West and Rhode Riverkeeper

We work with our community to enforce environmental law, to
promote restoration, and to advocate for better environmental policy.
Contact us: 410-867-7171 ♦ 4800 Atwell Rd, #6, Shady Side, MD 20764

Ice, Ice Baby: How to De-Ice your Property without Degrading the Environment

By Kacey Wetzel, Chesapeake Bay Trust

I hate to tell you folks, but salt is bad news. Salt is about as bad as Vanilla Ice was, but without the bad rapper reputation. So why is salt so bad? Check it:

Salt can accumulate in soil damaging your lawn and garden by preventing plants from taking up water and nutrients.
Salt runs off hard surfaces and into storm drains with rain or snowmelt, which feed into local streams where it negatively impacts aquatic species and vegetation. Remember, they call them freshwater species for a reason (they don’t want to live in saltwater!).
Salt can flush through the soil and into groundwater, which can slowly move into streams, elevating salt levels well after winter is over.
Different types of salt mixes have different impacts. Sodium chloride can contain cyanide (obviously bad all around).
Certain salt mixes can cause algal growth in local waterways, further depleting oxygen levels, which aquatic species need to survive.
Salt increases the concentration of sodium in drinking water which can impact health.
Salt is corrosive and damages our cars, paved surfaces, etc.
Salt hurts our pets feet if it gets caught inside their paws.
Salt can attract animals, which may be hit by cars if they’re licking the salt from the ground near a roadway.
Road salt is expensive! Reducing the use of road salt would save lots of money for municipalities.

So what are the options, if you want get out of your house and driveway without slipping and sliding?

1. Get out and Shovel– You need exercise, the ice and snow need to go…it’s a match made in heaven!
2. Don’t want to shovel? Ok, pay someone from your hood to shovel the snow; there are usually plenty of kids willing to shovel your driveway for a few bucks.
3. Be patient! Snow and Ice will eventually melt so just get some traction with bird seed or gravel. Sand is not ideal, as it can clog storm drains.
4. Sugar Beet Extract – Yup I said it! Beet extract is a more eco-friendly way to melt ice, but since most of us don’t have a beet farm in our backyards (like Dwight from The Office) you can purchase sugar beet extract online. There are some places that are now mixing sugar beet extract with salt to de-ice roadways; to go the greener route purchase an organic formula.
5. Alfalfa Meal- This one is a twofer, it melts the ice and it provides traction. A natural fertilizer that contains nitrogen, alfalfa meal can also contribute to algal blooms in our waterways (so it’s not ideal); however, it is less problematic that nitrates from synthetic fertilizers or urea.
6. Bare Ground- Bare Ground is non-toxic, biodegradable and less corrosive than water. Check it out online. Apply it to a walkway before a storm and it reduces snow accumulation.
7. CMA- CMA stands for Calcium Magnesium Acetate which is a natural acid that is soluble in water. Similar chemically to vinegar, different types of CMA can be found online.
8. Safe Paws – Another more eco-friendly brand.
9. Get a snow blower – Ok snow blowers are not the most eco-friendly option on this list, but they are definitely better for our local streams; choose an electric model above a gas-powered one.
10. Be Informed! – Read about the pros and cons of a product before you purchase it.

So let’s get out of our driveways the eco-friendly way this winter. Word to your mother…earth!

Kacey Wetzel is a program manager for the Chesapeake Bay Trust. She can be reached at 410-974-2941, ext. 104.

Keeping your lawn on drugs will cost you $4 billion

Mike McGrath, wtop.com

This Just In: The real cost of chemically intensive lawn care is a mere $4 billion a county

I bet our listeners in Fredrick County sat up straight when they heard the report last month. It will cost them $4 billion over the next 25 years to repair the damage being done by their fertilizers to the Chesapeake Bay, as mandated by the federal Clean Water Act.

Local lawmakers acknowledge that legal limitations on fertilizer used by homeowners would lead to cleaner water essentially for free, but that such actions "face strong opposition from fertilizer lobbies."

