Thus Concludes the Blog by Emily Grace Sarver-Wolf

Today concluded our ecological restoration class. I have said that this class has embodied what I would call an ideal college class, and I know my classmates feel similarly. It was very rewarding to hear about an issue in lecture, and then to go out and help and work on the problem. On our first day of class, Dr. Olson asked each of us Derrick Jensen’s classic question: would the world be better off if you had never been born. Each of us concluded that thus far, our lives have had an overall detrimental effect on the health of the planet, which is a heavy thing to admit. I personally have dedicated my life to trying to change the answer to that question, and this class has been a huge step in the right direction.  Trying to be a net gain on the health of the planet will certainly take my whole life, and be a constant struggle. This class prepared each of us in different ways for this battle. We all have more experience and more knowledge of what this battle will require from each of us. Even though this is the last blog post, this is by no means the end of our ecological restoration efforts.

The Eco-Warrior Sweater Vest Manifesto: This is the sound of Ecological Restoration

 

1. Fishing Song by Taj Mahal (dedicated to Julius)

 

2. Blue Diamond Mine by Jean Ritchie (dedicated to Buckeye)

3. James River Blues by Old Crow Medicine Show (dedicated to the Coal River Grille)

4. Paradise by John Prine (dedicated to coal miners)

5. Under Pressure by David Bowie (dedicated to coal and hydric soils)

6. One way or Another by Blondie (dedicated to Tammy Horn’s weedeater)

 

7. Have you ever seen the Rain by Credence Clearwater Revival (dedicated to Fishtrap)

 

8. Here comes the Sun by the Beatles (dedicated to Karen)

 

9. We’re not gonna take it by Twisted Sister (dedicated to high bush honeysuckle)

 

10. For What it’s Worth by Buffalo Springfield (dedicated to Richard)

11. I will Survive by Gloria Gaynor (dedicated to oysters)

12. All the Singe Ladies by Beyoncé (dedicated to spat)

 

13. Black Water by the Doobie Brothers (dedicated to Becca)

 

14. Cornbread and Butterbeans by the Carolina Chocolate Drops (dedicated to Jordan)

 

15. Over the Hills and Far Away by Led Zeppelin (dedicated to Emily Grace)

16.  Dust in the Wind by Kansas (dedicated to sand)

17. When the Levee Breaks by Led Zeppelin (dedicated to the weather during this class, and tropical storms)

18. It’s the End of the World as we Know it by R.E.M. (dedicated to the planet)

Final day in the Chesapeake, by Julius Neill

Hello again! Today we were fortunate enough to wake up dry thanks to the graciousness of CBF who let us come inside out of the rain last night to sleep. We headed to the eastern shore of Maryland around the Grasonville area to meet up with Ned Gerber of the non-profit Chesapeake Wildlife Heritage. We were in awe as we entered an absentee estate. The tall planted pines along the driveway led us up to a mansion from the 1930's. Our mouths literally dropped to learn about the history of the site and the nature of the property. The original owner avoided some taxes by living in Maryland and FLYING to work everyday in New York. Ned has been working with the current owner to increase the amount of wetlands and buffer strips around the farmed property. Corn and soybeans are grown by the farmers who rent some of the land for around $80-100 an acre. Through the Farm Bill the land owner can receive more than double that rental cost for acres that are set aside as buffers and wetlands. This is a great incentive to continue farming but incorporate practices that help to contain nutrients and soil.

Walking through no-till corn fields, a production method
that is less destructive and helps to keep nitrogen,
phosphorus, and sediment out of the bay.

      The wetlands are created by first checking soil maps and topographical gradients to see where a wetland would potentially have been in the past or where it would do the best now. Then the soil is probed to check the data and a mapped plan is set in motion. The average amount of drainage into these wetlands varies from only a few acres up to a hundred which determines the size and number of emergency spillways that need to be created. The average depth for these wetlands is very shallow, rarely above two or three feet because many wetland plant species require oxygen for germination and therefore will need to dry out during some part of the year. Weirs and drain pipes are also installed to keep the water level in check. The landowner can see monetary value in creating these buffers and wetlands but the farmers can also be benefited because wetlands help hold in water which keeps the water table closer to the surface helping crops, especially when threats of drought and severe weather become more apparent.

