I recently had the chance to sit down with Nick
DiPasquale, the Bay Program's new executive director. Nick began his position
in August, just a few weeks after I began with the communications team. So we’re
both still learning to navigate the Bay Program’s world of goal implementation
teams (GITs), total maximum daily loads (TMDL), Scientific and Technical
Advisory Committee (STAC), and host of other acronyms!
In honor of Nick’s 60th birthday earlier this
month, I thought I’d ask him six questions so we can get to know him a little
better!
1. Who is your environmental role model?
Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring really got me thinking about the environment back in 1963.
The idea that we'd have a world where birds couldn't exist because of pesticide
use was a huge shock to me.
But there's also Lewis Mumford,
who lived in the early 20th century. He was a city planner, and an architectural
and social critic. Mumford talked about livable cities and isolating the
automobile to the fringe of communities. He designed homes with driveways and garages
in the back, and front porches where you could engage with your neighbors. Mumford
wasn't what we'd classify as an "environmentalist" today, but he
certainly had an environmental ethic.
I was also quite
struck by Richard Louv’s book, Last Child
in the Woods. Louv believes that children are suffering from “Nature
Deficit Disorder”: lack of exposure to the outdoors and resulting physical and psychological
problems. He’s concerned that children
aren’t developing a sense of value toward the environment. Without it, they may
not be inclined to protect nature in the future. His book has given rise to the environmental literacy
movement in this country.
I'd have to say that everyone from school kids to
retirees who spend time trying to improve their surroundings are all my heroes.
They don't get recognition sometimes, but they're out there trying to make a
difference in the environment and in their communities.
2. What do you hope to accomplish as the Bay Program director?
I hope to keep Bay restoration a priority. The TMDL has
set very specific goals for water quality. We are attempting to stick to a
schedule for implementing best management practices, which will reduce nutrient
and sediment loadings to the Bay. There also is the larger Chesapeake Bay
agreement, and what comes after that, as well as the president's executive order,
which establishes goals in areas like fisheries and healthy watersheds.
There’s a lot we need to accomplish, and in a fairly
short period of time. Restoring the Bay isn’t like flipping a switch; the
ecosystem doesn’t immediately respond when you put a best management practice
in place. In our world, things move at a quicker place; for example, when you
send someone a message, you expect them to respond pretty quickly. An ecosystem
doesn't do that. We will send it messages, but it will take a while to get back
to us.
3. When did you begin to care about the Bay?
I've cared about the environment since I was very young,
probably 12 or 13. I grew up across from the high school athletic fields, so I
was always outdoors with my friends. We had an abandoned apple orchard right
next door. And there was an old rail line we used to walk along...we would go
out on these great explorations. There was a farm right by the rail line, with
a farm pond where we used to play hockey during the winter. I was just a five
or ten minute walk from a huge public beach on Lake Ontario. My brothers, our
friends and I were outdoors all the time, so for me it’s really kind of natural
to feel some affection for the Bay.
4. Where is your favorite spot on the Chesapeake Bay?
Since I moved to Annapolis, I have gotten out on the
water a few times. I went kayaking on the South River with the South River
Federation. We toured some shoreline restoration projects. Another
one of my favorite places for kayaking is Wye Island on the Eastern Shore. Eastern Neck
National Wildlife Refuge and Rock Hall are two others I enjoy.
In terms of communities around the Bay, I like St. Michael's,
Oxford and Easton.
The Eastern Shore towns really are picturesque and have many little
attractions. One of my favorites is the St. Michael's Winery.
Most of the places I enjoy are on the Bay, but of course,
the watershed includes a lot more than just the actual Bay. I recently took my
first trip to Ellicott City's
historic district. I enjoyed the quaint shops and restaurants along the
Patapsco River.
My list of
favorite places is long, and I'm sure as I get out more, I will find more.
5. Why should people care about
cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay?
There are a lot of good reasons to protect the Bay. Some believe
the most important reason is economic: the Bay represents a huge resource in
terms of tourism, fisheries, boating and recreation.
And of course, we should protect the Bay’s natural
resource value. This is also related to economics because fisheries, for
example, are an important economic sector. Natural resources also include the
wetlands and upland areas of the watershed, which are equally important.
And then there is the Chesapeake’s sense of culture and sense
of place. There is history here that is embraced by those who have been around
for a while, and also, those who haven't.
I think there is also a value of having a place where you
can go for spiritual renewal. A lot of people, myself included, experience a sense
of calm and well-being when they go out on the water. This is more important than
ever as our world gets a little bit crazier and a little bit busier. I go
hiking in the woods a lot. There's something about a forest – maybe the smell
of the trees, or the decomposition process – that lifts the weight of the world
off your shoulders. My friend's grandfather used to go out walking after work; he
would say he was "blowing the stink off" from the day. He thought
that when you're inside all day, your body emits or attracts something
harmful. So he would go out walking to
"blow the stink off." But I also think he was talking about the
stress of the day, and how you can't carry it around with you. Even if you can
get out for 20 minutes over lunch, you'll feel more at ease.
