Through the Wind and the Driving Rain
You could say the weather was against me that day. I woke up in the morning to pouring rain and a temperature in the 50s. Not exactly the best conditions for planting wetland grasses on an island in the Chesapeake Bay. But nonetheless, the Baltimore Aquarium volunteer packet did say “RAIN or shine.”
So I hopped in the car with some fellow co-workers and began the hour-and-a-half drive from Annapolis to the planting site at Eastern Neck National Wildlife Refuge. I had never been to Eastern Neck before, but I will surely return, preferably on a warm, sunny day! The refuge, located at the mouth of the Chester River on the Eastern Shore, is one of the top five waterfowl habitats in Maryland.
I arrived at the parking lot to find the hardy Aquarium staff ready to load us onto a boat and shuttle us to the planting site. So I suited up in layers and raingear and prepared for an interesting boat ride. The river was a bit choppy, so the ride was a cross between white water rafting and riding a rollercoaster with a bucket of water dumped over your head every five minutes. Taking a ride in a washing machine might be a similar experience.
Thoroughly drenched, I arrived at the planting site ready to get to work. My mission that day was to plant two species of grass on the eroding sandbar separating Hail Creek from the Chester River. We broke into teams and started planting. My team had a diviler, a feeder and a tucker. The diviler dug the hole, the feeder put fertilizer in the hole, and the tucker planted the plug of grass.
A tucker planting a plug of marsh grass
We repeated the process over and over and over until half of the sandbar was planted with new grass. The other half would be planted by more volunteers the next day.
Before and after planting marsh grasses on a sandbar at Hail Cove
After a long day of planting, we boarded the boat back to the mainland. Soaked to the bone, the Aquarium staff was nice enough to give us some trash bags to sit on or in, depending on our preferences. I went home knowing that through the wind and the driving rain, my blades of grass will remain.
Krissy stands in the driving rain at Eastern Neck National Wildlife Refuge after planting marsh grasses at Hail Cove
Working Hard in the Far Reaches of the Watershed
Matt Robinson is with the Chesapeake Research Consortium as part of the Chesapeake Bay Program’s Restoring Healthy Watersheds team. Wink Hastings is with the National Park Service Rivers, Trails, and Conservation Assistance Program at the Bay Program Office.
Sidney Center is nestled amongst the foothills of the Catskill Mountains in Delaware County, N.Y. Most may not know it, but this rural community located hundreds of miles from the tidal Chesapeake Bay resides entirely within the Bay’s watershed. Sidney Center lies within the Carrs Creek watershed, a small tributary of the upper Susquehanna River, approximately one hour south of Cooperstown, N.Y.
Downtown Sidney Center, N.Y., in 2009. (Photo courtesy of Mike Siletti)
A very rural area, in recent years this small community has been devastated by catastrophic floods and severe groundwater contamination. “2006 was the worst flood in recent memory,” says Joe Lally, president of the Sidney Center Improvement Group. “Two truck drivers were killed in Carrs Creek when a culvert failed and a portion of Interstate 88 was washed out.” In addition to loss of life, there was destruction of private housing, loss of livestock, and loss of land due to erosion. Most of the community has also been exposed to contaminated groundwater caused by failing septic systems.
Photos from the 2006 Carrs Creek Flood. (Photos courtesy of the Sidney Center Improvement Group)
Inspired by these issues, Joe, a lifetime resident of the area, and other members of the Community formed the non-profit Sidney Center Improvement Group to address problems in their area. As part of this new effort, the Sidney Center Improvement Group contacted the Chesapeake Bay Program for help dealing with the water resource issues. Joe grabbed the attention of Wink Hastings, who isresponsible for assisting local communities in the Chesapeake Bay watershed for the National Park Service Rivers, Trails, and Conservation Assistance Program.
Wink has been working with the Sidney Center Improvement Group for three years now on addressing land use and water quality issues in the Carrs Creek watershed. In 2008, through funding from the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation, Wink and the Sidney Center Improvement Group arranged for the assistance of Leah Miller and Mat Webber from the Izaak Walton League Save Our Streams Program to train the community in conducting stream corridor assessments and monitoring water quality in Carrs Creek and a branch of the creek known as Willow Brook.
The community conducted the first stream corridor assessment in September 2008. Local citizens chose various segments of Carrs Creek and Willow Brook and assessed conditions in these segments. The group looked for erosion, cows in streams, trash dumping, fish barriers, and other signs of poor land stewardship. This data was then placed into two GIS databases. The first was an ArcGIS database that can be used for writing a watershed management plan. The second was an online database, designed using Bing Maps, that can be easily accessed by the public. Because of these efforts, the group was featured in an article in the January 2009 edition of Outdoor Life.
