Clean Water Act v. Supreme Court

In moves that environmental advocates fear will punch holes in the Clean Water Act,  the Supreme Court has issued rulings that have “left it uncertain which waterways are protected by the law,” according to the New York Times.

Environmental Protection Agency regulators say as things stand now, they may be unable to prosecute about half of the country’s known water polluters because of a lack of clear jurisdiction. The Supreme Court’s rulings interpreted the “navigable waters” language in the Clean Water Act in ways that lawyers say have created uncertainty about which rivers are subject to the law, opening the door for polluters to claim their activities are not covered by the act.

“We are, in essence, shutting down our Clean Water programs in some states,” Douglas F. Mundrick, an E.P.A. lawyer in Atlanta, told the New York Times. “This is a huge step backward.”

Not only could this legal limbo affect watersheds that provide drinking water, it may also affect the headwaters of rivers that empty into the Chesapeake Bay.

Citing EPA reports, the NYT reported that some 117 million Americans get their drinking water from sources fed by waters that are vulnerable to exclusion from the Clean Water Act, based on these cases decided by the Supreme Court.

Bayville: Teaching Children about the Chesapeake

How do children learn about the Chesapeake Bay? With books, with music, even with direct experiences, from boating to swimming to playing. But “Bayville”, a Web site started by Maryland Public Television in 2007, attempts to harness the power of the Internet to connect kids with the bay.

But how successful is it? That’s what I set out to discover.

Though “Bayville” makes it clear that it welcomes everyone interested in learning more about the Chesapeake, the site targets Maryland middle school students. It provides teacher’s guides, curriculum charts, and an optional log-in feature that allows users to save their work and progress, making the site easy to incorporate into the classroom.

The textual sections work mainly toward this purpose so that teachers have a wealth of material to utilize. For example, the section of frequently asked questions about the Chesapeake gives an understandable if somewhat simple breakdown of the science, environment, culture and history of the bay, clearly keeping its preteen audience in mind. But without direction from a teacher, most kids would not stay long enough to sift through all the questions and answers, which lack any images or color to spice up their presentation.

Much more effective are the seven interactive activities that make up the heart of “Bayville.” As I know from experience with my fifth-grade sister (and from my own short attention span), anything that includes visual stimulation and/or the chance for “winning” automatically becomes 100 times more exciting. Though not cutting-edge technology, especially now, after the site’s third birthday, “Bayville” definitely holds more appeal than a textbook.

I think one interactive in particular did the best job of getting its point across while remaining fun throughout. “H2Oh No!” teaches about the water cycle and how humans affect it with run-off, using a series of games as well as actual pictures of the bay to demonstrate the lessons and problems.

Another ambitious section, “Bayquest,” takes you on a virtual tour through various bay habitats to find different animals and plants. I enjoyed “traveling” to the different locations with different forms of bay transport, from kayaks to skipjacks, though I wished I could learn why the vehicles changed from habitat to habitat.

A bigger problem rested in the animal descriptions, which could overload readers with information and seem too dry for its middle-school audience. Relating the topics more to the students – how their actions could impact the animals and ecosystems – might work better. But in “Bayquest,” at least, the thrill of the hunt tided me over any particularly boring bits.

No matter the smaller issues, “Bayville” provides an informative – and usually fun – primer on the Chesapeake Bay, both for kids and kids at heart.

Changes to Critical Area Regulations Take Effect Monday

The Critical Area Act of 1984 was passed to protect the Chesapeake Watershed by preserving the land closest to the bay and its tributaries.  The law established the Critical Area Commission, which is responsible for developing and implementing statewide regulations that preserve water quality, protect the flora and fauna of the bay and guide land use policies for local governments within what is called the Critical Area of the watershed.

The Commission defines this Critical Area as “all land within 1,000 feet of the Mean High Water Line of tidal waters or the landward edge of tidal wetlands and all waters of and lands under the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries.”

The Commission has revised the standards governing buffers in the critical area.  As defined by Title 27 of the Critical Area Commission for the Chesapeake and Atlantic Coastal Bays, a buffer “…means a naturally vegetated area or vegetated area, established or managed to protect aquatic, wetland, shoreline, and terrestrial environments from man-made disturbances.”

The Commission’s new regulations will go into effect on Monday, March 8, 2010.   The revisions to Title 27 maintain the original definition of a buffer, but set revised standards of compliance for buffer establishment, planting and mitigation, and management plans.  Basically, they have adjusted the standards for the size of a buffer, what type of vegetation and how much must be planted on a buffer zone and how individuals applying for permits will manage and preserve the established buffer.

The Maryland Department of Natural Resources is extremely optimistic that the new measures will “…improve water quality and protect wildlife habitat.”