That leaves you as the answer. You can prevent an enormous hike in your taxes. You can prevent the need for fertilizer police. Heck, you'll also save money, save the bay and have a better-looking lawn. All you need to do is stop drenching your turf in toxic chemicals.

Yes, it really is that easy. Ask any vegetable gardener. Grass is the toughest weed there is. The only way to have a bad-looking lawn is to cut it too short or drench it in chemicals all summer.

If your lawn were a person, it would weigh 700 pounds

How much of lawn fertilizer use is overuse? On average, American homeowners use four times the amount of fertilizer per square foot of land as farmers. Your lawn doesn't look bad because it's underfed. Your lawn looks bad because it's overfed.

Our cool season lawns -- bluegrass, rye and the fescues (essentially everything in our area that's not zoysia grass) -- should only be fed twice a year: once in the spring and once in the fall. More food than that is unnecessary and wasteful, and feeding in the summer actually damages our lawns.

Let's make this the year you put that big divot of yours on a diet.

Two feedings, period. If you're on a four-step program, get on a 12-step program because those two extra steps are making your turf look worse and building the tab on a bill that no one wants to pay.

Half your food for free without a Groupon

One great way to feed your turf without adding to the poor beleaguered bay's pollution is by cutting it with a mulching mower. These specialized machines with sealed decks and super-sharp blades pulverize the clippings before returning them to your lawn in the form of a fine powder that's 10 percent nitrogen, the perfect level of the perfect fertilizer for your lawn.

Using a mulching mower provides half the food your lawn needs all season and it eliminates the need for you to do anything with your clippings.

Lawn rehab Step One: Get your gluten ready

Susan in Vienna, Mary down by Stafford, Curtis in D.C., and Cameron in Bethesda are among the many who've emailed this past week expressing their desire to try and help the bay by getting their lawns off drugs this spring. Good for all of you. Let's clean up our own acts so the government doesn't have to send chemical cops after us to save the bay or hit us with a $4 billion bill per county.

Let's start by being ready to spread a packaged corn gluten meal that's labeled as a pre-emergent herbicide on our lawns in about a month. Corn gluten meal provides the perfect level of natural nitrogen to feed your turf and it prevents dormant weed seeds -- especially crabgrass --from sprouting.

But it must be applied just as the local forsythia and redbuds are beginning to bloom -- the highly visible plant cues that crabgrass seeds are germinating invisibly in your lawn) No pre-emergent, chemical or organic, can stop weeds once they start growing. If you snooze, you lose and crabgrass will win. So get your gluten and keep your eyes on those plants and the prize.

Lawn care or a ride to intensive care?

I had to promise not to reveal the name and location of the listener who clued me in, or the name of the lawn care company who promoted the bay-safe approach she leaked to me. An astonishing eight treatments a year comprising large amounts of every herbicide legally on the market, including the cancer-causing Agent Orange component 2,4-D and five applications of high nitrogen fertilizer, is exactly what's killing our poor beleaguered bay.

Want a weed-free lawn without a $4 billion bill? Feed it twice -- once in the spring and once in fall. Never cut it below 3 inches of green. Water it deeply and infrequently.

That's it. Anything else you do will weaken your grass and encourage your weeds.

Next week: Valentine's Day!

Follow WTOP on Twitter.

Maryland’s bay restoration plan available for public comment

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Maryland’s plan for restoring the Chesapeake Bay is now available for public comment.

The state presented the plan to the Environmental Protection Agency last month as part of a new federally led effort to restore the bay. The EPA asked all six states in the bay watershed to present their plans for complying with its so-called “pollution diet” for restoring the nation’s largest estuary.

The Maryland Department of the Environment is also holding public meetings statewide during the public comment period, which ends March 9.

Public meetings will be held in Chestertown, College Park, Hagerstown, Baltimore County and Baltimore.