A member of the Sidney Center Improvement Group identifies one of many erosion sites along Carrs Creek during the 2008 Stream Corridor Assessment. (Photo courtesy of the Sidney Center Improvement Group)
The group will begin quarterly water quality sampling in 2010. They have mapped out their sample sites and are looking at engaging local schools and colleges to assist with collecting and organizing the data. They are also looking for funding for resources to purchase monitoring supplies. This fall, at the request of the Improvement Group, the Upper Susquehanna Coalition plans to begin restoration of wetlands within the Carrs Creek watershed to help mitigate flooding problems.
Members of the Sidney Center Improvement Group collect macroinvertebrate samples during water quality monitoring training conducted in 2009. (Photo courtesy of Wink Hastings)
While still very far away from the Chesapeake Bay, it is no less important to engage local communities like Sidney Center. Archaic land use practices (e.g. drainage tiles and ditching in crop fields) are highly prevalent in the watershed. Many landowners are losing large segments of land at an alarming rate due to erosion exacerbated by flooding.
“The beauty of a project like this is that the community is able to meet several objectives through a single, coordinated approach. By helping to improve conditions in the watershed, we are helping improve the quality of life for local citizens, and improving water quality in the Chesapeake Bay watershed,” Wink says. “Community residents are also learning how to work more effectively with local leaders and institutions; it’s the equivalent of a Civics 101 course.”
With the inevitability of larger, potentially more damaging rainstorms caused by climate change, small watersheds such as Carrs Creek couldexperience higher sedimentation and nutrient loading. However, engaging local communities on how to “hold the line” and maintain healthy conditions in their watershed can help ensure that conditions in the watershed and the Bay are improved and sustained.
The community of Sidney Center still has a long way to go to “fix” the problems in their watershed. Funding is very scarce right now, and they have had difficulty getting noticed by many potential funders. Nevertheless, the group is determined to continue pushing forward to find a solution to their problems. “For the Sidney Center Improvement Group to work on this project, and with help from the Chesapeake Bay Program, we’re not only improving environmental conditions in our watershed but we’re increasing our ability to work as a community,” Joe says. “Thanks to this project, the community has strengthened its relationship with elected officials, Delaware County, and the local school system.
The Sidney Center Improvement Group is made up of an executive board and several workgroups that meet on a monthly basis. The Water Quality workgroup currently meets the third Thursday of every month from 6:30pm-8:00pm in the Sidney Center Library (contact Joe Lally, jlally2us@yahoo.com, for more information). The group invites non-profits and government program representatives to come and talk to them about opportunities and partnerships that could help them meet their goals.
Looking for fish habitat on the Magothy with a 4-year-old
Peter Bergstrom is a biologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Chesapeake Bay Office.
On Friday, July 3, I did my usual twice-monthly volunteer
water quality sampling at four
sites on the Magothy River near where I live. I started doing this in 1991 through
a program run by Anne Arundel County to get a better understanding of Bay water
quality, and I’ve kept doing it ever since. The county program was
discontinued, but I’ve continued sampling with the Magothy River Association,
which has other volunteers who also do water monitoring.
This monitoring trip was different from recent ones because
my four-year-old granddaughter came with me. This was only the second time
she'd seen any part of the Chesapeake up close
(she lives in Vermont
and usually visits us at Christmas). Thus, I was thinking about how she
was reacting to it. It’s been a long
time since my own kids helped me with monitoring (my youngest child is 26).
My granddaughter at
Bayberry next to the pier where we sampled, holding some crab legs she found on
the beach. Taken with a cell phone camera.
We started our sampling at the end of the Bayberry pier, on
the south shore on the lower part of the river’s mainstem, where all seemed to
be well. Several people were catching juvenile spot (Leiostomus xanthurus) pretty regularly, and my granddaughter was
fascinated by watching them. The reason they were able to catch these
bottom-dwelling fish at that location was apparent when we measured the
dissolved oxygen (DO): it was over 8 mg/l on both the surface and bottom,
plenty of oxygen for fish. The bottom DO here has not fallen below 5 mg/l
(the EPA and state standard for fish habitat) since I started sampling at
Bayberry in April.
The fish & DO story was different at the three other Magothy sites I
sample, and the news was not good.