6. How do you help the Bay personally?
I am an avid recycler. I also try to walk to work when I
can. I drive a hybrid vehicle so I cut down on air emissions and gas
consumption. I'll be volunteering with the Spa Creek Conservancy to take bacteria samples
on Spa Creek, here in Annapolis. This information will be entered into a
database to track water quality trends over the long term.
I try to involve myself in tree plantings, especially
along riparian areas. I've participated in a few of those types of projects,
and any other opportunity to go outdoors and help improve the Bay’s resilience.
I'm a big advocate of planting trees because it is one of the best ways to
stabilize shorelines. Trees sequester carbon, benefit air quality, and are simply
pleasant to be around.
Nick served as
secretary of the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental
Control from 1999 - 2002. Nick was also
deputy secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and
as director of the Brandywine Conservancy's Environmental Management Center.
Most recently, he served as a senior consultant with Duffield Associates in
Wilmington, Delaware.
Natural Resources Specialist Paul Carlson reaches up a red
oak tree, his eyes fixated on the 3-inch-diameter vine that has wrapped itself
around the oak’s trunk.
The vine is known as Oriental bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus) and its effect on
the red oak is comparable to a boa constrictor’s on a human: it strangles the
tree and prevents the bark from receiving sunlight, which all trees need to
survive. Sometimes the bittersweet vine’s weight will even uproot the tree.
In other words, if this vine is left alone, it’s very
likely that the red oak will die. Along with it will disappear the wildlife
habitat, forest cover, carbon absorption, erosion control, shade and other important
benefits the tree provides.
“Once you recognize it, you’ll see it everywhere,” Carlson
says, in reference to the bittersweet vine. He pulls out a pruner and a folding saw and slashes away at
the bittersweet. I can almost hear the red oak take a breath.
You may not realize it, but not all plants are good. Oriental
bittersweet is one of dozens of non-native weeds, trees, shrubs and grasses
that are aggressively invading the Chesapeake Bay watershed’s delicate ecosystems.
As their name suggests, non-native weeds are not
originally from this region. Therefore, they do not have any predators,
parasites or pathogens here to limit their spread. Invasive weeds:
- Out-compete beneficial native plants
- Replace native food and habitat that birds and other
wildlife depend upon
- Eliminate host plants for native insects such as
butterflies
- Disrupt plant-pollinator relationships, which allow
native plants to reproduce
- And do all of
this at an aggressive speed
It’s estimated that invasive weed damage and control costs
the United States $138 billion
annually.
Ecologists,
conservationists, gardeners and park maintenance staff across the Chesapeake
Bay watershed are constantly looking for cost-effective ways to control these
plant invaders.
Carlson and Montgomery
County Parks Forest Ecologist Carole Bergmann – who can provide
the name and origin of any plant I point to without consulting a field guide or
iPhone
app – have found an
economically feasible and environmentally effective solution to the non-native
weed invasion in Montgomery County, Maryland.
It’s called “Weed
Warriors”: a county parks volunteer program that trains and certifies volunteers
to identify and remove invasive weeds. Since the program began in
1999, Montgomery County’s Weed Warriors have put in more than 40,000 hours of
volunteer service.
As the forest ecologist for all 36,000 acres of parks in
Montgomery County, Bergmann realized she needed volunteers if she wanted to
make a dent in the problem. “I knew that I couldn’t possibly do all the things
I wanted to do without getting more people involved and giving them more
responsibility and control.”
Last month, the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay named Bergmann
a 2011 “Chesapeake Forest
Champion” for her work engaging more than 800 volunteers through the
program.
At the final Weed Warrior training of the year in early
November, volunteers follow Bergmann and Carlson through the forest surrounding
Rockville’s
Meadowside Nature Center, where the program is headquartered. Bergmann
instructs her new volunteers to focus on vines during the winter season, and
Carlson wrestles with the fall foliage to demonstrate correct vine removal
tactics. The group passes around each vine and shrub, touching the bark,
counting leaf lobes, and even smelling berries. It’s essential for Weed
Warriors to correctly identify these plants.
“If you don’t know, don’t pull,” Bergmann implores. A
plant may look like an invasive weed at first glance, but it could be an
important native species that birds and squirrels depend on.
While removing all of
the invasive weeds in Montgomery County is not feasible, Bergmann insists that
isn’t her goal.
“The benefit of
Weed Warriors isn’t just technical assistance. It’s that these volunteers
understand enough to tell their neighbors, ‘Don’t buy English ivy.’”
The aggressive nature of invasive weeds requires that
entire communities get on board with their extermination. In high-traffic and urban
areas, such as Montgomery County, seeds of invasive plants such as kudzu and Japanese
barberry often enter parks on the soles and bike tires of families and
recreationists. Home owners are usually unaware that the exotic ornamental plants
in their yard can invade parks and forests, overwhelming native vegetation and
wildlife habitat.
“What’s really important is getting people to understand
these things,” Bergmann says. “And in a way, to love the natural world.”
Bergmann knows that a sense of attachment to the natural
world is what drives many Weed Warriors to volunteer. She has designed her
program to foster this connection. Once volunteers complete a one-hour interactive
computer training and attend a two-hour field workshop, the new Weed Warriors
receive leather gloves, a hat and a “green card” that allows them to remove
weeds at any Montgomery County park, whenever they want.
