News that a federal judge has put the West Virginia northern flying squirrel back on the endangered species list took me down country roads to my home state and another time.

Judge Emmet G. Sullivan of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia vacated a 2008 decision by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to remove legal protection for the squirrels, which don't actually "fly" but can glide nearly the length of a football field between trees on wing-like membranes connecting their front and hind feet. 

Conservation groups had sued over the Bush administration action, arguing it was counter to the federal agency's own procedures and population data for the squirrel.  They argued that the creatures, which tend to live mainly in mountaintop forests, were in danger because of destruction of their habitat by logging, road building and oil and gas development. 

The groups, including Friends of Blackwater Canyon, hope the judge's decision to restore endangered species protection to the northern flying squirrel may halt or modify a large-scale timbering and defoliation project proposed for the Monongahela National Forest in West Virginia.

I'm not familiar with the dispute, but I've visited the forest, camped near Spruce Knob and admired the spectacular views at Blackwater Falls.  As for the squirrels, the news took me back decades to when my brothers and I discovered two baby flying squirrels in our backyard in South Charleston, W.Va. Far from the Monongahela, I'm sure these were southern flying squirrels, which are much more common and tend to be a bit smaller than their northern cousins.

They had apparently fallen from a treetop nest, and though uninjured, were too young to get around or feed themselves. Seeing no nest or anxious parent in the vicinity, we took them in and cared for them.  (Not a good idea, I realize now, but we didn't know better back then.)

The two squirrels grew quickly, and before long could "fly" around our house, at which point my parents decided they'd had enough and built a large cage for them out back with tree limbs in it.  We saw that they were fed, kept their cage clean and marveled at their acrobatics.  After several weeks, though, we realized they didn't belong in confinement and released them - to an uncertain fate, I'm sure, given our misguided ministrations. 

However, the experience gave me an up-close appreciation of a nocturnal creature many folks probably never see, and I'm grateful for that.   Looking back now, it's also a strong reminder that wild animals like them can't survive if we disturb their habitat willy-nilly.  And won't we be the poorer if we do?

(Photo flying squirrel courtesy Friends of Blackwater Canyon)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 6:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

With turf grass arguably Maryland's largest crop these days, there are growing calls for city and suburban dwellers to do their part to help restore the Chesapeake Bay by cutting back on fertilizing their lawns.

Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin, D-Md, joined environmental activists and the head of Baltimore's Waterfront Partnership at the harbor's edge in Fells Point today to push for passage of state and federal government action to reduce pollution from urban and suburban fertilizer.

"All of us can do a better job in how we manage our particular lawns," Cardin said during the press conference, which was staged next to a rectangular patch of grass jutting out into the harbor.  But Cardin added that government has a role to play in helping citizens and communities do what they need to do.

Noting that Maryland has 1.3 million acres of turf grass, Megan Cronin of Environment Maryland urged the state Senate to approve legislation that would regulate the nutrient content of lawn fertilizer and how it is to be applied.  The group released a report on lawn fertilizer, which you can read here.

More than a fifth of Maryland's land in the bay watershed is covered in grass, and in metro areas it's even more.  About a third of Anne Arundel County is turf, according to Chris Trumbauer, a county councilman and the West/Rhode Riverkeeper.

In Baltimore, the business-led Waterfront Partnership is pledging to do its part for cleaning up the Inner Harbor by changing how it tends the patches of green stretching from Fells Point around to Federal Hill. The group plans to limit the amount of nitrogen put down to green up those urban lawns, for instance, and cut back on fertilizing at all in sensitive areas closest to the water, said Laurie Schwartz, the group's executive director.

While supporting state and local action, Cardin also said he hoped his fellow senators would join him in opposing cuts in federal funding for the Environmental Protection Agency to enforce its "pollution diet' for the bay. 

The House cuts in federal spending this year "would be devastating to the Chesapeake Bay," Cardin said of the rider adopted at the behest of a Virginia congressman to keep EPA from going forward with its diet, or total maximum daily load, for nutrients polluting the bay.