Searching for Ghost Crab Pots

Ghost Crab Pots - Courtesy NOAA

For the past two weeks, watermen in Maryland’s part of the Chesapeake Bay have been hard at work. Not fishing for crabs, but rather collecting crab pots. These efforts were part of the Department of Natural Resources Ghost Crab Pot Retrieval Program.

The program is meant to help clean up the Bay and improve the blue crab industry. Some 360 watermen have pulled out nearly 1,500 ghost crab pots since February 22nd.

The program has received much praise from state and congressional leaders. Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley told The Bay Net, “This is a great opportunity, because it not only improves the health of the Chesapeake Bay, but provides watermen with work.”

Why are removing these “ghost” or non-usable crab pots necessary? According to The Bay Net, pots can only last in salt water for about two years; they may then become unattached to their buoy and be sitting at the bottom of the Bay still catching the precious crabs that no one will be able to enjoy.

When people are out on the Bay, crab pot buoys can be seen everywhere, but how many more are underneath capturing crabs? Do people even think about this? State Officials told the Associated Press that they estimate thousands of pots have been lost.

One Step at a Time

There is always an 800-pound gorilla in the room. That one subject no-one really wants to talk about. In the discussions on how to save the waters and shoreline of Chesapeake Bay, and the entire six-state watershed that leads to the estuary, the one subject that’s never really broached is the American lifestyle.

We all contribute to the pollution and devastation around us. We put artificial fertilizers on our lawns, we waste water, we have too many dogs and cats, we prefer lawns over trees, and we want easy, practical and cheaper living, not less convenient, more expensive, environmentally friendly lifestyles. I am among this group.

But perhaps there are ways to improve bio-diversity, water quality and the urban environment without having to pull on a hair-shirt and wash out of a bucket.

One way suggested by scientists in England and published in the February edition of the magazine Trends in Ecology and Evolution is to use private gardens as socio-ecological constructs and developing wildlife-friendly gardening.

The authors say that as urbanization increases and “the natural environment becomes increasingly fragmented, the importance of urban green spaces for conservation grows”. Gardens, they argue, are not isolated, they exist in conjunction with other gardens, parks and nature reserves and can link to form habitat networks. With that in mind, they suggest that neighbors coordinate their garden plantings in such a way as to encourage bio-diversity.

Of course, that would require talking to your neighbors. It would also require thinking about what you are planting and how you are gardening in a completely different way.

Environmental landscapers are already thinking along these lines. Luke Jessup of Father Nature Restorative Landscaping in the DC area (perhaps understanding the individual vs community dynamic) recommends a mix of mini-environments in one garden: a meadow in one area, fruit, vegetables, flowers that attract pollinators, and no chemicals.

Saving the Bay, keeping waters clean and soils healthy, encouraging biodiversity, working with rather than dominating the environment, are all goals that will require collective thought and effort and considerable changes to the way people currently live. Maybe taking small steps, such as in one’s own back yard, is one way to start.

Farm Bill Funds Curbs for Runoff

The 2008 federal Farm Bill authorized the Department of Agriculture to allocate $188 million in assistance to farmers over four years in order to address the top cause of pollution in the Chesapeake Bay — agricultural runoff.

In 2009, the first year of this four-year program, nearly $23 million was released for this purpose, according to the Chesapeake Bay Program. Funds were allocated to each of the watershed states for a variety of agricultural conservation practices.

The funding  seems to be a result of changes to the federal Farm Bill that the Chesapeake Bay Commission proposed to Congress in 2007. In a report titled “2007 Federal Farm Bill: Concepts for Conservation Reform in the Chesapeake Bay Region,” the Chesapeake Bay Commission asked Congress to adopt several recommendations for the upcoming renewal of the farm bill.  The authors reported that increasingly farmers were being asked to support and implement practices outside of their financial capabilities. The commission suggested that the Farm Bill should provide funding to help alleviate these costs.

In prior reports, the commission had concluded that if certain agricultural practices were implemented,  it could reduce the $19 billion price tag for a bay clean-up originally outlined in “Cost Of A Clean Bay.” The authors of that report wrote that the most cost effective ways of cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay involved changes to agricultural practices.

The 2008 Farm Bill calls for the $188 million to go to “Conservation Activities,” which are defined as “conservation systems, practices, or management measures designed to address a resource concern.” However, the bill doesn’t specify which conservation practices the money will fund.

On its Web site, Chesapeake Bay Program itemizes the types of agricultural conservation practices that are most common. The site lists these practices:

Nutrient management planning- plans designed to optimize crop production while reducing the amount of agricultural runoff.

Cover crops- certain crops that can be planted during the off seasons to soak up excess nutrients.