“People don’t always want to work in a group on the third
Saturday of the month in a park across the county from where they live,”
Bergmann explains. “They want to work in their
park, the park that they watch their kid play baseball in every Saturday.”
Vincent Bradley of McKenney Hills decided to become a
Weed Warrior after he participated in his neighborhood’s biannual cleanup this
fall.
“At the cleanup, I saw this plant, porcelainberry, just
taking over all of the others,” Bradley recalls.
Like many other invasive weeds, porcelainberry was
planted by millions of unknowing gardeners because of its pleasant, ornamental
beauty: berries ranging in color from deep purple to brilliant turquoise. But
to Bradley, the plant’s destruction in his neighborhood park was anything but
beautiful.
Bradley began to pull on the bittersweet vines that
elevated the porcelainberry. One day, a cleanup supervisor stopped him to
explain that he was using the wrong technique: tugging on the vines instead of
simply cutting them. Bradley decided he had more to learn if he wanted to make
a difference.
“I always appreciated nature,” he says. “My father taught
me about trees when I was a kid, and ever since, I’ve been interested.”
Bergmann advises Bradley and other Weed Warrior
volunteers to maintain this sense of curiosity. “Come back every season,” she
says. “You need to keep learning about your surroundings. It will make you
happier.”
As invasive weeds continue to spread, policies are
catching on. Many invasive plants are no longer sold in garden stores. Some
municipalities, cities – even entire nations – are enacting legislation to
limit their distribution.
For example, England has outlawed the cultivation of Japanese knotweed since 1981. In 1990, the UK
classified the plant as a “controlled waste,” meaning that even the soil that
once contained the plant must be disposed of at a licensed landfill.
Bergmann has some simple advice for all Weed Warriors,
certified or not.
- Be careful. If
in doubt, don’t pull it out. If you’re not sure what something is, leave it be.
It may be an important part of the native plant community. Bergmann encourages her
volunteers to send her photographs of plants they are unable to identify.
- Be realistic. “It’s
impossible to remove every invasive. If this is your goal, you will only get
discouraged. They will keep coming back, no matter what.” Instead, Bergmann
tells Weed Warriors to find good trees that are still alive and cut the vines growing
around them. Winter is a great time for cutting away vines.
- Be curious. Like
other plants, invasive weeds look different throughout the seasons. Attend
trainings and speak with experts to learn their appearances throughout the
year. Also, pay attention to what is growing in your yard and parks. You may
find you have some beneficial plants, too!
Want to get involved?
You can help stop the spread of invasive plants by signing up to become
a Weed Warrior. Training takes place on the last Wednesday of the
month from April to October. If you can’t make the commitment to become a certified
Weed Warrior, you can still make a difference. Special Project Weed
Warrior events offer community members the chance to learn about and
remove invasive plants in their local county parks.
No matter where you live in the Chesapeake Bay watershed,
you can still help stop the spread of invasive weeds. Here are a few invasive
plant resources that can help you do your part:
Whether your ideal autumn weekend includes scenic trout fishing,
white water rafting, backcountry hiking, or simply taking in views of
fall foliage, Loyalsock Creek in north central Pennsylvania has
something for you.
The
64-mile long tributary of the West Branch Susquehanna River is
one of the Chesapeake Bay watershed's more hidden and pristine streams.
Loyalsock Creek runs through Loyalsock State Forest and World's End
State Park – a serene recreation area as other-worldly as its name
suggests – before meeting the Susquehanna River at Montoursville.
What
makes Loyalsock Creek so special? Some say it's the Haystacks, the name
given to the creek's quartz sandstone boulders, which glisten in the
sunlight and make a challenging path for kayakers and rafters. Others
say it is the 200 miles of trails that run along the creek, or the views
of colorful fall foliage over the water.
Have you been to Layalsock Creek? Tell us about it, and let us know what your favorite part of the creek is.
Top image courtesy Nicholas_T/Flickr; bottom image courtesy Dave Pidgeon/Flickr
On a brisk Saturday in October, 160 volunteers collect 3.5
tons of discarded children’s toys, plastic bottles, crushed automobiles, and
various other kinds of
trash from their local Chesapeake Bay tributary, the Rappahannock River.
The volunteers, many of them students at the University of
Mary Washington and Mountain View High School, are participants in a clean-up
hosted by Friends of the Rappahannock, a
non-profit advocacy, restoration and education organization based in
Fredericksburg, Virginia.
Friends of the Rappahannock – also known as “River Friends” or
“FOR” – hosts fall and spring clean-ups each year. But its environmental
efforts span the entire year. From engaging at-risk youth in streamside
restoration activities to helping residents construct rain gardens in their
yards, FOR’s
volunteers are saving the Chesapeake Bay in a number of ways.
“We give people the chance to make a difference, to go home feeling
that whatever they’ve done, they’ve made some type of positive impact,” says
John Tippett, FOR’s executive director. “Providing a range of these fulfilling
opportunities is what keeps our volunteers coming back.”
FOR’s diverse collection of volunteer programs are critical
for a river so geographically
expansive: the Rappahannock travels from the Blue Ridge Mountains to
the Chesapeake Bay, transecting landscapes that range from agricultural (in the
headwaters and tidewaters) to urban (near Fredericksburg).