The Maryland senator pointed out that the bay reauthorization bill he sponsored, which failed to pass last year, would have provided extra federal funds to help communities deal with runoff of fertilizer and other pollutants.  Cardin said with the GOP in control of the House and seemingly intent on blocking EPA action on the bay and a number of other environmental regulations, "It's going to be tough to pass anything."

While businesses often oppose tighter government regulation, key industry leaders support the Maryland fertilizer legislation.  Mark Schlossberg, president of Pro-Lawn Plus in Baltimore, turned up for the press conference and said he and others had negotiated a "good bill" with activists that preserves some flexibility for professional lawn services like his while accepting tighter oversight. 

Scotts Miracle-Gro Co., the leading seller of lawn fertilizer, also has backed the legislation, even after voluntarily reducing the phosphorus content of its products over the past five years.  Last week, the Ohio-based company vowed to go phosphorus-free nationwide by 2012.

Schlossberg differed with a suggestion at the press conference, though, that Marylanders should stop fertilizing altogether and convert their lawns to native plants and shrubs instead.

"Properly applied fertilizer does not run off," Schlossberg countered, arguing as well that grass is an unbeatable buffer against polluted runoff.

(Lawn service treats yard in Perry Hall. 2011 Baltimore Sun photo by Amy Davis)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 4:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

Know someone who's done outstanding work to help Maryland's environment? Nominations are being taken through April 8 for the 2011 Tawes Award for a Clean Environment and for the James B. Coulter Award.

The awards are presented jointly by the Maryland Department of the Environment and by the Maryland Petroleum Council.

The Tawes award honors an individual or a civic, community or nonprofit group demonstrating noteworthyh effort to enhance the state's environment either over time or with a single project. There are separate categories for recognizing efforts by adults and by youths. The award, being given for the 34th year, is named for J. Millard Tawes, a former governor of Maryland and the state's first secretary of natural resources.

The Coulter award, named for the state's second natural resources secretary, is intended to acknowledge extraordinary contributions to the environment by a government employee.

Winners and their guests will be honored at an awards luncheon in Annapolis. A donation will be made to the recipients' favorite nonprofit organizations, and they'll get an engraved plaque.

To learn more and to nominate someone, go here.

(J. Millard Tawes, 1952 Baltimore Sun photo)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 12:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Cold snap notwithstanding, it really is spring.  And every spring, regular as the flowers, there's a rash of stream cleanups to clear neighborhood waterways of trash and debris. 

Volunteers are being sought for Project Clean Stream this Saturday (April 2) from 9 a.m. to noon to help give facelifts to more than 165 streams that ultimately feed into the Chesapeake Bay. 

Last year, more than 3,600 volunteers ermoved more than 118,000 pounds of trash and debris.  This year, organizers are aiming to recruit 4,000 folks to haul out 150,000 pounds of rubbish.  And they're expanding the effort to include tree plantings and removal of invasive plants.

One stream cleanup that's going to need more than three hours is Bread and Cheese Creek (seen above) in eastern Baltimore County, where previous sweeps have pulled 32.5 tons of junk from its banks. Volunteers are needed there from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Picking up trash won't cure a stream's ills if it's been degraded by development and pollution.  But it will produce some visible visual improvement - and if enough people join in, maybe it'll help build public awareness of the need to address those more systemic problems throughout the watershed. 

The annual Project Clean Stream is organized by the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay, with sponsorship from Perdue Inc. and help from the Chesapeake Bay Trust. 

The Alliance's map that's supposed to show all the stream cleanups in the works doesn't appear to be working, but look at the group's Facebook page for a cleanup near you, or contact project organizer Dan Ellis directly at 443-949-0575 or dellis@allianceforthebay.org

(Volunteers pull a tire from Bread and Cheese Creek in Dundalk.  2010 Baltimore Sun photo by Kim Hairston)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 8:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
        

This year's General Assembly still has two weeks to go, but it looks like several high-profile environmental bills are in trouble.

