Editor's Note: On Monday, the Anne Arundel County Council will vote on Bill 79-11, a bill introduced by Councilmen Dick Ladd (District 1) and Chris Trumbauer (District 6). The purpose of the bill is to create a fund that could be used to reduce stormwater runoff. Erik Michelsen, executive director of the South River Federation, has written an open letter to the council, signed by 11 influential citizens. Edgewater-Davidsonville Patch got a copy of the letter for reprint in its entirety: Dear County Council Members, We the undersigned urge you to pass Bill 79-11, “A Stormwater Management and …

Patuxent Riverkeeper is moving its office to a new location and the old one is being converted into a sustainable farming enterprise. Help us celebrate with an environmental film (to be shown at an indoor venue at the Fairhaven School at 6 p.m.) followed by a pot luck dinner at the farm, celebratory bonfire and drum circle under the stars. Come party under the stars on one of our county's few remaining working farms with four non-profit groups that stand together for change, community and sustainability: Patuxent Riverkeeper, Prince George's Sierra Club, Eco-City Farms and Fairhaven School. …

Recently, the volunteer water trail maintenance team, (also known as the Patuxent Roughnecks) tackled a challenging project on the Patuxent River. A wayward floating boat ramp had floated a mile downstream from its mooring. The Pax Roughnecks needed to find a way to get it back upstream without a motor boat, which couldn't navigate the shallow waterway.  The dock had became unmoored during tropical storms Irene and Lee. It was the roughest weather the river had seen in quite some time. During Irene, the water flows surged to near record level. During Irene, the gauge at Governor’s Bridge …

According to the Chesapeake Bay Program’s estimates, pollution from urban and suburban stormwater runoff is the only sector where nutrient loads are currently growing in the bay watershed.  On much of the western shore of the Chesapeake, including the Baltimore-Washington metro areas and surrounding counties, agriculture is an increasingly rare land use—shifting to the eastern shore or Midwest.  In Maryland, the Bay Restoration Fund (aka “Flush Tax”) is being used to upgrade wastewater treatment plants to the best available technology.  Yet, these areas consistently suffer from some of the …

After centuries of unregulated wetland filling, land clearing, and shoreline modification, over the course of the past several decades, federal, state, and local regulations have been put in place, ostensibly to reverse the trend of the declining health of the country’s waterways. As a rule, these have taken the form of a sequence of options: “avoid, minimize, mitigate.”  So, in the context of a development project, impacts to wetlands or trees in the critical area buffer should be avoided if at all possible, and if not avoided, minimized.  Any impacts that do occur, should either be …

The Anne Arundel County Council is nearing the end of a “comprehensive rezoning” process that allows landowners to submit requests for zoning changes (usually up zoning) and have the County Council vote to accept or deny them.   Those hopefuls who missed the original deadline for such requests have come to the latest process in the form of late-breaking amendments. In some instances the first time citizens have learned of these amendments is at the Council meeting where they are first introduced. Opposition from communities affected by these local changes in density and intensity of use have …

Last week, a Flotilla of Waterkeepers Chesapeake in their patrol boats participated in an orderly demonstration in downtown Annapolis in order to draw attention to their frustration and disappointment with the Maryland General Assembly which in the recently-concluded session, failed to follow through on any number of possible avenues to protect the state’s waterways and environment.  Much-needed legislation dealing with natural gas fracking, pesticides, stormwater management, plastics bags and more all fizzled as politicians dithered and procrastinated and argued in reverse that jobs and the …

Every year it happens.  Initially, I was shocked.  Now, like clockwork, every spring I fully expect to get the call from some concerned citizen that local wildlife has gotten out of control and needs to be exterminated.  Our South River riverkeeper has been asked, or in some cases told, to kill a vast swath of fauna, from osprey and cow-nosed rays to muskrats and beavers, for reasons ranging from their perceived threat to small children to minor property damage.  Needless to say, she’s never acted on those requests.  And, it’s for a good reason.  To the extent that those creatures remain here…

Each January, Maryland’s Senators and Delegates gather in Annapolis to convene a 90-day General Assembly. The General Assembly is our state legislature, and is made up of 188 elected representatives (47 Senators and 141 Delegates). Every year they consider thousands of bills. Many of these bills can affect the West and Rhode Rivers. Tracking this legislation is time-consuming and challenging, even for seasoned advocates. However, keeping an eye on what happens at the General Assembly is important, because decisions made during the session will affect us all. With regard to the West and Rhode …

Perhaps you’ve heard it said that in Chinese, the character for “crisis” is the same as the one for “opportunity”.  I know I have.  A quick search of the internet, that great dasher of self-delusion, suggests that this assertion was probably wishful thinking guided by a poor translation. Nonetheless, I think there’s a great deal of merit to the idea of embracing turbulent times as a vehicle for positive change.   And, there’s little question we’re living in turbulent times.  In the midst of a recession, with high unemployment rates and low consumer confidence, I think it’s easy for …