Along the its course, the river experiences nearly every type
of pollution pressure that can be found in Virginia: from livestock manure on
farm fields to fertilizer from suburban lawns.
How does FOR help reduce these pollution pressures? The
group’s strategy varies from community to community. FOR takes into account the
pollution source (anything from animal waste to fertilized lawns), but also
considers the interests of residents, the involvement of local governments, and
the availability of staff and volunteers.
“We strive to develop a variety of activities and volunteer
opportunities to engage our members and other community members,” explains
Sarah Hagan, volunteer coordinator at FOR.
Here are a few of our favorite ways you can get involved with
FOR:
- Livable
Neighborhood volunteers work to
improve water quality in their community by introducing their neighbors to
simple, sustainable lifestyle changes.
- Get
the Dirt Out volunteers identify
erosion and sediment problems on lands that have been disturbed by development
or construction. They work with FOR to implement policy and restoration tactics
to mitigate these pollution problems.
- AmeriCorps
volunteers organize river trips, install
rain barrels on residential
properties, and conduct environmental education programs.
- Weed
Warrior volunteers remove invasive
plants: aggressive, non-native vegetation that threaten native plants and
wildlife.
- Environmental
educators lead students from
preschool through 12th grade in hands-on riverside lessons.
- FOR’s
annual fundraiser, Riverfest, and other special events
Contact
FOR to get involved today! And if you don’t live near the
Rappahannock, don’t worry; there are plenty of small,
volunteer-based watershed organizations throughout the Chesapeake
Bay region that you can get involved with!
MORE from FOR:
Image courtesy Friends of the Rappahannock
Just a scenic two-hour drive from Washington, D.C., the 38-mile-long
Passage Creek weaves in and out of Fort Valley, Virginia, a part of the
Shenandoahs so sheltered that it has been called "a valley within a
valley."
In the 1800s, Passage Creek was home to five- and six-pound trout. Today, the Virginia Department of Game and
Inland Fisheries stocks
the creek with trout three times each summer. Fisherman, local residents
and conservationists are working together to protect habitat
for trout and other important species.
Although there aren’t any gigantic trout (yet!), stepping onto the banks
of Passage Creek is, in many ways, like taking a step back in time.
Passage Creek is considered to be a relatively healthy stream compared
to other Virginia waterways, most of which have degraded habitats due to
agriculture, urbanization and logging, according to the Potomac
Conservancy, which has launched a restoration campaign in the area.
In addition to fishing its waters, visitors to Passage Creek cancamp in
the adjacent George
Washington National Forest, view the nation's first Civilian
Conservation Corps Camp or hike around the Elizabeth
Furnace Recreation Area, one of many iron ore furnaces constructed in
Shenandoah Valley during the 1800s.
Visiting? Look for freshwater mussels (a sign of good stream health),
salamanders, black bears, coyotes, wild turkeys and luna moths!
And if you're thirsty, look
around. The area's freshwater springs first came to the public's attention
in the 1850s, when a man named E.H. Munch built a "Seven Fountains" resort that treated guests to each of the seven
kinds of mineral waters found in the area.
Although the resort closed after the Civil War, many friendly area
residents can lead you to a spring or two.
(Top image courtesy ClintJCL/Flickr; bottom image courtesy fruit_on_the_vines/Flickr)
Look around the
Chesapeake Bay watershed this time of year, and you'll find ghost tours all
over the place: Annapolis, Gettysburg, and Richmond, to name a few.
And why wouldn't there be ghosts here? The
Chesapeake region was among the first areas in the United States settled by English
colonists. Since that time, the Bay has experienced land-altering and life-taking
hurricanes, mysterious shipwrecks, and bloody battles during the nation's early
wars.
Just in time for
Halloween, we've compiled an eclectic list of hauntings, sightings and purely
strange spooks from throughout the Bay watershed. Many of these places would
make a perfect outdoor escape this weekend – if you’re brave enough, that is!
1. The most haunted lighthouse in America: The lighthouse at Point Lookout State Park, Maryland
"All of a sudden, the room turned bitter cold - even though the thermometer still read 100 degrees." – Eyewitness encounter at Point Lookout lighthouse
The most consistently haunted feature of Point Lookout is the lighthouse, which was first constructed in 1830. It has been featured on shows such as the Travel Channel’s Weird Travels and TLC's Haunted Lighthouses for paranormal activity ranging from strange odors that come only at night to spirits that have saved the lives of park employees living in the house.
After years of reported sightings, smells and sounds, the famous pioneer paranormal researcher Hans Holzer investigated. He recorded 24 different sounds and voices in and around the lighthouse using electric voice phenomena (EVPs).
One of these voices – heard saying, "This is my home" – is suspected to be Ann Davis, wife of the lighthouse's first keeper. Ann maintained the lighthouse long after her husband died. She has been seen standing at the top of the staircase, wearing a white blouse and blue skirt. But she is far from the only apparition people have experienced at the lighthouse.
The lighthouse is now maintained by the state of Maryland and is open only a few times a year. But if you’re really fearless, you can sign up for a Paranormal Night, when small groups can investigate the lighthouse after dark.