Gov. Martin O'Malley's bid to boost development of industrial-scale wind projects off Maryland's Atlantic coast hasn't moved in either the House or Senate so far. The governor and environmentalists keep pressing for HB1054/SB861, but legislators appear wary of how much it will increase electricty rates. Meanwhile, a related administration bill, HB1227, to provide economic incentives for wind turbine manufacturers to locate in Maryland has been withdrawn.

Another gubernatorial priority - to limit development relying on septic systems - has effectively been sidetracked, with HB1107 earmarked for summer study by Del. Maggie McIntosh, chair of the House Environmental Matters Committee. 

A couple non-administration bills that are priorities of green groups are faring better, but more remain in doubt. 

On the budget, it appears the threat has been averted that lawmakers might permanently divert funding for buying parkland and playgrounds.

A bill that would delay drilling for natural gas in Maryland's Marcellus shale deposits for up to two years for more study passed the House. HB852 now awaits action in the Senate, which has already turned aside a bid by western Maryland's Sen. George Edwards to require the state Department of the Environment to complete its reivew of issues around hydraulic fracturing by the end of this year.

Legislation that would levy a nickel fee on throwaway plastic and paper store bags, HB1034, remains in committee, though.  And a bill that would ban arsenic in chicken feed, HB754, was killed by the House Environmental Matters panel.

One other "green" bill does seem to sprouting legs.  The House passed the Fertlizer Use Act of 2011, HB573, which would regulate the contents and application of lawn food.  It now awaits action in the Senate. 

(State House, 2008 Baltimore Sun photo by Glenn Fawcett)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 7:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

B'more Green is back after an 18-day hiatus. Did you miss me? I was off last week, and before that was too jammed with reporting stories for the Baltimore Sun to squeeze in time to blog.

Didn't realize I'd been silent that long until faithful readers started emailing asking if the blog had been shut down or if I was all right.

"Two weeks ... And no new blogs," one reader wrote. "I'm going through withdrawal."

We don't want anyone to witdraw or worry.  Stay tuned.

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 6:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

The air at some large-scale livestock and poultry farms is more polluted than in America's biggest cities and poses health risks to agricultural workers, an environmental group says.  A Johns Hopkins researcher suggests the risks are not limited to the farms, either, but could include rural communities nearby.

Drawing on air quality measurements by Purdue University at 15 farms in eight states, the Environmental Integrity Project contends in a new report that such "concentrated animal feeding operations," or CAFOs, at least occasionally emit harmful levels of ammonia, hydrogen sulfide and fine particle pollution. On some days, particle pollution at five poultry operations studied exceeded the federal government's 24-hour safe exposure limit, the Washington-based environmental group said.

None of the farms tested was in Maryland, and all but one of the poultry operations studied were producing eggs rather than broilers, as nearly all chicken houses do on the Delmarva Peninsula.  But at the one broiler producer checked in California, high levels of ammonia and particle pollution were measured, according to Keeve Nachman at Johns Hopkins' Center for a Livable Future, who reviewed the data.  Nor does it appear from the air test results that there's much difference in pollution levels between the two types of poultry farm, he added.

"Based on what EIP found and what the epidemiologic evidence is suggesting, there is reason to be concerned about exposure in communities surrounding animal production sites," Nachman said in an email. "There's a pressing need for community air monitoring to help characterize risks faced by residents and chldren who attend schools near AFOs (animal feeding operations)."

The environmental group says the air pollution detected from Purdue's limited sampling of farms is serious enough that the Environmental Protection Agency should revoke an agreement made under the Bush administration to exempt large-scale animal farms from reporting their emissions. To see the report, go here.

(Chicken house near Pocomoke City.  2007 Baltimore Sun photo by Doug Kapustin)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 10:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
        

A former explosives factory near Elkton has been added to the Environmental Protection Agency's Superfund hazardous-waste cleanup list, and the federal agency has proposed adding a former dump in Dundalk now owned by a hunting club.