Animal and poultry litter reduction– strategies include proper ways of applying manure to croplands, developing manure-storage facilities and keeping livestock away from streams

Grass and forested buffers– program for planting grass and trees along farm fields and pastures

Conservation tillage– systems for leaving more areas of farm fields covered with crops or vegetation.

Too Much Manure Around the Bay

There was a scene in the movie Blow, starring Johnny Depp, where Depp’s character and his business associate were making so much money from selling cocaine that there was no where in the house to put it. All the rooms were flush with greenbacks. It eventually came to the point where a third-party location was needed to store the money.

Well, in the case of the Chesapeake bay, it’s not denominations that are piling up, but manure. Too much of it.

This is undoubtedly more fodder to the environmentalists’ quarrel with the impacts of agriculture.

Maryland lawmakers and environmentalists have both acknowledged this problem, with Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.)  proposing a bill that will allow farmers to sell their pollutants to other polluters to reduce the pile-up.   Some farmers see the proposed bill as a threat to their business, feeling that it will increase costs on poop removal that they would otherwise use toward farm production.

As the Washington Post explained:

*The reasons for manure’s rise as a pollutant have to do, environmentalists say, with a shift in agriculture and a soft spot in the law.

In recent decades, livestock raising has shifted to a smaller number of large farms. At these places, with thousands of hogs or hundreds of thousands of chickens, the old self-contained cycle of farming — manure feeds the crops, then the crops feed the animals — is overwhelmed by the large amount of waste.

The result in farming-heavy places has been too much manure and too little to do with it. In the air, that extra manure can dry into dust, forming a “brown fog.” It can emit substances that contribute to climate change.

And it can give off a smell like a punch to the stomach.

Source: Washington Post

Animal feces feed unnatural algae blooms that cause dead zones in the Bay. As long as manure remains in abundance, restoration of the bay will become harder and harder.

Local Tributary Produces New Type of Oyster

The York River in Virginia is producing oysters that taste just a little bit different.

The York is a tributary of the Chesapeake Bay and the above-average rain that the Bay experienced in 2009 has made York oysters taste like they are from Maryland.

“They tasted like they’re from the Potomac,” Tommy Leggett said to the Daily Press blog. Leggett is an oyster scientist with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.

The new taste is attributed to lower saline levels in the river, due to the excess rainwater.

Diseases that affect oysters, such as MSX and Dermo, thrive in high salinity. The more diluted the water is, the less these diseases can affect the oysters, making it easier for the oysters to grow.

While storm-water runoff is a large factor in Chesapeake Bay pollution, the York is unique to other tributaries because it does not drain an urban area.

So, for now, the oyster population is getting a chance to thrive in the York River,  even if these soft little molluscs might taste different.

Ospreys Signal Spring Time on Bay

How does it feel to spend winter in the tropical weather of the Caribbean and spring in the chiller climate of the Chesapeake Bay ? Well, if ospreys could talk, they could surely answer that.

This month, despite the record snowfall in Maryland this year, ospreys are expected to make an appearance around the bay.

This is obviously a boost to the tourism appeal of the Chesapeake Bay, as springtime is the start of a season when visitors will hang out by the waters. The blizzards this past winter cast some concerns regarding how tourism would be affected.

As Pamela Wood reports in the Annapolis Capital:

Bird watchers and nature lovers eagerly await the annual return of the ospreys.

“It is a harbinger of spring,” said Elaine Friebele, education coordinator at the Jug Bay Wetlands Sanctuary, which is one of the best local spots for osprey-watching.

There are plenty of other signs of spring on the Chesapeake Bay, too – fish preparing to spawn, tundra swans and other waterfowl leaving, buds sprouting on trees, peeper frogs singing their spring chorus – but ospreys are perhaps the most beloved.

“We’re going to see ospreys within two weeks, which is pretty cool,” said John Page Williams, a senior naturalist at the nonprofit Chesapeake Bay Foundation.

Below is a video on the wildlife on bay:

Local Companies Go Pervious on ‘Extreme Makeover: Home Edition’

'Extreme Makeover: Home Edition' in Prince George's County

A company from the Washington, D.C., area put its pervious paving in the spotlight earlier this month on ABC’s popular Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. Filming took place over the summer, according to a Bay-region blog, and the cumulative cost of concrete (not all pervious) between the two featured projects totaled about $100,000.

One project, a home in Hyattsville, received a patio built with pervious concrete, thanks to the construction of Chaney Enterprises, out of Waldorf, Md. The company also laid down a pervious sidewalk at the second project, the Fishing School community center in Brentwood.

This prime-time display is a step forward for reducing impervious surfaces –perhaps it will spark more paving of this kind throughout the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Chaney Enterprises features pervious pavement and a “Go Green” section to their web site.

For more on the benefits of pervious pavement, here’s a video with graphics that help illustrate the sponge-like effects of the pavement.