Julius Neill creates wildlife
habitat with logs in wetlands.

A weir blocks the drainage
pipe of a wetland to control
water level.

     Although money is a great incentive for people to move their land into natural systems there are other values too. One way that a lot people are "hooked" to create wetlands is wildlife like waterfowl and fish. I can really relate to this because my experiences of fishing and outdoor adventure as a young adult really helped sparked my admiration and desire to retain and restore the natural world and its' bounty. I can also think back to how natural systems can be more profitable than man made created systems. For instance, rain forests can provide an abundance of fruit which will forever provide sustenance and cash but the timber value will take decades to regenerate if cut. Additionally it can be so easy to work with nature rather than against it. It seems insane to me that we try so hard to irrigate places like the southwest desert for fruit and nut trees. I am also reminded that resources are there if you look in the right place. There is so much stuff in the world from man made objects like cars and pre-cut boards to natural things like fish and berries. If we look in the right place and put in a little bit of work we can get these things for next to nothing. I love making something out of nothing. It is a great feeling to know you can rely on your smarts and craftiness instead of buying your way out.
       We were so lucky to have had the opportunity to visit the Chesapeake Bay and the surrounding area. I have learned more than I can write on this blog without drowning our page with information but I hope these bits and thoughts are spurring and enjoyable. We concluded today's efforts with a walk along the beach, great conversation, and also saved some Horseshoe Crabs. It will be a memorable day and trip for sure and I would be lying if I said that a part of me does not want to remain a part of the Chesapeake Bay.

Horseshoe crabs are living fossils, but when they wash up
on shore, they often flip and can't right themselves.
How have they survived for millions of years?

Maryland Department of Natural Resources and Tropical Storm Andrea, by Karen Reynolds

After spending nearly a week with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and meeting with other non-profit organizations who are working for the Bay, we met with a representative form the Maryland Department of Natural Resources for a state government perspective.  Michael Naylor is the Director of the Fisheries Service Shellfish Program and was gracious enough to come discuss the efforts that the DNR is taking to protect oysters and other bivalves in the state of Maryland.  

Mr. Naylor's job is very difficult.  He serves as a mediator between environmental groups, legislators, watermen, farmers, and others who all have their own opinions about what the government should do regarding the Bay.  His job is to make compromises, as well as promote the most scientifically and economically sound management of the Bay's vast resources.  This obviously leads to conflicts and unhappiness on all sides.  As he stated, "if everyone is angry with you, you're probably doing something right."  

Under the current government, the Maryland DNR has a ten point oyster plan that spans everything from creating new sanctuaries where no oyster harvest can occur to integrating inmate labor into the restoration efforts.  More about this plan can be found at http://www.dnr.state.md.us/fisheries/oysters/eco_resto/

The DNR has had some great successes in the past 4 years.  They have successfully lobbied against bills that would have allowed for highly invasive power dredging that would have decimated the remaining oyster reefs.  They have increased the percentage of protected oyster sanctuaries from 3% to 24%.  They have increased the law enforcement presence around protected reefs to prevent poaching.  The DNR has also gained the right to revoke the oyster licenses from convicted poachers, which can provide a stronger incentive against illegal harvesting than the often negligible fines that are imposed on them.  

But, according to Mr. Naylor, the greatest threat the oyster faces in the Chesapeake Bay is disease.  The average reduction of oysters in the Bay due to harvesting each year is about 18%.  This is also only a reduction of oysters that have reached "market size", which is 3 inches in the state of Maryland.  As a comparison, disease outbreaks can kill off up to 90% of a native population.  However, disease is not something that neither the DNR or organizations like CBF can do very much about.  It is something that has to be solved through natural selection, which can take thousands of years (or more) and will result in the death of numerous oysters that lack natural resistance to the diseases.  Unfortunately, this futility is not something that brings people together for restoration projects.  Also, even though commercial oyster harvest may not be the leading cause of decline, it still impacts the ability of oyster populations to gain any type of resistance because it removes all the adult oysters, whether they are resistant or not.

