Hillsmere Shores	84	16	88	16
SR2	Glen Isle Community Association	272	2	3427	144
SR3	Harbor Hills Association	56	12	2	1
SR4	South River Manor	X	2	344	22
SR5	Pine Whiff Community Association	X	X	178	122
SR6	South River Park Comm. Ass.	20	8	160	20
SR7	Selby Community Association	X	X	X	10
SR11	Wilelinor Community Association	32	16	16	4
SR12	Shoreham Beach Citizens Association	184	4	86	4

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

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