Federation Blog

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

Driving up Muddy Creek Road this morning, stopped, waiting for the light at 214 to turn green, I noticed a healthy stand of trumpet vine (Campsis radicans) in bloom.  Its bright orange flowers are showy are hard to miss, but looking a little more closely, I saw two hummingbirds (I think they were ruby-throated (Archilochus colubris)) flitting in and out of the blossoms, sipping their nectar.

It's rare enough to see one hummingbird, but to see two together is quite a treat.  If you've got trumpet vine growing up a nearby trellis or tree, keep your eyes peeled and you may spy one of these little marvels yourself.

 

 

The South River Federation's Riverkeeper Tidal Water Quality montoring is in mid-season currently.  Some of you may have see us out there sampling the water quality.  I have been ask many questions about when and where we sample.  I have provided a GIS map of our current tidal stations.  I have 7 main stem stations, then 14 stations in each of the tidal creeks.  

 

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

 

This morning as I was on my way into the office and dropped my son off at his school, I quickly noticed something horrible.  The school is undergoing expansion and the rain this morning quickly showed how poor the contractor was at proper sediment and erosion control.  All of this sediment will quickly make it's way into Glebe Creek.--Diana

Second Part of the story;  I took samples as the water was freely flowing into the stormdrain by inserting my hand with a bottle to obtain a proper sample, I then processed then in a laboratory and the following in the results I obtained:

Turbidity:  437  NTU (nephlometric turbidity units),  Orthophosphate: 0.29mg/l, Nitrate: 0.21 mg/l, Nitrite, 0.083mg/l.  The maximum turbidity that should be coming off of construction site is 40, this is about 9 times higher.

 Last week was almshouses, this week is a glebe.   Trying to ascertain the origins of place names one quickly learns that most fall into one of two categories: the name of a prominent family in the area; or, the name of some now arcane feature of historical society.  If you already know what a "glebe" is, you'll likely snicker at the fact that after mulling through several historic tomes I could find no record of anyone by the name of "Glebe" ever having inhabited the area.   

Then, I found record of a Glebe Creek on the eastern shore (off the Wye River).  It turns out the word "glebe" refers to parish, or church, land.  The drainage for Glebe Creek sits almost in the center of what was once (circa late 1600s) All Hallow's Parish. All Hallow's Parish Church, established by the King and Queen of England in 1692, still remains, basically at the intersection of South River Clubhouse Road and Route 2, just atop the drainage areas for Glebe and Beard's Creeks. 

 The publication above refers to the 100-acre preserve around the headwaters of Glebe Creek, just north of Route 214, and was put together by the Alliance for Sustainable Communities and describes some of the plant and animal communities in the watershed.

By one account, Glebe Creek was formerly known as Burgess Creek, after a prominent land owner in the area, William Burgess.  However, I have also seen the name assigned to Almshouse Creek in other sources. 

On Saturday, about 40 Federation members and staff took to the river for the 7th Annual South River Sojourn. 

This year's trip took us from the London Towne Community on Glebe Bay southeast to Selby Bay.  I led a contingent that headed up into the protected headwaters of Glebe Creek, where we had the opportunity to check out several living shoreline projects installed by London Towne and where we spotted great blue herons, osprey, and several red-winged blackbirds. 

As we left Glebe Bay and rounded Cedar Point, we crossed the mouth of Brewer Creek and got out into the open water of the mainstem of the river.  A couple of miles later, we entered the sheltered inlet of Selby Bay, with the protected forests of South River Farm Park to our right.  

Once at the Selby community beach, we seined for minnows and grass shrimp (and found about 6 or 7 species, including croakers, mummichogs, and silversides).  Eventually, we waded into the soupy mix to see how far we could get in before we lost sight of our feet.  This year it was a depressing 19 inches thanks to recent storms and algal blooms.  Nonetheless, a good time was had by all and its great to get out and celebrate the South River.  Hope to see you next year.

 

This past Sunday, volunteers from the London Towne community, a local girl scout troop, and the South River Federation helped to plant the newly installed living shoreline along Shore Dr. in London Towne.  The planting involved using switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) and red osier dogwood (Cornus sericea) to stabilize the steep slopes above the project, and saltmeadow cordgrass (Spartina patens) to stabilize the nearer shore portions of the sandy substrate.  Smooth cordgrass (Spartina alterniflora) was planted at the lowest elevations, as it can tolerate being submerged by the tides.

 

 Photo courtesy Jana Davis.

The Londontowne community recently installed a living shoreline along Glebe Creek.  The breakwaters were installed offshore and backfilled with sand.  The Federation will be assisting with the planting of the project this spring.  If you'd like to help out, please contact the office at 410-224-3802.