At the first two these sites, Ulmstead in the mouth of Forked Creek and in my
own neighborhood (Stewarts Landing) on Old Man Creek, the bottom DO was less
than 1 mg/l at both sites, but that’s fairly common in the summer. There were no weird colors or smells, and people
were fishing or crabbing in shallow water nearby, although not in water as deep
as where I sample.
However,
in upper Cattail Creek in Berrywood, the water was a weird milky green and
there was a musky smell, so I knew before I lowered the meter that the DO would
be bad. The color and the smell are both signs of an algae bloom that
died and is decomposing. The surface DO was only 0.7 mg/l, the second
lowest surface DO reading I've ever made, and the bottom DO was definitely
anoxic with 0.00 mg/l, the lowest DO meter reading I’ve ever seen.
My granddaughter can't quite read numbers yet, but she knows zero when she sees
it. It made me sad to show her how dead the creek was. Amazingly there
were no signs of any dead fish; I think the fish usually avoid the whole upper
creek when it's such a dead zone. I’ve never seen anyone fishing or
crabbing nearby. A week after I sampled
there, Cattail Creek had a
health advisory against swimming posted by the county health department for
high bacteria levels, so that creek has multiple problems.
The water quality in these creeks was not always this dismal. Both Cattail and
Old Man creeks were much healthier in 2004 and 2005, when dark false mussels
covered almost all of the hard surfaces over a variety of depths in both creeks.
By pure luck, when I chose my sampling sites in 1991 I picked two sites that
would have some of the densest mussels 13 years later, so I have been able to
document the water quality improvements that followed their filtration. Water
clarity (measured by Secchi depth) and bottom dissolved oxygen showed dramatic
improvements in both creeks in those years, and underwater bay grass (SAV)
acreage in the Magothy went up in both 2004 and 2005. Volunteer divers and kayakers organized by
Dick Carey of the Magothy River Association estimated the number of mussels and
the volume of the creek. From that research they estimated that, in 2004, the
mussels could filter the water in Cattail Creek every two days, while it took
them 15 days in 2005. (Watch
an eight-minute video about the mussels and the 2004 surveys.) Imagine how
healthy the Bay would be if oysters were filtering its water every two days, or
even every 15 days.
People who remember the mussels from 2004 keep asking me how
we can get them back, along with improved water quality. I don’t have an easy answer. Memories of the mussels do give me hope that
improvement is possible. I just wish the
mussels and the good water quality were still here to show my granddaughter,
instead of zeroes on the DO meter.
Battle for the Bird River
I’m declaring war. No, I’m not assuming some
pseudo-political position giving me the power to aggregate our country’s
resources in a fight for power, peace or anything else dominating the headlines
these days. I, Liana Vitali, am declaring war and all the power I need is the
strength in my arms and a Sea Doo GTI with a 130 hp engine and a sleek,
ergonomic design. Combine this with my steadfast desire to restore the
Chesapeake Bay to its historic and unimaginable beauty and you’re looking at a
stealthy invasive species destroyer, equipped to rid the Chesapeake
Bay of its exotic aquatic vegetation invaders and able to leap tall
buildings in a single bound! (OK, that part might be an exaggeration.)
I bet you’re wondering who I used my incredible skills and
power to wage war upon . . . the dreaded Trapa natans. Here is its criminal rap sheet:
| CONFIDENTIAL |
|
Street name: Water Chestnut
|
|
Continents of Origin: Europe, Asia and Africa
|
|
Last Known Chesapeake Bay Residence: Bird and Sassafras rivers
|
Criminal Record: Convicted on multiple accounts of:
- Aggravated assault on native underwater Bay sea grasses
- Possession of a weapon in the form of ½ inch spikes sharp enough to cut through shoe leather
- Aiding and abetting by creating an environment conducive to the growth and cultivation of blood-sucking mosquitoes
|
Recently, I joined forces with Maryland Department of
Natural Resources biologists to seek and destroy water chestnut in the Bird River,
north of the city of Baltimore.
We deployed one Carolina
skiff and two Sea Doos to scour the shores of the entire main river and
creeks. This time last year, we worked collectively to remove what seemed like
half a ton of water chestnut from the river. This year, we returned to find
that the skills, strategy and no doubt awesome intimidation we imposed on the
invader must have struck fear into its very roots. Though their guerilla tactics of hiding amongst beloved native water lilies
nearly out of sight might have worked, they clearly misjudged our abilities and
dedication to the Bay. One by one, we yanked out less than a quarter of the
water chestnut we removed last year. OohRah!