EPA put a site it calls the Dwyer Property on its National Priorities List for remedial action because there are two plumes of trichloroethene, or TCE, in ground water that's heavily used for drinking water.  Widely used as a cleaning solvent, TCE is considered a probable human carcinogen, as lab tests with mice and rats suggest it may cause liver, kidney and lung cancer. Drinking small amounts also may impair immune systems or fetal development in pregnant women.

The Dwyer property just north of Elkton was once part of the Triumph Explosives plant, which made incendiary bombs, land mines, shells and grenades from the 1930s through the end of World War II.  Subsequent owners made carbon batteries, fireworks and flares there until the early 1970s.  The land is now abandoned and overgrown, according to EPA.  There are residential and municipal wells in the area, and there's a risk vapors from the TCE plumes could seep into nearby homes, the agency said.

EPA also proposed adding a former dump in Dundalk to its Superfund cleanup list.   Once a marsh, the 2.48-acre tract bordering a cove off Back River was filled in and used from the 1960s to 1980s to dispose of drums, storage tanks, scrap metal, empty tanks, abandoned trucks and trailers, heavy construction equipment and junked cars.  Sampling has found high levels of semivolatile organic compounds, polychlorinated biphenyls, metals and pesticides in the soil and sediment.

The site, which EPA calls the Sauer Dump, is owned by the Wittstadt Hunting Club and has been used lately for duck hunting and vehicle maintenance, according to the agency.  All-terrain vehicles have caused erosion and exposed contaminated soils, but the site has been fenced off in recent years and the eroding shoreline stabilized. 

For a list of all of Maryland's Superfund cleanup sites, go here.

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 9:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Gov. Martin O'Malley's aides insist he hasn't given up on getting lawmakers to do something about the pollution and sprawl caused by a proliferation of homes built on septic systems. Now, O'Malley intends to highlight the issue by wading into an Eastern Shore lake rendered unswimmable by drainage from a town full of failing septics.

As my colleague Julie Bykowicz reports in the Maryland Politics blog, the governor plans to don waders Wednesday and walk into Lake Bonnie, pictured above, a private lake near Goldsboro in rural Caroline County. The aim, according to a media advisory from his office, is to show that "failure to manage the long-term and far-reaching consequences of septic systems can impact the public health and economic health of Maryland's rural communities."

It's a compelling image, wading in pollution - though I'm not sure how well Lake Bonnie illustrates the governor's campaign against sprawling housing developments on septic systems.  In this case, the problem comes from a town, albeit one where residents should never have been allowed to put in septic systems because of the high water table.  I wrote about it in The Sun last year.

The 28-acre manmade lake was the centerpiece of a private campground just south of Goldsboro.  In 1996, local health officials declared the lake unfit for swimming because of high bacteria levels linked to the many failing septic systems in the town. 

Though local officials have known of Goldsboro's septic problems since the 1970s, neither they nor the state have been able or willing to come up with the millions of dollars needed to hook the residents up to a wastewater treatment plant.  A plan for piping the waste to nearby Greensboro now looks like it may resolve the problem.  Meanwhile, though, the family that ran the campground has struggled for a decade without their prime attraction and finally shuttered the business five years ago. 

O'Malley's also apparently attempting to overcome farmers' objections to his proposed curb on rural development relying on septic.  According to an Associated Press report, his staff has drawn up amendments that would loosen restrictions in the bill on subdividing rural land, giving farmers the option to carve up their land four times, rather than just once under the original legislation.  The extra lots could only go to family members, not developers.  And another provision would let farmers divide their land for related businesses, such as a winery or dairy operation.

It's not clear if the governor really thinks all this will somehow revive his septic bill's dimming prospects.  Del. Maggie McIntosh, the Baltimore Democrat who's head of the House Environmental Matters Committee, has said she's in favor of curbing sprawling development on septics but worries it could have a disproportionate impact on rural parts of the state.  She's indicated she wants to defer the issue for more study, but her committee's still planning a hearing on the HB1107, the septic curb legislation, on Friday, and the governor's spokesman has said he intends to be there to press his case. 