By: Associated Press

In Annapolis, green agenda a "heavy lift"

Legislative leaders say activists' help needed to pass flush fee increase, septic limits

By: Tim Wheeler, The Baltimore Sun

11:38 a.m. EST, January 25, 2012

Environmental activists rallied in Annapolis yesterday evening, as their leaders described this year's General Assembly session as a make-or-break one for restoring the Chesapeake Bay and fighting climate change.

Senate President Thomas V. "Mike" Miller Jr. and House SpeakerMichael E. Busch vowed to press for green legislation but appealed for help from the hundreds of activists crowded into a Senate conference room for the annual environmental legislative "summit."

Environmental groups have declared renewable energy, bay cleanup and reducing plastic bag litter among their top priorities for this 90-day session. They're backing Gov.Martin O'Malley's bill offering subsidies for offshore wind energy projects, which a Sierra Club spokeswoman argued would help the state meet its renewable energy goals while improving air quality, boosting jobs and mitigating global warming.

Green groups also are rooting for O'Malleys proposed increase in the "flush fee" to pay for upgrading more sewage treatment plants, and for limiting development on septic tanks, which they say will rein in sprawl while helping to keep nutrient pollution out of the bay.

Other causes on the greens' radar include protecting environmental programs and park acquisition from budget cuts, and shielding the University of Maryland environmental law clinic from critics of its participation in a pollution lawsuit against an Eastern Shore farm and the Perdue poultry company.

But legislative leaders warned activists that with all the budget and economic issues lawmakers have to deal with, the green agenda will be a tough one.

Miller, in particular, cautioned that the environment is "under assault" from conservatives who are accusing the O'Malley administration of waging a "war on rural Maryland." He said some of the green groups' legislative priorities are "heavy lifts," but pledged to win passage of the governor's proposal to increase the "flush fee" toward upgrading the state's largest sewage treatment plants.

"We're going to get the votes to do that," he said, though he cautioned that rural lawmakers and Republicans are likely to be "very recalcitrant," especially with other tax and fee increases under consideration.

Busch, for his part, said "everything's a challenge," though he noted that the flush fee had passed his chamber 129-19 when it was first adopted in 2004. The speaker said he supported the O'Malley administration's state development blueprint, PlanMaryland, despite complaints by rural lawmakers that it usurps local prerogatives to control land use.

Busch also praised Del. Maggie McIntosh, chairwoman of the House Environmental Matters Committee, for her leadership in helping to craft proposals for strengthening the state's Smart Growth policies while protecting the bay by limiting new development on septic tanks. He pledged to support those initiatives, but said he needed activists to contact and persuade reluctant lawmakers.

Environmental group leaders attempted to infuse a sense of urgency in their members, saying the bay is starting to show signs of recovery even as farming and development groups attempt to derail the "pollution diet" imposed on Maryland and other bay states by the federal government.

"It's a moment in time for the Chesapeake Bay ... It's a moment in time for Maryland," said Will Baker, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation's president. While the bay is showing modest improvements, he said, it's a very, very fragile success. Failure to keep the cleanup momentum going could doom the effort, he warned. "We must not be complacent. We will never be able to declare victory and go home."

Poll: Marylanders support increase to 'flush fee'

By PAMELA WOOD, Annapolis Capital
Published 01/19/12

Environmentalists are touting a new poll that shows nearly two-thirds of Marylanders support raising the "flush fee" to improve the health of the Chesapeake Bay.

The poll from Annapolis-based OpinionWorks asked 801 registered voters if they'd support increasing the Bay Restoration Fund fee - its officially name - to upgrade sewage plants and reduce stormwater runoff.

Twenty-six percent offered strong support and 38 percent said they somewhat support an increase, for a total support of 64 percent.

Another 27 percent either somewhat or strongly oppose and increase, while 9 percent were not sure.

"What the polling makes clear is that Marylanders are willing to spend more on clean water projects like upgrading wastewater treatment plants and reducing polluted stormwater runoff - even in these difficult economic times," Erik Michelsen, director of the South River Federation, said in a statement.

The Federation is one of the groups that commissioned the poll.

The question did not include a specific dollar amount.

