More Troubled Waters
By Don Fine, VP Conservation, MAC/FFF
Many people are aware of the fact that for the
past several years the Chesapeake Bay is
steadily declining as a great fishery,
both in terms of its recreation and economic value.
This is due in large part to the water pollution
that enters tributaries at remote distances from
the Bay itself. When one considers that the
Chesapeake Bay Watershed encompasses nearly 64,000
square miles (beginning in New York state and
including virtually all areas of Maryland and
Virginia and major portions of West Virginia,
Pennsylvania, and Delaware), it is easy to see
that pollution hundreds of miles from the Bay,
nevertheless ends up in the Bay. One of the long
recognized, major contributors of Bay pollution
is the Potomac River, considering the agricultural
areas and growing populations that border its
waters and tributaries. Not counting industrial
and community contributions, 33% of the Bay’s
pollution consists of run off from agricultural areas.
Add now “more troubled waters” to the list in the
Mid-Atlantic region. Fish kills in 2004 on the
North Fork of the Shenandoah and another this
year in May on the South Fork of the Shenandoah
have all but wiped out the smallmouth bass and
sunfish populations. The fish kill that occurred
early this spring, during the spawning period,
wiped out as much as 80% of the adult smallmouth
bass population. Both smallmouth bass and redbreast
sunfish developed lesions on their skin. The
Virginia Department of Environmental Quality
reports that more than 746 miles of rivers and
streams in the Shenandoah watershed are impaired.
State officials have blamed high nutrient, sediment
and fecal coliform levels for impairing the river,
contributing to added stress on the fish during
times that they had reduced immunity.
The 2005 episode is not the first water quality
problem to surface on the Shenandoah. For
several years, river access points displayed
warnings about the high levels of mercury and
PCBs in the water resulting from industrial
dumping. High nutrient waste from farms, golf
courses, lawns and parking lots on property
bordering the rivers, also contribute heavily
to chemical pollution of the Shenandoah, like
the Potomac. Scientists easily recognize increases
in nitrogen and phosphorus in these waters with
each passing year.
The Susquehanna and Juniata Rivers serve as major
tributaries to the north end of the Chesapeake Bay.
These are threatened waters as well in 2005. This
year will not be a good year for smallmouth
fishing in one of the East’s premier bass
fisheries. Thousands of belly-up smallmouths have
perished in the Susquehanna near Harrisburg, PA.
The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission have
attributed the problem to a bacterial infection,
but the source of the bacteria is unknown.
Bob Clouser, well-known fly fishing guide on
the Susquehanna, notes significant decreases
in smallmouth catch productivity. Anglers used
to catching 50 plus fish per day, are now
catching 12 or less fish per day. Another
problem is a fungus infection of young-of-the-year
smallmouth, with substantial numbers dying.
Communities and citizenry across the country,
particularly in the Mid-Atlantic region, need
to recognize that each individual is a steward
of our land and water resources that we need
for much more than their recreational value.
I hope these citizens will also adopt a different
view of their responsibility for cleaning up
the Chesapeake, when they realize that the
problem emanates right in their own backyard
(waters), hundreds of miles from the Bay.
Exploring the Bay –
Conservation Efforts in
the State of Maryland
By Don Fine, VP Conservation MAC/FFF
On Sunday November 7th, the morning following the
2004 Mid-Atlantic Council/FFF Conclave, those
attending the breakfast session were afforded an
outstanding presentation by Mr.Rob Schnabel,
Maryland Watershed Restoration Scientist.
Rob’s talk was directed at conservation
efforts in Maryland and throughout the adjoining
states, the land mass of which constitutes the
Chesapeake Bay watershed (CBWS).
The CBWS beginning north in Cooperstown, NY
includes virtually all areas of Maryland and
Virginia and major portions of West Virginia,
Pennsylvania, and Delaware, nearly 64,000 square
miles. The Chesapeake Bay is the world’s
second largest estuary. The Bay’s ideal land
to water ratio along its hundreds of miles of
shoreline provide an ideal reproductive area for
aquatic plants and animal species. But even more
vast than the Watershed is the Airshed, that is the
area that contributes “air pollution”
to the Chesapeake. In addition to the states
mentioned, the Chesapeake Bay Airshed includes
areas of Ohio, North and South Carolina and parts
of Georgia.
Pollution of the Bay comes in large part (33%) as
run off from agricultural areas, but one also needs
to consider the additional 33 % contribution from
atmospheric pollution. Between 1985 and 2000
pollution from the atmosphere increased from 27% to
32%. While rainfall is beneficial to many,
particularly the farmer, lowest pollution and best
growth of aquatic plants in the Bay occurs during
drought years; i.e. less rainfall equates to less
agricultural and commercial runoff, as well as
atmospheric pollutants, entering the bay.
