Tracking what happens along river

Students tracing 350-mile St. Mary’s watershed area

Friday, June 13, 2008

Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photo by JESSE YEATMAN Katie Zdilla, left, and Lauren Smith, interns from St. Mary’s College of Maryland, document a stream off Indian Bridge Road that is part of the St. Mary’s River watershed. The St. Mary’s River Watershed Association is documenting the 350 miles of tributaries and river shoreline to come up with a management plan. ‘‘We’ve learned to appreciate any sky we see. It gets like this fast every day,” Zdilla said of the thick growth covering much of the watershed. E-Mail This Article | Print This Story

The St. Mary’s River Watershed Association, St. Mary’s County government and St. Mary’s College of Maryland partnered for the grant-funded project. The watershed plan will rely on a stream study done by several hired college students who are walking and boating this summer along the hundreds of miles of shoreline that extend over some 47,000 acres.

‘‘We have to walk every mile of stream,” said Bob Paul. Paul is a college biology professor and vice president of the watershed association. He is leading the field study, which will be followed up by a comprehensive written report with mapped results.

‘‘A lot of the streams in St. Mary’s County are pretty clean,” college intern Lauren Smith said. ‘‘These streams are pristine compared to what I see sometimes,” around her home in Baltimore County.

The Chesapeake 2000 agreement called for states to establish water management plans for at least 50 percent of the bay’s watershed. In St. Mary’s only one watershed – Breton Bay – had a plan worked up and that was done about six years ago.

With the St. Mary’s River Watershed Association already formed and active, it was a natural choice to move on a plan for its area.

The group cooperated with county government to get land records and maps of the watershed and coordinated with the college for staff and other resources.

‘‘It is only for information so we know what the scope of the problem is,” Paul said of the field work.

However, some residents are worried it is more than this, and with bad feelings left over from the college’s new boat house on the St. Mary’s River shoreline, many have said their properties are off limits.

Of the 800 or so property owners who live within the study area, about 50 contacted Paul to tell him not to come on their properties. He said many of those simply said the creek or stream was dried up or nonexistent within their boundaries or were concerned about the liability if the students were to get hurt while on their properties.

Some were more disgruntled, though, and objected to the lateness of the notification or the participation of the college in the project turned them off. Beginning last year, residents near the college have criticized the new construction along the riverfront that included replacing the old boat house and building a new river center with classrooms and meeting space.

‘‘If people object to us being there, we won’t go on the property,” Paul said.

The students also avoid properties posted with no trespassing signs and retreat if anyone confronts them while in the field.

They will mostly be looking at the condition of the stream beds, water quality and the banks. However, they will take notice of any significant shoreline erosion or if there is activity or objects along the shoreline that look like they do not belong.

Egregious violations will be reported to the Maryland Department of the Environment, Paul said.

The hope is to provide suggestions for landowners to help stabilize shorelines and restore stream habitat. The plan could have an impact on more far-reaching policies, too. ‘‘Probably the county’s zoning ordinance will change and there will be remediation activity taking place,” Paul said.

Sue Veith, environmental planner with the St. Mary’s County Department of Land Use and Growth Management, emphasized the project is not intended for any enforcement actions from that department.

‘‘I think this thing reeks exactly as how horrible the boat house thing was handled” by St. Mary’s College, said St. Mary’s City resident Donald Beck. He said the credibility of anything related to the watershed association or the college was destroyed last year after the new riverfront buildings were allowed to go up on the shores of St. Mary’s River without adequate public involvement.

‘‘The project does not bother me as much. What really bothers me is how it was handled,” he said of the current study. The letter that was sent arrived at his home nine days before a deadline to respond.

‘‘Unless you respond within nine days, we can come and tramp around on your property,” Beck said. ‘‘I felt it was really an intrusion.”

Another neighboring resident who asked his name not be used agreed, saying that he also chose not to participate in the study due to the college’s involvement and the failure to get the letters out in a timely manner.

The study is funded by the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration through the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. Money arrived from the government later than expected, which delayed notification to residents, Paul said.

‘‘We’re on a real tight schedule,” Paul said.

The field study phase will cost $78,000, which pays for stipends for each student and Paul, fuel costs, postage and some other incidentals. The overall funding for the study is $250,000.

In addition to the five college interns there will be two high school volunteers working on the project part of the summer.

College intern Andrew Keppel said he was surprised at how much land is along the river and its tributaries was undeveloped. ‘‘The St. Mary’s is considered to be one of the cleanest rivers on the bay,” he said.

Paul is familiar with a lot of the watershed, having boated or hiked much of it over his time in the county.

‘‘I don’t know of any real bad sites,” Paul said.

As the students bushwhack their way through the underbrush, they periodically stop to document the scene and take a photograph. Some of the things they encounter are exposed pipes, fish barriers (artificial or manmade) and erosion.

If the erosion is particularly bad, usually at a bend or at the bottom of a steep slope along a stream, the interns stop to document it. Otherwise, they take measurements and photos at least once a mile. Those photos will be linked to a digital map and 2007 aerial photos of the watershed.

‘‘There’s a lot of before and after and how things were fixed; it was really amazing,” intern Rebecca Wright said of other studies. ‘‘Hopefully a lot of the things are going to be fixed.”