Draft plan for Chesapeake Bay
- Thread starter Cpt. Jon
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Ross,
here is the link for up by you.
they're making progress on the tributaries of the susquehanna.
I'd think we would have a larger pool of qualified candidates with a bad economy.
http://www.lowersusquehannariverkeeper.org/
here is the link for up by you.
they're making progress on the tributaries of the susquehanna.
I'd think we would have a larger pool of qualified candidates with a bad economy.
http://www.lowersusquehannariverkeeper.org/
When I was first in Maryland nearly forty years ago skunks were abundant. I would see a road killed skunk about once a week. Now I see one perhaps once every two or three years. Some people have blamed dieldrin sprayed on alfalfa to kill the beetles. Others don't speculate. I have talked to young park rangers who tell me that they have never seen a skunk.
Ross was it rabies??? I remember when they used to try and poison skunks to control rabies. Skunks are also a furbearer that is popular with trappers. I have been surprised at how few skunks I see. The last was over 10 years ago a moma skunk and her babies walking through a hay field. http://journals.cambridge.org/actio...123EB69D1F.tomcat1?fromPage=online&aid=301754
Moon,
Rabies is not a rampant problem in Maryland. We do, of course have cases but not so many as you'd notice. The encroachment on habitat is what has taken them, imho. I have been known to be wrong, but seems to me you said yourself that they were getting taken at an unsustainable rate. With the population depleted and their foraging routes disrupted and the groups isolated, the population dwindles till it tips and can't sustain itself. The surviving skunks are in the remaining remote areas, I think, don't know. Hope so.
Rabies is not a rampant problem in Maryland. We do, of course have cases but not so many as you'd notice. The encroachment on habitat is what has taken them, imho. I have been known to be wrong, but seems to me you said yourself that they were getting taken at an unsustainable rate. With the population depleted and their foraging routes disrupted and the groups isolated, the population dwindles till it tips and can't sustain itself. The surviving skunks are in the remaining remote areas, I think, don't know. Hope so.
Skunks are very adaptable and were common around farm buildings. It was not unusual to see them nosing around the house and eating cat food from the dish on the porch. The fur trade is practically non existent today. Road kill census is my way of determining populations of animals. The leash laws have reduced the dog and cat road kill numbers to nearly zero. I see more dead deer than cats on the road. Raccoons are the most common road kills that I see.
This "plan" is no plan at all. It is typical of the type of approach that got the Bay into the situation it is in now.
The biggest problem the Bay has is fresh water run off. Solve that and the Bay is fixed.
The Bay oyster will never come back, by the way. There aren't enough left. The reef projects are a failure. The only hope for oyster return and a cleaner Bay is introduction of foreign oysters but that has been rejected by government. The current government approach to oysters is in its 40th year and the Virginia harvest has gone from 100,000 to about 10,000 bushels a year. Why not 1,000,000 a year? That's what it was before the government destroyed the natural oyster reefs because they were obstacles to navigation. The Asian oysters grow three inches a year, three times as fast as Bay oysters. Can you imagine a Bay with millions and millions of oysters? The nutrients from urban runoff would be cleaned out naturally, the water would be clearer and the sea grasses would return. What's not to like?
The biggest problem the Bay has is fresh water run off. Solve that and the Bay is fixed.
The Bay oyster will never come back, by the way. There aren't enough left. The reef projects are a failure. The only hope for oyster return and a cleaner Bay is introduction of foreign oysters but that has been rejected by government. The current government approach to oysters is in its 40th year and the Virginia harvest has gone from 100,000 to about 10,000 bushels a year. Why not 1,000,000 a year? That's what it was before the government destroyed the natural oyster reefs because they were obstacles to navigation. The Asian oysters grow three inches a year, three times as fast as Bay oysters. Can you imagine a Bay with millions and millions of oysters? The nutrients from urban runoff would be cleaned out naturally, the water would be clearer and the sea grasses would return. What's not to like?
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Taking a million bushels a year from the bay might be considered over fishing by some people.
There are probably as many things affecting the bay water quality as there are opinions for a cure.
Fresh water runoff has always existed on the chesapeake water shed that is what makes an esturary.
Consider what happens when a million cars drive just one mile each accross a bridge. car tires wear out at a rate of about 50,000 mile per tire. 4 tires per car. 4 million tires divided by fifty thousand and the rubber from 80 tires has been ground into fine particles and put into the water and air around the bridge. We can stop that but it is part of the problem. That is but one example of the complexity of the problem.
One boater pumps over board or a pack of dogs poop at the water's edge all the same but one can be controlled.
Chesapeake Bay Program
I worked for the Chesapeake Bay Program for a few years. Depending upon what your measure of "Bay Cleanup" is, the problem is a simple scientific one and politically intractable one. The principle stakeholders are MD and VA. PA, a non-stakeholder, is a driver of the scientific problem, most of the Susquehanna is in PA. Stream and river nutrient loading in PA flows downstream. PA has no Bay waterfront or watermen.
