Back River - Scenic and Wild?
Lawmakers in Annapolis are being asked to add Back River to the state's list of scenic and wild rivers. The twin golden domes of the city's sewage treatment plant along the river surely are eye-catching, but few would see much wild about one of the Chesapeake Bay's more polluted tributaries.
The Back River watershed is mostly developed, though upstream in eastern Baltimore County some has stayed farm and forest. Water quality has improved, but nutrient and bacteria levels remain problematic in the lower reaches, and the river is still plagued by occasional sewer overflows. Toxic contaminants linger in its sediments from past decades of industrial discharges. For more about the river's condition, look here.
State Sen. Norman R. Stone Jr., a Baltimore County Democrat, says the county's legislative delegation hopes adding Back River to the state's scenic and wild river system will speed its recovery by requiring officials to develop plans for protecting and restoring it. If approved, it would join nine other waterways designated scenic, including the Anacostia, Deer Creek, Patuxent, Potomac, Severn and Youghiogheny. A stretch of the Youghiogheny in Garrett County is the only one officially classified as "wild." For more about the state's scenic and wild rivers, look here.
The aim for Back River is to make it more scenic, at least, says Stone. "It's past the wild stage, I'd say."
I report on the environment and Chesapeake Bay. A native of West Virginia, I have focused mainly on Maryland's environment since moving here in 1983. Along the way, I've crewed aboard a skipjack in the bay, canoed under city streets up the Jones Fall from the Inner Harbor, and gone deep underground in a western Maryland coal mine. Recently, I have been covering the growth and development transforming the landscape. I love seafood, rambles in the country and good stories. I hope to share some here.