The flush fee is currently $30 annually per home, usually paid as a quarterly $7.50 charge on water and sewer bills. Residents on private wells and septic systems pay the fee through their property tax bills.

Commercial and industrial properties pay based on their amount of water and sewer flows.

Gov. Martin O'Malley said this week he intends to double the fee for septic system users from $30 to $60. Meanwhile, he'd charge homes on public sewer based on usage, with higher users paying more. He has not yet offered further details of his plan.

A task force recommended doubling and eventually tripling the fee to $90 in order to raise more money for the bay. Many environmental groups are promoting an immediate quadrupling of the fee.

The fee was established during the administration of Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. as a way to raise money to upgrade sewage plants, modernize septic systems and plant winter cover crops on farms.

But the money coming into the fund is not enough to pay for the full schedule of sewage plant upgrades. The state is reluctant to slow down the pace of upgrades, especially as the federal bay "pollution diet" has Maryland on the hook for significant pollution reductions.

The Chesapeake Bay and its rivers suffer from too much pollution from nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment.

Sewage plants, septic systems and farm runoff are all significant sources of nitrogen pollution, which contributes to the bay's oxygen deprived "dead zones" each summer.

The OpinionWorks poll was paid for by the Clean Water, Healthy Families Coalition, which includes the state's major environmental organizations.

It was conducted from Dec. 11 to 15 and has a 3.4 percent margin of error.

pwood@capgaznews.com

Poll Shows Strong Commitment to Clean Water and State Management of Growth

Two-thirds of Maryland Voters Support Bay Restoration Fund Increase; Large Majority of Voters – Even in Rural Areas – Support Restrictions on Septics

Demonstrating strong support for improving Maryland waterways even in difficult economic times, nearly two-thirds of Maryland voters support increasing the Bay Restoration Fund, currently funded through an annual $30 household fee, and large majorities believe the State should actively manage growth and restrict septic systems, according to a poll released today.

The polling results underscore the importance Maryland voters place on continuing to clean up the state's waters. Nine voters in 10 agreed it is important to take actions to make the Chesapeake Bay and local streams clean and healthy. Hearing that the Bay is in fact making progress towards clean water goals, three-quarters of voters surveyed agreed that "we need to do even more for the Bay to finish the job."

The poll was commissioned by the Clean Water Healthy Families coalition, of which West/Rhode Riverkeeper is a member. The poll was conducted by Opinionworks of Annapolis. A memo about the poll notes that this support level is significant because "Maryland voters today have a strong underlying skepticism about public spending and taxes."
cwhf_flyer CLICK HERE to see the full memo about the poll.

CLICK HERE to find out more about the Clean Water Healthy Families Campaign.

Time to finish the job: lawmakers must step up to meet commitments to clean water, healthy families

Press Release

Jan. 5, 2012
For Immediate Release

For Information Contact:
Dru Schmidt-Perkins – 410 258-8601
Erik Michelsen – 410-212-3309
Tom Zolper – 443-482-2066

Time to finish the job: lawmakers must step up to meet commitments to clean water, healthy families

INVESTING NOW IN SEWAGE PLANT UPGRADES AND OTHER POLLUTION REDUCTION EFFORTS WILL PAY OFF IN CLEAN WATER FOR SWIMMING, JOBS, INCREASED PROPERTY VALUES

ANNAPOLIS—The Chesapeake Bay region is more than half way to meeting its goals for water pollution reduction. A coalition of 14 Maryland environmental groups has announced a legislative agenda to finish the job. Several critical policies must be enacted during the 2012 session of the Maryland General Assembly in order for Maryland to make good on its commitment to make local water safe for all Marylanders.

"People may be surprised to learn how much progress we've made toward clean and healthy water. But now we are at a critical moment in history which will determine if we complete this work, or slide backward," said Kim Coble, Vice President of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.
"Maryland has crafted a good plan to sustain our momentum. Now lawmakers must do the right thing to ensure the plan goes into action."