All in all, the goals of the DNR are to make the Bay an environmentally and economically viable region.  This means that they are trying to create a place for watermen and conservationists alike.  Mr. Naylor, and the rest of his staff, have a very delicate, but very important job to do.  Their contribution, on both a restoration and legislative level is invaluable. 

On a weather related note, the class would like to extend our thanks to the CBF for letting us move into their building for the night as tropical storm Andrea makes its way up the coast.  We will continue to save the Bay from the comfort of their beautiful LEED Platinum certified office.  

Reversing Chesapeake Desertification by Jordan Engel

Healthy ecosystems are resilient. They can handle change up to certain point until they crash in a devastating loss of biodiversity. That is precisely what happened to the Chesapeake Bay about a hundred years ago, when one species was over-harvested: Chesapeake Gold. Crassostrea virginia. The Eastern Oyster.

Chesapeake Blue Crab

People, being a terrestrial species, don't often think about the other 70% of the Earth. When people talk about biodiversity loss, it's usually described in land-centric terms like "desertification". What they don't realize is that the same process is happening on a massive scale in the water world. The Chesapeake Bay, where we have been actively studying this process, is an estuary. Estuaries are the most biodiverse aquatic biomes in the world. They are the rainforests of the water - and in a world that is mostly water, estuaries hold a significant place in the web of life. In just the few days that we've been camping on the beach here in Maryland, we've come across herons, egrets, ospreys, geese, mallards, shad, perch, rockfish, gobies, blue crabs, horseshoe crabs, mud crabs, eels, water snakes, deer, fox, rabbits, diamondback turtles, muskrats, mussels, clams, oysters, and feral Berea College students.

The Chesapeake is the largest estuary in the United States, and it's vast biological wealth lives primarily in three habitats: sea grasses, emergent wetlands, and oyster reefs. Losing those critical habitats is altering the ecology of the bay drastically. Said in land-centric terms, the bay is going from rainforest to desert within a few generations.

A new sign marking the oyster reef.

To stop the desertification of the Chesapeake, the government, NGO's, and regular people are actively attempting to restore those habitats, beginning with the oyster reefs. We got a taste of what it takes to restore an oyster reef today when staff from the Chesapeake Bay Foundation took us canoeing on Black Walnut Creek. Paddling to the headwaters of the stream, we first took measurements for salinity and dissolved oxygen to determine if it provided suitable conditions for the oysters. They prefer brackish water, but can tolerate conditions ranging from 5 ppt salinity in tidal creeks to 35 ppt salinity in the ocean.

Becca Shaw pulls oyster clusters
from the reef for closer study.

An oyster reef had previously been planted in the creek, but it's location was uncertain and took some searching for by the class. Once we found the reef we installed a sign to mark it and took a few samples of oyster clusters to measure their growth. Closer to the shore, oysters in cages were growing in a "nursery," waiting to be transported to the reef. As we pulled these cages from creek, signs were already starting to appear of other creatures like mud crabs, eels, and barnacles using the oysters for habitat. After cleaning off the shells a little bit, the oysters were canoed out to the reef and dumped along the edges, expanding the reef and adding new generations of oysters.

Leaving our mark on a CBF shell shaker.

          Today we spent our time with members of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) at The Shady Side Oyster Restoration Center. Our primary task of the day was "shaking shell" which helps to clean and sort oyster shells before oyster larvae can "set" on them. Before taking this class, I had little to no knowledge of the life cycles of oysters, and I had no idea why spending the day cleaning shells would help restore the Chesapeake Bay. Now I think that the way we sent our day is one of the best things to do for oysters, and consequently the health of the Bay over all.