So does this mean that I can now hang a large and lovely
banner across the front of the Chesapeake Bay Program building proudly stating
“MISSION
ACCOMPLISHED!”? No. But can I proudly say we’ve set an example of how combining
manpower and resources with a loyal devotion for the Chesapeake
Bay can result in tangible and positive changes to our creeks and
rivers? Absolutely.
Liana poses with a bunch of the invasive water chestnut she helped remove from the Bird River in Maryland.
Into the Wild
Krissy Hopkins, part of the Chesapeake Bay Program's Fostering Stewardship team, writes about releasing the Bay Program's three terrapins into the wild. Bay Program staff have cared for the three terrapins -- Secchi, Runoff and Skipjack -- for almost a year as part of the Terrapin Institute.
Waves lapped against the shore, an osprey flew overhead,
warm sand squished between my toes, and all I thought was, “This is home.”
The sights, the sounds, the smells -- they made me wonder what it was like for
our terrapins to experience these things for the first time.
At Kent
Narrows, the place their
mother laid their eggs, we released our brood back into the wild. Our
tender loving care allowed our three terrapins to grow five times larger than
terps of a comparable age in the wild. They truly have a head start on
life thanks to the Terrapin Institute’s
program
The top photo shows the average size of a terrapin one year after hatching; below, Krissy holds two of the Bay Program's terrapins, which are about five times larger at the same age.
Secchi was the first to be released. I set him down in the
soft white sand and he took off instinctively towards the breaking waves.
Without hesitation he swam through the cove and out into open water.
After swimming about 10 yards he popped his little head out of the water and
looked back at us standing on the shore. It was almost as if he was
saying goodbye.
Krissy releases Secchi onto the beach.
Skipjack was the next to go. Liana set this little
lady down a few feet from the water. Skipjack swaggered her way into the
waves. She swam in the cove for a few minutes before making her way
through the breaking waves and into open water.
Liana, another Bay Program staffer, watches Skipjack as she makes her way into the Bay.
Finally it was Runoff’s turn. I sent her down in the
sand, and she just sat there looking up at me. After some encouragement
and a nudge in the right direction her feet finally hit the waters of the Chesapeake and she beelined
it out of the cove.
Runoff heads toward her new home in the Bay.
We all stood on the beach, watching our little babies all
grown up and out on their own. We scanned the water for their little
heads popping out here and there looking back at us. It was goodbye for
the last time.
Being a part of this program and raising our brood will have
a positive impact on this beautiful species and the Chesapeake
Bay. These terrapins made me recognize all the connections
between the land, the water, the people and the critters that call the bay
their home.
I left that morning feeling I was a part of something much
greater than myself; I had made a true Chesapeake
connection.
Cleaning Up the Magothy, One Stream at a Time
Jim Edward is the
deputy director of the Chesapeake Bay Program
Office.
It was a Saturday morning at 9:00 a.m., and already it was in
the mid-70s and humid. After getting lost, I arrived at the Magothy River Day
and Watershed Clean Up, an event organized by the Magothy River Association
(MRA) to celebrate John Smith’s discovery of the Magothy River
on June 12th more than 400 years ago.
Once I arrived -- 15 minutes late -- the 25+ volunteers that
had gathered at Chelsea Beach in Pasadena,
Maryland, were already working
hard and craving the water cooler and ice that I was in charge of bringing. The
enthusiastic, hard-working (and sweaty!) volunteers, who ranged in age from 7
to 70, were helping to clean up Indian River Creek, which was riddled with hundreds of tires and
other debris from more than 25 years of neglect. The creek was
at the bottom of a steep ravine, and rolling huge truck tires up the hill was a
muddy and sweaty challenge for many of us (including me!!!!). But over the next
couple of hours we managed to nearly fill two 20-foot-long dumpsters with old
tires, rims, rusty lawnmowers, water heaters (???) and other “junk.”
Jim (right) and other volunteers clear some strange items of trash from the area, including a water heater and an old lawn mower.
The trash was located at the bottom of a steep ravine, so the voluteers had to push the tires uphill -- exhausting work!
MRA President Paul Sparado was there and working as hard as
anyone. But the real organizers for the
day were Juliet Page and Tom Hampton of the MRA Stormwater Committee, of which
I am a member. Along with other members of the committee, they worked with Anne Arundel
County to identify sites along the Magothy River in need of clean-up and restoration.