(Image courtesy Vicki Ashton/Flickr)
2. Lookout for ghosts at Point Lookout State Park, Maryland
It’s true: Point Lookout is so haunted that it earned two spots on our list of spooky places.
Point Lookout's location – a peninsula between the Chesapeake Bay and the mouth of the Potomac River – made it an ideal watch post for spotting British ships during the War of 1812.
Its isolation from the mainland offered little chance of escape for the 50,000 Confederate prisoners held here during the Civil War.
The prisoners of war lived year-round with nothing but canvas tents to protect themselves from mosquito-infested summers and freezing cold winters.
Between 3,000 and 8,000 men died in the camp and were buried in mass graves – many of which are now underwater.
As if that isn't enough, a Civil War hospital was also on the peninsula and housed wounded soldiers from the Battle of Gettysburg.
One of the most frequently seen ghosts at the park is a man in ragged, homespun Civil War clothing, reeking of mildew and gunpowder, and stumbling away from what was once the camp's quarantined smallpox unit. It's thought that the man feigned illness to escape from prison – but it seems he never did...
Brave enough to visit? The Maryland Department of Natural Resources lists information about Point Lookout's hours, trails, fishing opportunities and more.
(Image courtesy Southern Maryland Online)
3. The eerie ghost with "fire and brimstone eyes" at Harper's Ferry National Park, West Virginia
Many people on the streets of Harpers Ferry National Historic Park have seen the ghost of abolitionist John Brown. He’s sometimes so realistic that tourists, thinking he is a historic re-enactor, ask him to pose for a photograph with him – only to find later that their camera has not captured him. Those who have seen Brown say they recognize him by “those piercing fire and brimstone eyes that would put the fear of God in anybody he looked at.
Brown led an uprising at Harpers Ferry in 1859, raiding the armory in the hope of freeing the South (and Brown’s wife and children) one plantation at a time.
But when he heard about Brown’s rebellion, Confederate General Robert E. Lee left for Harpers Ferry so quickly that he didn’t even have time to put on his uniform. Lee and his one hundred troops sent Brown to the gallows; however, his proposed revolution would become a catalyst for the Civil War.
But perhaps a more frightening paranormal experience surrounds one of John Brown's opponents, John Wilkes Booth, who visited Harpers Ferry to witness the his nemesis’s hanging. Booth stayed in a house known as the "Haunted Cottage."
According to an article in the Martinsburg Journal-News, the house has been the site of 12 deaths. Many have witnessed objects disappearing and then re-appearing. The house is now the office of the Harpers Ferry Society for Paranormal Research.
Another haunted spot in Harpers Ferry is St. Peter's Catholic Church, where a priest can be seen walking down the aisle and a wounded Civil War soldier whispers his dying words, "Thank God I'm Saved," as he reaches the church doors.
(John Brown image courtesy National Portrait Gallery; Haunted Cottage image courtesy The Haunted Cottage/Flickr)
4. Civil War Battlefields: Antietam (Md.), Gettysburg (Pa.), Manassas (Va.) and more
The Chesapeake Bay watershed states were home to the greatest number of battles in the country's early history. Spanning the border of the North and South, the region was particularly hard-hit during the Civil War.
Left untouched except for the occasional commemorative monument, battlefields in Antietam, Gettysburg, Leesburg and Manassas provide a living museum for school children and history buffs alike.
But public access to these locations also means that there are thousands of reports of wandering soldiers, loud booms in the night, broken cameras, and even entire battles being fought in plain view.
In one alleged incident at Little Round Top in Gettysburg, re-enactors working on the film Gettysburg were visited by a man dressed as a Union soldier, who they assumed was also in the movie. He passed them ammunition, which was later discovered to be pristine musket rounds that dated back to the exact time of the famous Civil War battle.
At Antietam – where 23,000 troops were lost during some of the Civil War’s bloodiest battles – a famous creepy spot is Bloody Lane. This old farm road got its nickname after one particularly deadly battle, when thousands of Union and Confederate soldiers were killed and their blood flowed down the road like a river.
Have you visited one of these battlefields? Which one do you think is the most haunted?
(Image courtesy LostBob Photos/Flickr)
5. "Freedom fortress" at Fort Monroe: Hampton, Virginia
Perhaps paranormal activity is expected at a military base that has been inhabited since 1608. But one would be hard-pressed to find a line-up of big named spirits anywhere else but Fort Monroe.
Reported sightings at the base include a young soldier named Edgar Allen Poe, President Abraham Lincoln, Confederate President Jefferson Davis, Chief Black Hawk and Ulysses S. Grant. Other, lesser known personalities have also been spotted, such as a spirit that hates roses, and even something dubbed the "moat monster," rumored to be a relative of Scotland's Loch Ness Monster.
Orbs, lights and temperature changes are other creepy phenomena experienced so often and with such intensity that the U.S. Army has featured a story about "haunted" Fort Monroe on its website.
Sitting at the mouth of the James River and the Chesapeake Bay, the military base was a “freedom fortress” where fugitive slaves took refuge” during the Civil War.