          Oysters begin their lives as microscopic larvae (here is a link to a picture from one of CBFs blogs of oyster larvae http://cbf.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8341bfb5353ef0168eba978f1970c-800wi) and pretty much all larvae do is swim around, eat algae, and not much else. After a few weeks, the larvae become "hot" meaning that they have developed enough to look for a place to cement themselves (also called setting), begin to grow, and form a shell. Oyster larvae can't set just anywhere, they need a place that is hard and sturdy, and the ideal place place for them to set is on other oyster shells. After an oyster larvae has set, it is referred to as "spat", or "spat on shell". I highly recommend saying "spat on shell" out loud at your next available opportunity, because it is disproportionately fun to say. Eventually, when baby oysters set on older oysters, they begin to form big reefs, which provide excellent habitat for for many of the other inhabitants of the bay.

          Organizations like CBF and Horn Point Hatchery (where we toured yesterday) are working on restoring oyster reefs in the bay, and since oyster reefs provide excellent habitat for many species, they filter the bay, and they provide income to the people living around the bay, these organizations see oysters as critical to improving the overall health on the bay. Since oyster larvae like to set on old oyster shells, the first place to start when forming an oyster reef, is to make sure the larvae have shells to grow on. However, before oyster shells can be used to make a reef, they need to sit in the sun for about a year to kill any diseases or pathogens on the shells. As they sit, the shells chip and degrade a little, and dirt and other things can get incorporated into the pile of shells, making them less ideal for larvae to set on, which is where our class comes in.

Emily Grace doing some serious "shell shaking" to prepare
them for spat-on-shell.

Introducing the bagged oyster larvae from Horn Point to water.

          Our class and other CBF workers shoveled oyster shells onto large screens, and shook them so that the small shell fragments and dirt would fall through, leaving only the big, intact, cleaner shells. We then dumped them into metal cages (which were specifically designed for this) and once they were full, a forklift took them to the dock near the 4 oyster setting tanks, where they were moved by crane into the tanks. Each cage, when full of oyster shells, weighs around one ton. 1 of the tanks was ready to go with shells, but the other 3 were not. Our class accounted for shaking 13 tons of the 24 tons of shells that were cleaned today, setting a record for Shady Side. After the cages were placed in the tanks, our class got to introduce the oyster larvae that we picked up at Horn Point the day before, which was a real treat. The oyster larvae will stay in the tanks for a few weeks until they become spat on shell, and then they will be taken for a ride in the Patricia Campbell, CBFs oyster restoration vessel (which we also got a tour of) and placed in a reef somewhere in the bay.

Pouring the oyster larvae into setting tanks where they'll
become spat-on-shell. Eventually the shells will be added to
reefs by the Patricia Campbell (right).

Reef balls pulled from the bay, covered with oysters.

          Despite the sweating, the sunburns, the jammed fingers, and the fact that my arms still feel a little bit like wet noodles, I found our work shaking shell to feel highly rewarding, and I am sure my classmates do too. Our class has officially been a part of restoring the bay, and the knowledge that our 12 million oyster children will soon be doing their part to help save the bay is an uplifting feeling.

A Day On The Eastern Shore- Rebecca Shaw

Today our class awoke to a bright sunny morning on the bay, the rains of the past few days have moved on and the sky looked clear for our day on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. After a delicious breakfast of fresh Rockfish, caught and prepared by members of our class, we headed off to the far side of the bay.

Our first stop was the Horn Point Laboratory (http://www.umces.edu/hpl), where we received a tour from Julie, the general assistant. This laboratory is located on the Choptank River near Cambridge, and it is a major player in bay restoration projects. At this lab scientists and interns work to grow Eastern Oyster larvae (Crassostrea virginica), these larvae are then set on shells and placed in the bay to help rebuild the dwindling oyster reefs. During our tour we learned about the entire process of breeding the oysters, rearing the oyster larvae, or spat, the food these oysters are given, and a variety of other topics related to the bay oysters.

Horn Point is primarily run through State and Federal funding, and the generous donations of citizens concerned with the state of the bay. This laboratory gives back to the locals by offering tours and classes, including classes for watermen that are interested in learning more about the oysters that provide their livelihoods. We left the laboratory with a cooler full of oyster larvae to be transported back to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation Headquarters in Annapolis. We were given the honorable task of carrying 12 million babies that will be introduced to the bay tomorrow during our restoration work.

