I spent some time yesterday with Bernie Fowler: indefatigable environmentalist, lifelong Patuxent River advocate, avid runner and man of absolute faith. We were together for several hours, tooling around Southern Maryland, and it wasn't until the end of a very nice day that he let it slip he had just been given an honorary doctorate from St. Mary's College of Maryland.

I should have known; one of his daughters had said, "congratulations on your doctorate," before we took off. But I couldn't completely hear and there were a few people in the room, so I didn't put it together.

For those of you who don't know Bernie, or his story, here's the very short version: In the 1970s, when he was a Calvert County Commissioner, he and two other commissioners sued the EPA and state for allowing upstream wastewater treatment plants to pollute the Pateuxent River. The counties won, and the governments agreed to do several things to clean up the waterway, and those promises led to the 1983 Bay Agreement between MD, PA, and VA.

According to Bernie, many of those promises weren't kept, and he wishes he would have made certain tenets, such as mandatory pollution limits, part of the settlement agreement. But one can only imagine what kind of shape the bay and the river would be in had those county commissioners not stepped up and done something.

It was a real case of the little guys vs. big government, and the little guys won. And it took a lot of courage, not just from Fowler and the other commissioners that relied on the state for much of their budget, but from all of the University of Maryland scientists, including Walter Boynton, who stood with the commissioners in their fight.

Another thing about Bernie. His concern for the river is pure, borne of his total love for it and his childhood memories of what it was. Every time I talk to him, he says he worries that those of us who never saw what he saw in the river will accept it for what it is, what it has become. At 84, there aren't that many people with his recall of the river.

These days, when most people his age are slowing down, Bernie is still going to meetings every week, sitting on various commissions, testifying in Annapolis on environmental bills and generally doing what he can to help the river. Most, if not all, of these activities are incredibly time-comsuming and come with no compensation.

So congratulations, Dr. Fowler. I know you are not seeking publicity, but I thought your friends in the bay community would want to know of this achievement.