These before and after photos show what a difference this small band of people
made that morning and the value of citizens and government working together to
achieve a common goal.
Before: A pile of tires sat at the bottom of a steep ravine near Indian River Creek, which drains to the Magothy River.
After: The creek bed is clear of tires and other trash.
I just recently joined the Chesapeake Bay Program Office as
its deputy director after more 20 years of working for the EPA in Washington, D.C.
Not only has my carbon footprint become smaller, but my professional and personal
worlds have become one. I have done volunteer work for many years with MRA, the
Chesapeake Bay Foundation and the Earth Conservation Corps, and now Bay-related
work is my everyday job, too. But I am only
one of the nearly 17 million people who live in the Bay watershed. It will take
efforts from each and every one of us to restore the Bay we all know and love.
President Obama and his family of five (remember, his
mother-in-law lives with him!) are among the newest residents of the Bay watershed,
and it did not take him long to embrace his new home and recognize the Bay as a
national treasure by issuing an Executive Order. It charges the EPA to lead a renewed
federal effort to restore the Bay by working with its state and local partners
and others throughout the watershed. But it is important to remember that the
government can’t do it all. The MRA cleanup and its volunteers are a prime
example of that. So lets each do our part…one by one….it’s a new day for the
Bay!
A Little Goes a Long Way
Last week, a family friend who teaches at a local middle
school invited me to her classroom. She
wanted someone to teach her sixth graders about sediments, nutrients, and the
Bay. I agreed, and took Krystal, one of
my co-workers, along. We had an amazing
day. All in all, I think we talked to
about 300 incredibly smart 6th graders!
They knew that sediment clouds the water and covers any organisms on the
bottom, that the watershed is made up of six states (naming them was more challenging),
and that oysters used to be able to filter the entire volume of the Bay in
three days. (It now takes almost a year!) The kids had a great background of
information, so we added to it a little bit.
We’ve all heard that nutrients in the Bay are harmful and
cause algal blooms and dead zones. The
best question of the day, however, came from a student who asked, “If plants
need nutrients to grow, why aren’t the bay grasses growing a lot and providing
oxygen for the animals at the bottom?” I
had been waiting for someone to ask that!
He was right, the plants have all the nutrients that they could ever
want; the problem is that the plants don’t get enough light. Algae float near the surface, soak up
sunlight and nutrients, and form a layer over the water’s surface. That layer, (plus the murkiness due to sediment),
blocks sunlight. Not enough reaches the
bottom to let the grasses grow. As the
plants and older generations of algae die, they sink to the bottom and
decompose. Decomposers use oxygen. Without plants to provide oxygen, whatever
was left in the water is sucked out by decomposers, leaving an anoxic or “dead”
zone every summer.
Krystal and I had a wrap-up discussion with the students,
where we all listed things we could do
to help the Bay. They knew the basics, like recycling and car-pooling, and that
every little bit helps. They were
excited to hear other opportunities, though.
Some students live on waterfront property, and were eager to go home and
ask their parents if they could grow
oyster spat for a year. Some have
yards that are fertilized twice a year, and were concerned when it was
suggested that they skip the spring treatments and wait until fall. Several students even asked if there was
someplace they could volunteer.
Krystal and I left that day feeling like we’d made a small impact,
but apparently we did more than we thought.
The next day, I was handed a hundred or so thank-you letters from the students. Most were the typical “thanks for coming,”
but several got me really excited! One
said that they went home and told their dad not to fertilize this year. Another said that she’ll make sure her
parents clean up after the family dog. A
third got permission from her parents to raise oysters and wanted more
information. All of this reaction came
out of a 30-minute talk! The kids were
so eager to help, once they saw the real problem. It didn’t take much; an explanation of what’s happening, a picture of the Bay from last summer, and some easy tips to help
out. All they needed was to know what they
can do.
I sincerely hope they continue their enthusiasm through adulthood,
and I hope it’s as contagious for everyone else as it was for Krystal and me!
Forestry Workgroup “Leads by Example” at Banshee Reeks
The rain was falling heavy all through Tuesday night and
things had not changed much when the alarm went off the next morning, signaling
the new day. The Chesapeake Bay Forestry Workgroup had a meeting scheduled at
Banshee Reeks Nature Preserve in Loudoun
County, Virginia.