The Clean Water, Healthy Families Coalition will work during the 2012 legislative session to ensure Maryland: completes large sewage plant upgrades; ensures local governments have the resources to reduce contaminated runoff; limits pollution discharges from new septic systems around the state; and reduces pollution from poorly planned development.

Restoring the Chesapeake Bay and our local streams and rivers that feed it can create thousands of jobs. Montgomery County alone expects to create 3,300 new jobs over the next 3-4 years building systems to control contaminated runoff. We can expect other benefits from this legislative agenda, including reduced flooding and improved property values in areas hit by high storm flows.

To meet these goals we all must share the cost. Maryland households will help provide funds needed to fix sewage plants, prevent runoff and help reach our clean water goals. The Bay Restoration Fund ("flush fee') must be immediately increased to $10 a month. Without these resources Maryland will not meet the commitments it made a year ago to reduce pollution sufficiently to make state creeks, rivers and the Bay "swimmable and fishable" by 2020.

Continuing to postpone the necessary work will only increase costs in the future, and saddle us with ever worsening consequences. For instance, maintenance of the ponds, pipes and trenches that channel runoff into local creeks has been neglected for years. Stories abound about flooded streets and basements, and closed highways from ruptured pipes.

"That which we value, we invest in—our children's education, our retirement, the upkeep of our homes. Clean water is worth the investment, too," said Erik Michelsen, Executive Director of the South River Federation.

On the eve of the 2012 general assembly, legislation is being drafted to meet these goals of the Clean Water, Healthy Families Coalition:

• Secure funding to complete upgrades at all 67 major wastewater treatment plants around the state. The Fund is estimated to be short at least $385 million to finish the job.
• Secure funding to help local governments reduce contaminated runoff. This is the only source of pollution increasing around the Bay.
• Establish limits on the polluting discharge from septic systems. A typical home with a septic system discharges up to10 times more nutrient pollution than a home connected to public sewer.
• Take clear steps to strengthen "Smart Growth" policies to reduce future pollution loads from poorly planned development and to reduce the rapidly increasing number of septic systems.

***
The members if the Clean Water, Healthy Families Coalition are: 1,000 Friends of Maryland, Anacostia Watershed Society, Audubon Naturalist Society, Blue Water Baltimore, Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Chester River Association, Clean Water Action, Environment Maryland, Maryland League of Conservation Voters; Mid-shore Riverkeeper Conservancy, Patuxent Riverkeeper, Sierra Club, South River Federation, and West/Rhode Riverkeeper. More information is available at www.cleanwaterhealthyfamilies.org.

Schools creating lesson plans to get every kid outside

By TINA REED, Staff Writer For The Capital

Starting next year, students at county schools will be getting outside the classroom a heck of a lot more.

It's part of a still-evolving plan by school officials to exceed a new state environmental literacy requirement.

"The plan is every child outdoors every year, every teacher gets professional development," said Stephen Barry, the county schools' coordinator of outdoor education.

Schools must submit their plan for incorporating environmental education into their curriculum by April.

The system also has a five-year plan to have every school meet the "Green School" standards of the U.S. Green Building Council.

In June, the state enacted an environmental literacy graduation rule requiring schools to infuse core subjects with lessons on conservation, smart growth and other environmental topics. Earlier in the school year, county schools started a comprehensive environmental literacy program.

The county plans go far past the new state requirements, Barry said.

Several months ago, Board of Education members attended a retreat at Smith Island hosted by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation to talk about ideas for weaving environmental education into the curriculum at all grade levels.

"We know some teachers are already doing this. What (the school officials) are trying to do is make it more universal," said Tom Ackerman, director of teacher training for the foundation.

First-grade students might spend weeks learning about monarch butterflies by actually raising butterflies in the classroom and going outside to find proper food for them, Barry said.

In fourth grade, he said, students might begin thinking more about how their behavior impacts the environment. High school students might spend time building rain gardens and learning what they can do to help the local watershed.

The main point is that all students will be getting this education across the board, Barry said.