Since the fort closed last month, ownership has been turned over to the Commonwealth of Virginia. There has been talk of turning the land into a national park or even a math and science high school. But when new people move in, will the spirits stay?
(Image courtesy Patrick McKay/Flickr)
6. The graveyard of the Atlantic and ghosts of Mallows Bay: Potomac River, Maryland
Just across the Potomac River from Quantico Marine Base lies the greatest concentration of sunken ships in North America. Mallows Bay is a graveyard of half-submerged steamships, some of them poking out from the water's surface.
This steamship fleet, which cost the government $1 billion, was intended to be used in World War I. But faulty construction and the war's end rendered the fleet useless.
More than 200 steamship vessels were towed to Mallows Bay on the Potomac River. The ships were packed together so tightly that you could reportedly walk for a mile without touching the water.
Watermen protested; they were certain such a high concentration of “garbage” would affect their livelihoods. Some vessels were burned, but many others were left to sink and rot.
Today, the giant steamships are still there, but now they are home to non-human inhabitants. Great egrets can be found nesting on the decks, while vegetation peeks out from beneath the rust.
Thankfully, the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem has found a way to use these vessels for their benefit. (For proof, check out these great photos from kayakers who ventured through the wreckage.) Perhaps the "haunting" nature of Mallows Bay is not one of humans that have been left behind, but resources that have been ill-disposed and forgotten.
Want to see this ghost fleet for yourself? Explore the old boats by kayak or canoe, which you can launch from the nearest boat ramp.
7. Blackbeard's Head Haunts Hampton, Virginia
Even when he was alive, people thought Blackbeard was a sort of devil re-incarnate. And it's no wonder: the pirate arranged lit torches in his beard before he ran into battle.
When Blackbeard – real name Captain Edward Teach – moved his operations north, Virginia Governor Spotswood ordered an expedition to capture or kill Blackbeard and his crew.
One big, bad, bloody sea battle later, Blackbeard was killed. The governor demanded that Blackbeard's head be placed on a stake at the entrance to the Hampton River as a warning to other pirates.
According to some Hampton locals, Blackbeard's spirit haunts this area, which is still known today as Blackbeard’s Point.
(Image courtesy Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
8. The Bay's vanishing islands: Drowned by a terrifyingly fast sea level rise
Approximately one hundred years ago, Holland Island was a five-mile-long,
300-person fishing community, with more than 60 homes, a church and a doctor.
But then sea level rose – and rose fast. Residents abandoned the island in the 1920s, some of them bringing their homes with them.
Stephen White, a former minister and waterman who first visited Holland Island as a young boy, was inspired to save the island after visiting one of the island's three cemeteries, where he saw a gravestone that read, "Forget me not, is all I ask."
White was taking a photograph of the gravestone when he noticed a ghostly girl standing nearby.
Inspired to honor the gravestone inscription, and not let the world forget about this little girl and her home, White launched a massive campaign to save the island, hoping that a donor or the government would assist him. But they didn’t.
Still, White and his wife made it their personal mission, spending hours distributing sandbags to try and stop erosion along the island’s edges.
But last October, the island's final house fell into the Bay, despite White's best efforts. Today, two of the island's three graveyards are reportedly underwater.
More vanished islands:
Captain John Smith first described and mapped Sharps Island, once located at the mouth of the Choptank River. A lighthouse built here in the 1880s is now surrounded by more than 10 feet of water. And that’s not nearly the only one: pick up a copy of The Disappearing Islands of the Chesapeake to learn about the dozens of islands that have vanished beneath the Bay’s waters.
Experts say that Smith and Tangier Islands – both still inhabited – may be next. Sea level in the Bay is rising faster than the world average due to a warming climate and natural sinking of the land. In Maryland alone, 260 acres of tidal shoreline erode into the Bay each year, drowning these vulnerable islands under more water and burying any historic artifacts (or graves!) that may remain.
(Holland Island house image courtesy BaldEagleBluff/Flickr; Sharps Island lighthouse image courtesy A.M. Kuchling/Flickr)
9. Bloody fingers of the not quite dead: White Marsh Episcopal Church Graveyard, Trappe, Maryland
"This is a thin place, where the veil between this world and the next is transparent." - Haunted Eastern Shore: Ghostly Tales from East of the Chesapeake
1665. That is the year the Old White Marsh Episcopal Church in Talbot County, Maryland first opened. In the 1720s, the church’s Reverend Daniel Maynadier’s wife, Hanna, died. Upon her request, she was buried with her favorite ring on her finger. But the graverobbers, or “ringrobbers,” were ready. When they couldn’t get the ring off her finger, they began to slice away...
And Hanna arose.
The Reverend’s wife was not dead, but in a coma. She gathered her shroud around her and walked home to greet her grieving husband.
Hanna went on to have several children, but the bloodmarks on her hand would never wash away.
Rumor has it that she can still be seen walking home from the cemetery, her shroud around her and her hand leaving a trail of blood.
For more Eastern Shore hauntings, visit some of these scary places listed in Haunted Eastern Shore.
(Image courtesy Sarah Stierch/Flickr)
Now it's your turn to scare us! Do you know of a creepy, spooky Chesapeake story or place we didn't include here? Share it in the comments!