Hearing and seeing the rain and knowing the schedule of the
day brought back memories from my past life. For years, the month of April had
a pretty profound impact on my life. One
of the duties as an employee working for the Virginia Department of Forestry
was to plant tree seedlings with volunteer groups. The best planting months are March, April,
November and December, but April was extremely busy with plantings because of
Earth Day and Arbor Day. You can plant trees
during other months, but for “bare root” seedlings with no soil on their roots,
months with high precipitation and cooler temperatures are the best.
The Banshee Reeks Manor House sits on the top of a hill and Goose Creek winds through
the rolling farmland and forest. The
“Banshee” was with us that Wednesday because of the pouring rain; the misty
spirit hung over the reeks (rolling hills and valley). But hardy as the Forestry Workgroup members
are, they hopped on a wagon and rode down the hills -- in the pouring rain --
to Goose Creek to
see the task before them.
The heavily grassed floodplain had bare areas that were
prepared for a riparian buffer planting.
Our hosts from the Virginia Department of Forestry had planting bars,
tree seedlings, gloves, tree shelters and all of the equipment needed to get
the trees in the ground; the Workgroup members were the muscle. The group
planted approximately 125 sycamore, black walnut, river birch, hackberry and
dogwood shrub seedlings -- again, in the pouring rain -- in a little over an
hour.
As we road the wagon back up the hill -- still in the
pouring rain -- and looked back at the newly planted floodplain, the enthusiasm
was hard to contain. There was a special
warm feeling that drifted over me, reminiscent of my days of planting with
volunteers: the feeling of knowing you just did something special that will
last far into the future. For the
Forestry Workgroup members who promote riparian forest buffer plantings in the Bay
watershed, this was a “lead by example” exercise.
As everyone got into their cars to return to their home
states of Maryland, Pennsylvania,
West Virginia and other parts of Virginia, yes, they were
cold, they were wet, but they were proud of their work.
What are you doing to help the Bay?
Are you doing your part to help the Bay or your local river? Have you installed a rain garden at your home? Do you volunteer for a wateshed organization?We're looking for great examples of people making a difference in the Bay cleanup effort, one small step at a time. If you'd like to tell us your story, send me an e-mail at apimenta@chesapeakebay.net. Or you can add your photo or video to our new Flickr group. If you're chosen to be featured on our website, you'll get a Bay-friendly freebie, such as a reusable mug or shopping bag.
Get Involved this Earth Day
The Earth Day tradition began on April 22, 1970, when 20
million Americans celebrated the first Earth Day. Over the past 39 years, Earth
Day has grown into a global event.
Earth Day in the Chesapeake
region is a day to take action to help restore the Chesapeake
Bay. You can celebrate Earth Day by planting a tree, picking
up trash in your neighborhood or attending an event.
Many Earth Day events are taking place throughout the Chesapeake Bay watershed this April. Check out this
sampling of Earth Day cleanups, festivals and celebrations to find an event
near you. And if you know of an Earth Day event that we have not included on
this list, add it in the comments!
Washington,
D.C.
- April
17-19: Green Apple Festival,
Earth Day on the National Mall
- April
18: Anacostia
Watershed Earth Day Cleanup and Rally, Bladensburg
- April
18: Earth
Day Clean Up at National Zoo
- April 18: Clean-up at bald eagle habitat (4660 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave SW) by EPA and Earh Conservation Corps
- April 22: Shoreline cleanup at Anacostia Park by Earth Conservation Corps (9 a.m.-1 p.m. -- meet at parking lot near skating rink)
Maryland
- April 11: Litter Pickup at Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge
- April 11: Planting at Loch Raven Reservoir, Towson
- April
18: Bay Day at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime
Museum, St. Michaels
- April
18: Earth Day Celebration of the Baltimore Aquarium, Baltimore
- April
18: Baltimore
EcoFestival at Druid Hill Park,
Baltimore
- April
18: GreenScape at Amos Garrett Park sponsored by Spa Creek Conservancy, Annapolis
- April
18: West/Rhode Riverkeeper’s Spring
Paddle, Annapolis
- April
18: Earth Day Festival at Quiet Waters Park, Annapolis
- April 18: Walk for the Woods by Scenic Rivers Land Trust, Crownsville
- April 18: Earth Day Event, Severna Park
- April
25: Oxford Day, Oxford
- April
25: Label the
Watershed, Bethesda
- April
25: Big Green
Trail Day, Annapolis
- April
25: South
River Watershed Snapshot, Annapolis
- April
25: West/Rhode
River Snapshot, Edgewater
Virginia
Pennsylvania
West Virginia