Nitrogen pollution in the Bay favors blooms of
blue-green algae, the growth of which prevents
sunlight from reaching lower level plant life thus
creating a dead zone (i.e. reduced oxygen) which is
uninhabitable for all except bacteria that feed off
dying algae populations. These unproductive
“dead zones” at the center of the Bay
are growing at an alarming rate; e.g. between 2002
and 2003 the dead zone expanded by at least 100
miles. Dead zones contain little if any oxygen, a
fundamental element for any aquatic life. Trout
require 8 mg/liter, bay stripers 5mg/liter, and
blue crabs 3 mg/liter of oxygen. Oxygen
concentrations in the “dead zone” are
below this, closer to the 1 mg/liter, that only
oysters can tolerate.
The CBF goal is to reduce nitrogen and phosphorus
source pollution and sediment by one-half by the
year 2010. This is an aggressive goal that may not
be achievable without increased public and
political support.
Mr. Schnabel pointed out that decades ago, the
Greenscape (i.e. forest, fields, wetlands) acted as
natural filters funneling water into the ground and
in the process purifying it. With population
growth, housing construction and hard-surfacing of
vast areas (e.g. parking lots), pollutants enter
directly into streams and rivers rather than being
filtered by the Greenscape. Cutting forests,
draining wetlands too have created a loss of these
natural filters. As a result, oyster populations
are down to 2%, underwater plants down to 21%,
wetlands reduced to 42% and forests down to 54%, of
what these populations were at the time humans
populated Maryland.
What is the CBF endeavoring to do to reverse these
trends? Over 4700 projects have been supported
involving restoration of 54,000 areas of habitat.
Over 30,000 citizens have volunteered and are
involved in restoration projects and nearly $200
million in funds have been contributed by Federal
and State agencies. Nevertheless, Maryland lags
behind Pennsylvania in meeting their 2010 goal,
i.e. nearly 3900 miles of PA stream restoration has
been completed. One very popular Md. conservation
initiative is the CREP (Conservation Reserve
Enhancement Program). Funded by the state and
partnering with Ducks Unlimited, over 10,350 acres
of wetland have been restored and 6500 acres of
upland habitat restored. CREP participants receive
140% reimbursement (cost of trees, stakes and tree
protectors, and planting costs) on the project with
annual maintenance payments of $150 per acre
planted. (Yours truly is a CREP participant and one
who strongly encourages putting portions of your
agricultural acreage into the program). Growth of
CREP between 2000 and 2003 resulted in an increase
from 20,000 to 140,000 acres set aside for this
conservation initiative.
Promotion of beach restoration, using natural
materials (e.g. coconut logs) rather than concrete
or rip-rap barriers allows species of ducks and
Diamondback Terrapins to nest along the Bay’s
shoreline. CBF supports too the oyster population
restoration with over 15 million oysters planted
with the help of 5000 student volunteers. Grass
restoration includes planting ~ 400,000 plants in
30 new grass beds. The acquisition of a mechanical
planter now means that CBF can escalate grass
planting on a large scale.
The farm stewardship program championed by Mr.
Schnabel is another major CBF effort. This program
features a 15 year agreement with the farmer, in
which the state pays the cost of fencing, bridge
construction and tree planting buffer strips along
water routes that pass through the farm. CBF
contracts for fence and bridge construction and
volunteers are recruited to do the tree planting
– all parties benefit from this partnership.
Furthermore, the farmer earns incentives, e.g.
$1000 for every additional 15 feet of stream buffer
that is fenced or planted and up to $5000 toward
the cost of cattle bridge construction. As a result
of these initiatives, cattle are restricted from
entry and crossing stream and plantings stabilize
the stream bank thus reducing erosion.
In any of these efforts, partnerships are the key
to progress. Partnerships are forged between local
schools, private groups, volunteer individuals and
organizations such as the Beaver Creek Watershed
Association, MAC/FFF, Antietam Fly Anglers, Trout
Unlimited, Chesapeake Bay Trust, L.L. Bean,
Department of Natural Resources, Maryland
Conservation Corp., Upward Bound and many other
groups.
The Beaver Creek restoration project in Washington
County, Md. is just one of a number of efforts
directed at reducing pollution of the Chesapeake
Bay and its tributaries. Mr. Schnabel with
assistance from Doug Hutzell, MAC President, have
worked with a number of farmers and private land
owners to restore sections of Beaver Creek in the
Antietam Watershed. This effort is critical in that
the Chesapeake Bay Program estimates that 79% of
the streams in the Antietam Watershed lack forested
stream buffers and as a result these streams have
some of the highest nutrient loading rates from
pasture and manure of an region in the Bay
watershed.
As a result of implementation of CREP and Farm
Stewardship Programs, several miles of Beaver Creek
streamside have been restored or are slated for
restoration within the next year. Future efforts
include application for additional state grants to
restore other streams in the Antietam and Monocacy
Valley watersheds.
The Mid-Atlantic Council/FFF encourages more
groups, particularly Council clubs and affiliated
organizations to take up a project to improve
stream habitat and promote the health of the
Chesapeake Bay Watershed. More information on the
Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s conservation
efforts can be found by contacting Mr. Rob Schnabel
at the Philip Merrill Environmental Center, 6
Herndon Avenue, Annapolis, MD 21403 or at
rschnabel@savethebay.cbf.org