Rich Batiuk is the Associate Director for Science with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency at the Chesapeake Bay Program.
When it became
clear that Hurricane Irene would move through the Bay region, the Chesapeake
Bay Program’s (CBP) monitoring program coordinators, like Bruce Michael at
Maryland’s Department of Natural Resources, adjusted the Bay water quality monitoring
cruise schedules to get data just following the hurricane.
Now in the days
since the hurricane, recent data from Maryland’s Eyes on the Bay program is showing that the Bay received a short term water quality boost from the hurricane. This is a result of the physical mixing of
the Bay’s waters by extreme winds and waves that sent oxygen-rich surface
waters into the deeper channels that are normally lacking oxygen at this time
of year.
It’s all in the
timing
When it comes to
hurricanes and their impact on the Bay, it’s the timing that makes the big
difference in terms of whether there is a short term (weeks to a month) or a
long lasting (months to years) impact on the Bay ecosystem.
In this case,
timing is made up of two important components: the point during the hurricane
season when the hurricane moves
through Bay country and how long
the hurricane lingers
over the Bay and its surrounding watershed.
When hurricanes
strike during important growing seasons for fish, oysters and underwater bay
grasses, the results can over longer lasting effects. Hurricane Agnes back in 1972 (a tropical storm by the time it hit the Bay), hit in June
at the peak of the underwater Bay grasses growing season, tipping an already
declining Bay ecosystem into a tailspin lasting into the early 1980s.
Also, when a hurricane
stalls and hangs around the Bay and its watershed for days, the amount of rain
and resultant flooding can increase dramatically compared to the effects of
Irene who moved all the way through the region over in less than a 24-hour period.
And it’s good to
be “late” sometimes
Fortunately in
the case of Hurricane Irene, we are at the tail end of the peak
growing season for bay grasses, so the clouded water and increased amounts
of sediments entering the Bay’s tidal waters via runoff will not have as big of
an impact compared to if the hurricane hit us in June or July.
We are also not
in prime oyster spawning season (later in the fall to early winter) nor are we
in any critical fish spawning period (late winter to late spring) so we missed
those opportunities for a bigger, more direct impacts on our fish, crabs,
oysters and grasses.
To surge or not
to surge
Unlike Hurricane
Isabel, Irene’s track and, therefore, wind directions meant that we did not experience
a devastating storm surge that resulted in the extreme shoreline erosion the
region witnessed in the fall of 2003.
The flood waters
will continue to bring in extra nutrient and sediment pollution loads into the
Bay for days and even weeks to come. But again, timing is on our side. With
cooler temperatures and shorter days coming, those excess nutrients will not
feed algal blooms which love hot, sunny, calm days.
Lingering effects
Some of the
excess nutrients that flowed downstream during the storm will remain in the
Bay’s tidal waters and will support next year’s algal growth. However their impact is likely less than if
the hurricane had struck later in October or November when the nutrients have a
greater opportunity to hang around until the next year.
All about the
wait
The bottom line
on Hurricane Irene’s impact is that we will have to wait for weeks (mixing up of the water column with good oxygen levels; short term algal
blooms), and really months (impact on the next spring’s
algal blooms, early summer’s re-growth of underwater Bay grasses, and mid-summer’s
dissolved oxygen conditions years),
to fully answer the question,
“What was the impact of Hurricane Irene (and even the fall 2011 hurricane season) on the Bay?”
Fortunately, the
CBP partnership has an extensive monitoring program in place which continues to
measure various indicators of the Bay’s health — in
this case, prior to the hurricane and in the weeks and months following the
storm.
In a nutshell?
Given the timing
of this storm, the Bay likely dodged a potentially serious bullet thanks to
Irene’s timing, rapid movement through the region, and track.
For more information about the effects of Hurricane Irene on the Chesapeake Bay, visit these links from our partners:
Jim Edward is acting director of the Chesapeake Bay Program
Office.
On a hot, late July morning in Southeast Washington, D.C.,
I joined about 50 other volunteers to clean up the banks of the Anacostia River
for the third annual “Green Up Day,” hosted by the Washington Nationals Dream
Foundation, the Earth Conservation Corps and other partners.
The river cleanup was held at Diamond Teague Park,
located in the shadow of Nationals Stadium and adjacent to the ECC’s old “pump
house” headquarters. The ECC is a grassroots organization that works to empower
Washington’s endangered youth to reclaim the Anacostia, their communities and
their lives. I was pleased on this hot
day to see volunteers from the EPA and other organizations working at the cleanup
– wearing waders, boots and gloves and filing up bags of trash to keeping the
waste from flowing into the Anacostia.
I have been involved with many ECC cleanups such as this over
the past decade as part of the EPA’s mentoring program with the ECC. But this one was especially significant to many
of us because it was at the “new” Diamond Teague Park. I asked a few of the volunteers if they knew
who “Diamond Teague” was – one of them even thought Diamond was a baseball
diamond! But no, Diamond Teague was a very
special ECC Corps member who was an enthusiastic participant in the EPA/ECC
mentoring program about eight years ago.
He truly stood out among his peers that year of the mentoring program.
