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. |
No comments:
Post a Comment