[APWG] The Guardians of Chesapeake Bay

[Marc Imlay]

In this article I have balanced invasive species control with other programs
for restoration and protection. Marc 

  _____  

 

 

WILD ONES JOURNAL   July/August 2006

Page 18-19

Reprinted from Wild Ones Journal, July/August 2006 issue; newsletter of Wild
Ones: Native Plants, Natural Landscapes; www.for-wild.org
<http://www.for-wild.org/>  .

Marc is a member of Wild Ones.

 

 

Stewardship News

 

The Guardians of Chesapeake Bay

 

By Marc Imlay

 

The Chesapeake Bay Watershed has been heavily urbanized. As a result most
natural areas are relatively small, and are surrounded by cities, highways,
and agriculture. It consists of islands of nature in a sea of development.
Its ecological history includes the full range of mid-Atlantic temperate
climate habitats. Maryland was 80% contiguous forest and 20% open in
pre-colonial times. Most of Maryland and much of Virginia and Pennsylvania,
as well as the District of Columbia are in the watershed ranging from the
marine environment, upstream to the Piedmont and the eastern end of the
ridges and valleys of the Appalachian Mountains. There are shale barrens and
serpentine barrens, limestone caves, and the northern most bald cypress
swamp in America, Battle Creek Cypress Swamp in Calvert County, Maryland. 

 

Guardians of the Bay    

Fortunately there are literally hundreds of environmental groups working
very hard to save the remaining areas from development and rescuing the
protected areas from non-native invasive species, erosion and pollution. 

   The Anacostia Watershed Society 

(www.anacostiaws.org) complements wetland restoration, native tree planting,
stream bank stabilization, non-native invasive species control, and water
quality monitoring with advocacy and environmental education in the local
schools. We have dramatically rescued the 150-acre Little Paint Branch Park
in Beltsville Maryland, a biological gem with a Virginia Magnolia wetland of
special concern, from over 20% coverage of Japanese stiltgrass, English ivy,
oriental bittersweet, mltiflora rse, Japanese and bush honeysucke, and
mile-a-minute vine to less than 15% in just one year.   

   The Chapman Forest Foundation 

(www.chapmanforest.org), Maryland Native Plant Society (www.mdflora.org) and
Sierra Club (www.marylandsierraclub.org) with many other groups rescued
2,400 acres of mature forest with over a mile of unspoiled Potomac River
shoreline from the largest housing development in Maryland. Geologists have
surveyed the unique natural area and have observed that the unusual
geological formations constitute conditions favorable to unusual assemblages
of plant and animal life. Acidic conditions on the gravel terraces defer to
highly calcium-rich (calcareous) pockets in lower areas. Shells in
fossil-laden marine clays contribute to these calcareous areas. These
conditions overlay a relatively undisturbed tract, including ravines so
steeply sloped that past clearing was hindered, so that a broad assemblage
of flora and fauna persist, including many state rare, threatened, and
endangered species  

 

Botanists have verified that acid-soil loving plants indeed coexist in close
proximity with calciphilic (calcium-loving) communities, so that communities
unusual for the coastal plain thrive here, including the largest Maryland
population of the state-endangered, calciphilic, glade fern and a dozen 1-2
foot diameter sassafras trees. Malacologists have identified a unique
assemblage of snails that includes three "limestone" species rare or
unexpected on the coastal plain.  

   Save Crow's Nest (www.savecrowsnest.org) In Northern Virginia across the
Potomac River from Chapman Forest is striving to save Stafford County's
3,800-acre Crow's Nest peninsula  which includes one of the last stands of
old-growth forest in the Mid-Atlantic region. A 600-year-old pin oak, alive
when Capt. John Smith explored the area, flourishes there.  It contains some
of the rarest forest communities on earth. The undeveloped shoreline is home
to one of the largest heron rookeries in the Chesapeake Bay region.  Bald
eagles nest in the trees.  In addition, the peninsula is at a strategic
location that provides considerable protection for the seafood industry of
the Chesapeake Bay.  

   The Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay  

(www.alliancechesbay.org) is a regional nonprofit organization that fosters
partnerships to protect the bay and its rivers. For example it is sponsoring
invasive plant removal projects in Kish Creek in Lewistown, and Canoe Creek
State Park in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.  Dozens of other projects include
bay-scaping with native plants including underwater grass planting, coastal
cleanup, cover cropping to reduce nitrogen release to the Bay, and wetlands
restoration. 

   The Greenbelt Homes Inc. housing cooperative in Greenbelt, Maryland has a
great program to rescue the woodlands first established by the First Lady,
Eleanor Roosevelt, from a cover that was 60% English Ivy and Multiflora
Rose. People can walk to downtown Greenbelt rather than drive, and there
actually is a greenbelt around the town circa 1940's.   Old Greenbelt has
85.6 acres of stewardship forest, as well as other wooded parcels, and is
actively involved with urban forestry management. Regular work sessions for
the removal/eradication of non-native invasive plant species and tree
plantings are scheduled throughout the year. Also scheduled are bird counts
and native landscaping seminars and guided hikes.  For more information on
GHI Woodlands Committee activities, contact Matt Berres, Landscape
Specialist, mberres at ghi.coop or 301-474-4161 ext. 132.

   Belt Woods, near Bowie Maryland includes 45 acres of virgin forest with
ancient tulip poplar trees and light-gap openings, pit and mound topography,
accumulation of downed and standing dead wood, and soils containing a rich
organic layer. The density of breeding birds remains among the highest
observed on the East Coast. Contact maureenfine at earthlink.net.

 

   Arlingtonians for a Clean Environment (www.arlingtonenvironment.org)
leads regular weekly projects to preserve Arlington County, Virginia,
natural areas in partnership with Virginia Cooperative Extension, and
Arlington Parks, Recreation and Community Resources including storm-drain
marking, backyard wildlife habitats and native plants, and RIP, Remove
Invasive Plants. 

These examples are just a small fraction of thousands of excellent programs
striving to preserve and restore native communities in the Chesapeake Bay.
For more information contact the organizations cited, other organizations
such as the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, the native plant societies and Sierra
Club chapters in the other states within the watershed and governmental
natural heritage agencies. 

 

 



Location map of Chesapeake Bay Watershed (64,000 sq. miles) 


 


 <http://www.chesapeakebay.net/../maps.htm> Home

 <http://www.chesapeakebay.net/maps/thumbnails/pages/baysubwater.htm> Next

  <http://www.chesapeakebay.net/maps/thumbnails/watrshed.gif> 

Download <http://www.chesapeakebay.net/maps/thumbnails/EPSmaps/Watrshed.eps>
EPS file 

 

The Chesapeake Bay is the nation's largest estuary. Its watershed covers
64,000 square miles, and covers six states and the District of Columbia.
Including its major tributaries, the area rises to 69,000 square miles. Map
courtesy of USDA NRCS (Natural Resources Conservation Service) NY office

 

Marc Imlay, PhD 

Conservation biologist, Anacostia Watershed Society 

(301-699-6204, 301-283-0808 301-442-5657 cell)

Board member of the Mid-Atlantic Exotic Pest Plant Council, 

Hui o Laka at Kokee State Park, Hawaii 

Vice president of the Maryland Native Plant Society, 

Chair of the Biodiversity and Habitat Stewardship Committee 

for the Maryland Chapter of the Sierra Club.

 

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