Federation Blog

In less than 4 weeks, the 20' deep canyon behind the Riva 400 office complex has been transformed in a beautiful, restored series of sand-bedded step pools recently planted with Atlantic White Cedar (Chamaecyparis thyoides), Sweetbay Magnolia (Magnolia virginica), and a variety of ferns planted by local students.

 Yesterday the County started a great stream restoration project on the headwaters off of Gingerville Creek.  This section of Gingerville Creek is hidden away off of Riva Road.  The stormdrain/pipe drained much of the water from the surrounding area which includes Annapolis High School, Anne Arundel County offices, other misc. office buildings; in other words a lot of impervious suface.  This pipe carried so much water at such a high velocity that it created a 15 - 20 foot gorge. All of the sediment that was cut down was carried into Gingerville creek, South River.  This is only one of many restoration projects that need to be done across the South River Watershed- we need to slow the water down.

So that our residents know where their water is going, we are painting the stormwater drainages with our "South River Drainage" sign.   The first residential community was Gingerville.  With the help of St. Andrew's Day School's South River Riverwatchers and their teacher Nan Hathaway, we start in their community of Gingerville.  I hope to "paint the watershed" soon in other areas.  If you would like to help with a painting in your neighborhood please contact me or Cindy Wallace.

Diana

We took a quick jaunt up Gingerville Creek to look at the condition of some of the shoreline and ended up finding a substantial bed of horned pondweed at the top of the creek, as well as a number of Great Blue Herons (Ardea herodias).  It's an encouraging sign that reports of horned pondweed are coming in from all around the river.  Please drop us an email if you happen to see some on your creek.  A photo of the bed is below.  Water clarity still wasn't very good, but it did appear improved in the areas with the grass beds.

 Here's a picture of one of the herons who was hunting in the shallows of the creek.

Sometimes you'll find interesting remnants of the past in the most surprisingly mundane places.  That's the case with the "Old Saw Mill" on the eastern tributary to Broad Creek.  In the 1878 map below, it's called out as "Old S.M." in the upper right-hand corner. That's Broad Creek on the left and Gingerville (formerly "Gingerwell") Creek on the right.

 Today, the dam remains and is actually visible from Truman Parkway when the leaves are off the trees.  It lies just adjacent to the Park-and-Ride.  Below, you can make out the form of the dam, sloping off to each side of the photo.

 As is the case with all of these historical impoundments, this one breached long ago and still delivers its silty payload downstream with every storm event.  The photo below is taken looking downstream through the breach in the dam.  The channel has been carved several feet down through the agricultural soils that were trapped behind the dam when it was functioning.

Yesterday, 15 Federation volunteers, including several members of the Anne Arundel Watershed Stewardship Academy, worked with residents at the Ginger Cove housing complex to install a rain garden, to help treat stormwater before it runs off into Gingerville Creek.  Projects like these represent great collaborations between concerned community members, an engaged community management group (which paid for the plants and soil amendments), and the Federation.