In the last school year, for the first time, all county kindergarten students went to one of the county's environmental education centers as part of a 10-lesson project on trees, Barry said.

Rather than just talking about trees during a lesson or two in the classroom, students were taken outside to learn about what they are, what keeps them alive and the habitats they provide. These are concepts students that young don't typically know, Barry said, explaining that it's easier to teach youngsters about them when they are able to actually stand next to the object they are learning about.

"Your hands are dirty and your feet are wet. There are so many things you can learn that way," he said.

treed@capgaznews.com

Catfish Study

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service released a new study on the Catfish Tumors in the South, Severn, Rhode, and
Choptank Rivers in Anne Arundel County.

Click here to view the report.

Maritime Museum awarded NOAA grant

Funds will help expand its educational offerings

By WENDI WINTERS, For The Capital

A three-year, $247,471 grant was awarded today to the Annapolis Maritime Museum in Eastport.

The grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will help fund The Education Center at the museum and its education program, "MUDDY FEET."

"What this grant says is our program has proven to be effective. These are accolades from the highest authorities," said museum director Jefferson Holland.

The program was developed in partnership with county public school teachers and administrators to ensure county and state standards are met. With the grant, AMM officials hope to offer its programs to schools countywide. It currently serves eight elementary schools in Annapolis, the two middle schools and Annapolis High School.

During the 2008-2009 academic year, 350 children were served by the program and last year, more than 1,850.

"We hope to reach more than 7,000 students over the next three years," said Eric M. Rubin, chairman of the museum's board.

The programs AMM offers the public schools are free to the participants. Maritime Explorers, a program for private schools, charges a fee.

The Education Center's programs range from Little Nippers, a wintertime program offered to Annapolis public schools with Pre-K classes, to a signature program in development with Annapolis High School. Other community-based programs are also offered.

AMM also created a high school internship program. Four students, two from Key School, one from Broadneck High and one from St. Mary's are working with younger students who participate in AMM programs. In the second and third grades, 45 students from each of several Title 1 schools are selected annually to attend Chesapeake Champions, an extensive four-and-a-half-week-long, nine-session program. Bay Icons was created for fourth-graders and Bay Stewards involves eighth-graders. In nearly all the programs, waterman John Van Alstine [West/Rhode Riverkeeper Board member] of Shady Side motors his boat to the museum to talk with the students.

The Education Center, spearheaded by Rich and program coordinator Amanda Elliott, is developing teacher resource packages to be launched later this fall on the AMM website, www.amaritime.org.

"Anne Arundel County is leading the nation in giving every student environmental education every year. That's unheard of in this country," said Shannon Sprague, Manager of the NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office Environmental Literacy Team.

"These NOAA grants are not easy to get, especially in these tough economic times. The fact that the Annapolis Maritime Museum is receiving this award speaks to the excellence and effectiveness of the MUDDY FEET program," said U.S. Senator Ben Cardin, chairman of the Senate Water and Wildlife Subcommittee.

And in case you were wondering, "MUDDY FEET" is an acronym for Maritime Unbounded Damp and Dirty Yucky Fun Environmental Education and Training.

West and Rhode Riverkeeper

Ice, Ice Baby: How to De-Ice your Property without Degrading the Environment

Keeping your lawn on drugs will cost you $4 billion

Keeping your lawn on drugs will cost you $4 billion

Maryland’s bay restoration plan available for public comment

In Annapolis, green agenda a "heavy lift"

Legislative leaders say activists' help needed to pass flush fee increase, septic limits

Poll: Marylanders support increase to 'flush fee'

Poll Shows Strong Commitment to Clean Water and State Management of Growth

Two-thirds of Maryland Voters Support Bay Restoration Fund Increase; Large Majority of Voters – Even in Rural Areas – Support Restrictions on Septics

Time to finish the job: lawmakers must step up to meet commitments to clean water, healthy families

Schools creating lesson plans to get every kid outside

Catfish Study

Maritime Museum awarded NOAA grant

Funds will help expand its educational offerings

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