Our next meeting was with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation in Easton MD. While we were there we met with Bess Trout, the Eastern Shore Grassroots Field Specialist for Maryland. Over a lunch at a local cafe we spoke about Trout's work with the CBF and plans for the area regarding bay restoration and education. One of the events that we discussed is the Clean Water Concert Series (http://www.attractionmag.com/index.php/event/clean-water-concert-series/), one of these concerts which  be held next weekend on June 8th. During this lunch we also met with Tom Leigh, a local Riverkeeper. Mr. Leigh described his work which includes helping with the project Marylanders Grow Oysters (MGO), patrolling rivers in the area, helping locals with questions about the bay and it's tributaries, and many other duties. Mr. Leigh's job is especially important because he is a link to the locals out on the water. He serves both as a guardian to the rivers but also a source of information to people in the area. We also spoke with Eric Fisher, who works with the CBF on issues of policy at the local, state, and federal levels.

This meeting was extremely educational because it showed us the level of collaboration involved in the restoration of the bay. This work needs to be implemented across state lines, in small towns and major cities, throughout the entire bay watershed. With the hard work of these organizations and their volunteers, the bay has a real chance to be restored to it's former glory.

Becca Shaw leaves with a special delivery:
12 million larval oysters in a cooler.

Rain, shine, or snow we will continue!

Our class arrived at Annapolis, Maryland last evening to settle into our campsite and prepare for a week of oyster restoration, informative meetings, and personal exploration between cultures and values. The trip went smoothly but our evening was met with some serious thunderstorms. This happy camper was pleased to smell the ocean air this morning but am currently on the brink of falling asleep! However, just like restoration, there is always a motive to keep going no matter what the situation.

We learned an incredible amount today about the current political, social, economical, and even philosophical situation of the Chesapeake watershed thanks to Bevin Bucchheister of the Chesapeake Bay Commission. She was gracious enough to meet us for about three hours over lunch and answer our many questions. She began her presentation with a number of important facts. One which was in particularly astounding to me was the ratio of land being drained to the size of the bay itself. The Chesapeake is the largest estuary system in the United States but is comparitively shallow to other global bodies of water such as the Mediterranean Sea. These facts make legislation and cooperation between the federal, state, city, and county governments very difficult. For instance, New York does have parts that drain into Bay but see less of the effects that are enforced upon them to help the Bay. One of these efforts that is currently underway is known is the Total Maximum Daily Load which estimates how much sediment and nutrients is allowable in a waterway. It is part of a goal to increase the cleanliness of the Bay and its’ many tributaries.

One thing that we all must remember is our footprint. Our actions do have impacts to the environment. Even though one may be far away from the end of a water system the effects of pollution and degradation get exponentially worse as you travel downstream. Luckily legislation and public opinion understands this and is working with farmers and developers to improve their practices. Developers were recently restricted on the number of homes per acre of new developments based on the problems which septic systems incur. Private home septic systems are typically less efficient than public municipalities at reducing nitrogen from waste and therefore developing subdivisions have a greater impact than inner city homes because they are linked into the sewage treatment system. Farmers are also being encouraged to follow Best Management Practices like no-till systems. They are also being incentivized to meet the guidelines that must be met by 2025, but sooner instead of later, on their management plans.

Although legislation can take up to ten or more years to meet the needs of the public there are success stories like Bevin’s fertilizer plan. Bevin aptly organized the influenced parties this bill would effect and collectively created an equally hurtful, and helpful plan. Although each party was going “to take a hit,” no one had to take it all. This understanding allowed the bill to pass much sooner, about two years, which is essential to restoration (the bill lowered nitrogen content in lawn fertilizers and helped develop management strategies for homeowners amoung other things). As we have learned, before you can begin to heal a system you must first stop the problem that made it, and find a way to fix it.

Today was a great start to this trip and I’m looking forward to the rest of the week, I hope you, our readers, will continue following us on our trip and I assure you we will not let you down!

Julius' first rockfish.