(Lake Bonnie, 2010. Baltimore Sun photo by Jed Kirschbaum) 

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 9:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)
        

Montgomery County Executive Isiah "Ike" Leggett announced today he'll seek legislation to levy a nickel fee on every paper or plastic carryout bag dispensed by county retailers in a bid to reduce litter in the Washington suburb and encourage consumers to shop with their own reusable bags.

If approved by the County Council, Montgomery would follow the lead of the District of Columbia and not Baltimore in tacking a small fee on throwaway bags to discourage their use. Here in Charm City, after protests from grocers and bag manufacturers the City Council backed away from bills to ban or tax plastic bags and opted instead to encourage recycling them.  

Baltimore may still see the nickel bag fee, though, and Montgomery wouldn't need to act if lawmakers in Annapolis adopt legislation that would apply a nickel-a-bag fee statewide. Tomorrow, (March 8), the Senate Education, Health and Environmental Affairs Committee is scheduled to review SB602, the "Clean the Streams and Beautify the Bay Act of 2011." 

Like the District law, the Senate bill and its House compansion, HB1034, would require stores to charge a nickel for every disposable carryout bag provided to customers.  Stores could keep a penny of every nickel to cover their costs, and could keep a second cent if they also offer their customers credit for bringing their own reusable bags for carrying away merchandise.

Environmentalists argue a throwaway bag fee is needed to reduce the litter that's choking urban waters like Baltimore's harbor and the Anacostia River in the Washington area.  The Environmental Protection Agency has declared both watersheds impaired by trash, and city and county governments are on the hook to figure out how to stop the torrents of trash washed into and down streams after every rain. 

The Anacostia Watershed Society says its trash surveys have found plastic bags the third most frequent litter item fished from the river and the most common type of detritus in the streams that feed into the river.

DC started charging 5 cents on every disposable shopping bag given customers there in January 2010. The fee raised about $2 million in revenue in its first year, earmarked for helping clean up the Anacoastia River. That's less than had been projected, but sponsors say what they really wanted was behavior change, and in that regard, estimates are that the number of bags consumed has dropped by 50 to 80 percent.

The state legislation could raise a lot more money.  Legislative analysts cite Census estimates that there were 19,100 retail establishments in Maryland three years ago, and suggests that if each dispensed 10,000 bags annually, they'd raise $7.6 million in total revenue - with $1.9 million of it kept by the stores.  The bulk of the fees collected by the state would go to the Chesapeake Bay Trust, a nonprofit organization that doles out grants to promote public awareness and participation in the bay cleanup effort.

Retailers and bag manufacaturers successfully fought off a similar measure last year, and can be expected to oppose it again this year. Retailers argue that the fee hurts their business by raising prices at a time when many Marylanders are still struggling economically. Plastic bag manufacturers have argued that voluntary recycling programs are the way to go.

But environmentalists point out that the disposable carryout bags handed out by stores aren't free.  Retailers usually pay 2 to 5 cents per bag, they note, and based on bag use estimates developed elsewhere, the Anacostia Watershed Society figures the average Marylander gets 750 carryout bags a year, for which they're likely paying $15 to $37.50 a year.  Reusable bags, by comparison, usually cost $1 to $3 each, and last up to two years.

If the statewide legislation fails again, that leaves the "plastic or paper" - or neither - issue to be hashed out locality by locality.  Besides the bill introduced in Montgomery, there's legislation pending in Annapolis (HB661/SB721) that would enable Prince George's County - which like Montgomery shares responsibility for the Anacostia watershed - to impose a fee on disposable plastic bags in its borders.

(Baltimore Sun photos. Top: Reusable bag display in DC Safeway, 2010, by Barbara Haddock Taylor; Above: yellow plastic bag and fast-food cup litter Baltimore's Gwynns Falls, 2008, by Jed Kirschbaum)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 3:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
        

There's no hydraulic fracturing for Marcellus shale natural gas in Maryland yet, but apparently the state already has been on the receiving end of some of the wastes from the controversial drilling technique.