He had recently completed his GED and was looking forward to going to college
after completing his ECC tour. Then one
night while standing in front of his house, he became a needless victim of a
drive-by shooting. A bright light
snuffed out way too soon and a loss to the ECC and all who knew and loved him.
So back then, we decided to take an abandoned plot near
the ECC pump house and turn it into a small neighborhood park. We named it
Diamond Teague Park. Building it was a labor of love by ECC members, EPA mentors
(including me) and other volunteers. And then the new stadium came and covered the
original Diamond Teague Park with left centerfield grass in Nationals Park. But
the Nationals were kind enough to create a new Diamond Teague Park adjacent to
the ECC pump house along the banks of the Anacostia.
And so, it brings us back to today and the voluntary
cleanup effort that will help D.C. meet the Anacostia trash TMDL (a “pollution
diet” for trash in the river) and ultimately, the Chesapeake Bay TMDL. Because
in the end, it’s about cleaning up the local streams, creeks and rivers that
lead to the Chesapeake Bay that is going to make the Bay restoration effort a
success. One stream at a time, one river at a time and, indeed, one person at a
time.
There are more than 17 million people living in the
Chesapeake Bay watershed and each of us needs to do our part. One person can make a difference – just like Diamond Teague did. Now it’s your turn – and mine too.
“Video guy” Matt and I hop in his truck one Monday morning. It is 85 degrees outside (and it’s only 9 a.m.), and although an air conditioned office can offer some relief, Matt’s idea sounds much better. Today’s adventure? Chasing waterfalls. (That’s right, just like that TLC song, circa 1995).
Annapolis has plenty of water, but most of it is too still and too calm (although, as a newcomer to the area, I am constantly surprised by the number of bridges I cross on my daily errands). We are headed to Cunningham Falls State Park in the Catoctin Mountains, an area just where the farmland surrounding Route 15 meets the Appalachians.
Before I know it, we have left the bustle of the DC-Baltimore-Annapolis area behind and we are climbing up a hill so steep that other hikers are using some sort of ski-pole-like device to help them grab the terrain. Gigantic rocks surround us on both sides. They were probably formed during some Ice Age, Matt and I decide – a dramatic environmental event that has left its remnants for us to climb! It’s not long before I am covered in sweat.
Eventually, the terrain levels out and we hear the sound of water…running water!
I rush towards it, following Matt down the path. He stops me short, making a SHHH! signal. He is taking photos of two pileated woodpeckers. The birds are larger than I had expected, and there are two them, pecking away at a log. It is a rare opportunity for me to run into a creature in its natural state like this, and we shoot away (with the camera, that is).
We are joined by others at the falls, most of them children. I feel like one as I crawl up the gigantic rocks, which have been smoothed out by years of water running over them. The water is trickling down from somewhere I cannot see, but it is clearer than any water I’ve seen in a long time. I take off my shoes and soak it up. This beats air conditioning.
On our way home, we pass farm stand after farm stand, and with a little bit of memory from my college days (Mount St. Mary’s University in Emmitsburg, Md.) and a little luck, we find our way to a few local orchards. One displays a “calendar” of pears and apples that are scheduled to appear; I make note of “pink lady” and promise the lady selling us peaches that I will be back.
The Chesapeake Bay region is home to an amazing diversity of
animals. From birds to fish to mammals, all of these creatures are an
important, meaningful part of the Bay’s delicate ecosystem.
You probably know something about the Bay’s most popular
critters, like blue crabs, ospreys and blue herons. But there are thousands of
other important, unique critters that live in the region.
Here are some interesting facts about 10 of the Chesapeake
Bay region’s critters.
Found near swamps, forests and farms throughout the
Chesapeake Bay watershed, these reddish, dog-like mammals can run up to 30
miles per hour and jump 6 feet in the air!
Admittedly, aquatic sponges may not seem very exciting, but
that’s not why this critter is called “boring.” The boring sponge gets its name
from its habit of boring holes into oyster shells, which weakens or damages the
shells. If you’ve ever found an oyster shell covered with pock marks, that oyster
was once infested by a boring sponge.
Female sea turtles each lay about 100 eggs on beaches from
Virginia to the Caribbean during spring and summer. Once the eggs hatch, the
young sea turtles have less than a 1 percent chance of surviving to adulthood.
But if they make it, they could live to be more than 50 years old!
Contrary to popular belief, horseshoe crabs are not actually
crabs. These hard-shelled arthropods are more closely related to terrestrial
spiders and scorpions. Their external appearance has not changed in more than
350 million years, either. Talk about prehistoric!
These large, black birds can see both above and under the
water. They fly low over the water and dive under to catch their pray.
Sturgeons are prehistoric fish that has been around since
dinosaurs roamed the Earth! They can also live to be 60 years old.
This black and white bird nests in depressions in marshes.
After the chicks hatch, the female leaves the nest. The male will continue
tending them for another two weeks.
When they are born, summer flounders have one eye on each
side of their head. However, as they grow older, the right eye gradually moves over
the head to join the left eye on the other side of the body!
The only time male and female bobcats interact is when they
are mating. After they are finished, they go their separate ways.
This beautiful bird’s scientific name, Aix sponsa, means “waterfowl in a bridal dress.”