Wastewater from "hydrofracking" operations in Pennsylvania got shipped to Baltimore last year and passed through the city's Back River wastewater treatment plant, according to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation's Tom Pelton, who reported it in the group's Bay Daily blog.

Clean Harbors, a company that handles industrial wastes, disposed of 50,000 gallons a day at Back River "for a few months" early last year, Pelton says he was informed by the Maryland Department of the Environment.  The company treated the wastewater beforehand to remove metals, MDE told Pelton.   It also tested it and found "no detectable levels" of radiation in the liquid, which is a concern that's been raised about fracking wastes lately.

Radioactive contaminants have been reported in the "flowback" water pumped out of wells drilled in Pennsylvania using hydraulic fracturing, the New York Times reported earlier this week.  Much of the fracking wastewater is disposed of at municipal sewage treatment plants there, the Times said, but those facilities lack the capacity to remove radioactive contaminants, so they're likely getting into  rivers like the Susquehanna, a backup drinking water supply for the Baltimore area. Likely is the best that can be said because state and federal governments apparently don't uniformly require testing for radioactive contaminants in wastewater.

Back River, which receives the treated wastewater from the city's sewage plant, is not a drinking water source for anyone because it's brackish. But one of the comments on Bay Daily raises another concern - that the drilling fluids often contain certain chemical compounds that can be lethal to Chesapeake Bay oysters at levels even below what can be readily detected. 

(Settling tanks at Back River wastewater treatment plant. 2010 Photo by Colby Ware, special to The Sun)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 6:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
        

A crucial element of Gov. Martin O'Malley's push to build wind turbines off Maryland's coast gets a hearing in Annapolis today (March 3), as the House Economic Matters Committee takes up an administration bill that would subsidize their construction by raising nearly every resident's electric bill, at least in the near term.

The administration has proposed legislation, HB1054, that would require utilities in the state to enter into long-term contracts with wind energy developers to buy the electricity the turbines would generate. Wind industry officials say such power purchase agreements are needed to securing the financing needed to go forward.

The bill has the backing of environmentalists eager to see the development of more clean, renewable energy in Maryland, and of unions anticipating the massive turbine projects will yield a bonanza of construction and even manufacturing jobs. But as The Washington Post points out in a story today, a key question for lawmakers is just how much electricity rates have to go up to underwrite this push to put Maryland in the vanguard of developing some of the nation's first offshore wind energy projects.

Producing electricity from wind energy is likely to be more expensive than power from conventional coal- or gas-burning plants at the start, advocates say, because of the high costs of building the turbines off shore and getting their power to land. But they argue that the renewable source will become relatively cheaper over time as the costs of extracting and burning (and offsetting the pollution from) fossil fuels goes up.

If the power deals inked in Maryland are anything like the one struck in neighboring Delaware for an offshore project pursued by NRG Bluewater Wind, legislative analysts say residents could be paying an extra $2 a month, or $24 a year, on their electric bills in 2016, with the surcharge anticipated to gradually decline to half that over the next 20 years.

But the Post story notes that the US Energy Information Administration recently projected the costs of electricity generated by conventional fossil-fuel power plants over the next 20 years actually would drop, at least partly as a result of an anticipated boost in natural gas production from vast reserves in Marcellus shale deposits underlying Appalachia, including western Maryland, and from elsewhere in the US. Based on the federal energy cost forecasts, legislative analysts note that the wind surcharge could be more like $3.61 a month, or $43.35 a year by 2016 and would still be $2 a month or more 20 years later.

Advocates would say even the higher cost projections are small price to pay for getting clean power that won't worsen climate change. But Maryland lawmakers are wary of raising their constituents' power bills after the uproar that ensued when electric deregulation sent rates skyrocketing several years ago.   The question of what wind will cost, and who pays, could be key.

(Wind turbines off England, AFP/Getty images)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 8:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
        

For those who like a bracing swim - or who were too chicken to take the Polar Bear Plunge right after New Year's - here's another, slightly less frigid, chance to wade in for a good cause.  Supporters of the Marshy Point Nature Center in Baltimore County are holding their 5th annual "Popsicle Plunge" on Saturday (March 5).

The waterfront park on Dundee and Saltpeter creeks encompasses nearly 500 acres of wetlands and woodlands, and it's a great place for hiking and bird-watching. The center at 7130 Marshy Point Road holds festivals, summer camps, weekend canoe trips, discover hikes and demonstrations, and every 5th grader in Baltimore County schools visits Marshy Point as part of the EcoTrekkers environmental education program.

Because the shoreline at Marshy Point is mostly marsh and protected wetlands, the plunge will actually be held on the beach in the Hammerman area of Gunpowder Falls State Park - across Dundee Creek. It costs $20 to register for the plunge, but you get a free T-shirt with just $40 in pledges, and there will be other prizes for costumes and the most pledges raised, as well as food, games, activities and exhibits.

The whole shebang kicks off at noon, with the plunge at 2 p.m. All proceeds benefit the Marshy Point Nature Center Council. For more information, contact Marshy Point Nature Center at 410-887-2817 or visit http://www.marshypoint.org for forms  And for directions to the plunge site at Gunpowder, go here.

(Photo courtesy Marshy Point Nature Center Council)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 8:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

While a lot of attention has been focused lately on the sorry state of Baltimore's harbor, conditions there won't improve much until the watershed itself gets better.

Toward that end, some architects from the University of Virginia are proposing a radical remedy - "daylighting," or uncovering, part of the lower Jones Falls, which which flows underground two miles under city streets before emptying out in the harbor.

The Jones Falls was actually the birthplace of Baltimore, where the first settler, one David Jones, built his house along its banks in the 1600s.  The river was a source of drinking water for the fledgling city, and ships reportedly could sail as far inland as Calvert and Lexington. 

But growth, flooding and pollution inspired efforts to drain, tame and ultimately bury the troublesome water way around 1915.  Finally, in the early 1960s, the subverting of the Jones Falls was completed with the construction of the expressway of the same name along and atop its course.  It's just the largest of Baltimore's streams to get buried - experts estimate that two-thirds of the city's waterways are underground now, serving as conduits for storm water washing off city streets and parking lots.

That lower stretch of the Jone Falls is like the mythical River Styx - musty, foul and eternally in darkness. I paddled with some others upstream from the harbor many years ago, and the only living thing we encountered was a somewhat startled looking pigeon roosting in the gloom.

"We only peeked into the openings of the culvert and did not dare to go much further," writes Jorg Sieweke, one of the U.Va. architecture professors.  But he and his colleagues would like dare rethinking the Jones Falls, and turning back the clock.

The U.Va. architects aren't the first to envision uncovering Baltimore's buried streams.  Last year, a local architect, Gabriel Kroiz, and Baltimore's Harbor Waterkeeper, Eliza Steinmeier, suggested in Urbanite magazine that the stream encased beneath Central Avenue, once known as Harford Run, ought to be daylighted.  They argued that opening up that old waterway to the sun would help restore its water quality while also creating a walkable and bikeable linear park leading to the harbor.

Nothing much came of that idea.  But perhaps the latest suggestion to reopen the Jones Falls could spark some real thinking about the unthinkable.  There are lots of financial and practical hurdles to reverse-engineering the Jones Falls, of course.  There's the expressway, for one thing, not to mention all the city streets and other infrastructure that would need to be redone.

"The proposals I have been developing at UVa are truly speculative," Sieweke acknowledged, "but sometimes this is how things get started. I have seen large transformations in my professional life, and I am under the impression that Baltimore would benefit from bolder moves/ goals."

To learn more, Sieweke and two U.Va. colleagues, Professors Robin Dripps and Lucia Phinney, will be presenting their idea today (Tuesday, March 1) from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the Windup Space,  12 W. North Ave.  Their presentation is part of "Design Conservation," a monthly forum made possible by the Baltimore Community Foundation and D:Center Baltimore.

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (10)