Attend a few subcommittee meetings of CBP in Annapolis, if you can get an invite, and you may develop a better understanding of the real problem.
There are dedicated folk within CBP.
I worked for the Chesapeake Bay Program for a few years. Depending upon what your measure of "Bay Cleanup" is, the problem is a simple scientific one and politically intractable one. The principle stakeholders are MD and VA. PA, a non-stakeholder, is a driver of the scientific problem, most of the Susquehanna is in PA. Stream and river nutrient loading in PA flows downstream. PA has no Bay waterfront or watermen.
Attend a few subcommittee meetings of CBP in Annapolis, if you can get an invite, and you may develop a better understanding of the real problem.
There are dedicated folk within CBP.
The EPA is willing to work with the stakeholders to help set limits on nutrient levels flowing into the bay.
As a top EPA official told a gathering of environmental lawyers Thursday.
"This is worth watching not only for purposes of understanding the administration's approach to the bay, but also as a possible harbinger of new approaches to water quality management more generally across the country" said Scott Fulton, the Environmental Protection Agency's Acting Deputy Administrator and general counsel"
We need to support River Keepers, not pump overboard, and investigate how we can remediate the damage done, whether with "bubblers" or whatever.
As a top EPA official told a gathering of environmental lawyers Thursday.
"This is worth watching not only for purposes of understanding the administration's approach to the bay, but also as a possible harbinger of new approaches to water quality management more generally across the country" said Scott Fulton, the Environmental Protection Agency's Acting Deputy Administrator and general counsel"
We need to support River Keepers, not pump overboard, and investigate how we can remediate the damage done, whether with "bubblers" or whatever.
Ross, take a look.
Maryland's governor is proposing putting 24% of the oyster grounds, the best producing, off limits to harvesting. This is 2.5 times the current levels.
The governor is urging the oystermen to transition from hunters to farmers and leave the wild natural oysters and instead build oyster farms.
Shades of Harry Hughes who put a moratorium on the taking of Rock fish.
Made Hughes very unpopular in Maryland, partly because Virginia wouldn't pony up the same. Marylanders couldn't take Rock but Virginians could.
Rock is now very bountiful and better regulated.
Will Virginia join Maryland in the responsible management of oysters?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dy...12/03/AR2009120302538.html?hpid=moreheadlines
Maryland's governor is proposing putting 24% of the oyster grounds, the best producing, off limits to harvesting. This is 2.5 times the current levels.
The governor is urging the oystermen to transition from hunters to farmers and leave the wild natural oysters and instead build oyster farms.
Shades of Harry Hughes who put a moratorium on the taking of Rock fish.
Made Hughes very unpopular in Maryland, partly because Virginia wouldn't pony up the same. Marylanders couldn't take Rock but Virginians could.
Rock is now very bountiful and better regulated.
Will Virginia join Maryland in the responsible management of oysters?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dy...12/03/AR2009120302538.html?hpid=moreheadlines
I read that story in the Baltimore Sun this morning. Certainly a step in the right direction. The DNR is planning to hire water-men to rebuild oyster reefs. Some were dredged out as hazards to navigation years ago. They may be getting there. No one has been catching enough oysters to make a living from that work.
Ross,
I was rereading some of the old posts and the discussions of skunks.
I live in Bowie and we have seen skunks around our neighborhood more now than in the other 14 years we've been here. I suspect the destruction of their habitat near here is driving them to where we encounter them. They won't be here long. No habitat and dogs and cats and voila, no skunks.
I was rereading some of the old posts and the discussions of skunks.
I live in Bowie and we have seen skunks around our neighborhood more now than in the other 14 years we've been here. I suspect the destruction of their habitat near here is driving them to where we encounter them. They won't be here long. No habitat and dogs and cats and voila, no skunks.
You may find the following link useful for more information about the Bay restoration plans and related activities. The Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay, a regional non-profit organization, manages the Bay Program Communications Office that produces this web site and other communications outreach efforts under a cooperative agreement with EPA. This site will provide links to other sources of information, and you can sign up for regular updates.....
http://www.chesapeakebay.net/index.aspx?menuitem=13853
http://www.chesapeakebay.net/index.aspx?menuitem=13853
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Incidentally, the Alliance also manages the Bay Program Citizens Advisory and Local Government Advisory Committees. The meetings of these committees are open to the public, minutes are posted and the schedules can be found on the web site.
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Ross, your comment made me laugh ...
Our dog didn't learn the first time she got sprayed. I doubt she learned the second time either. I am really glad that we don't see porky pines arount here ....
I was surprised by what you said about skunks. I'd have to say that other than deer, they are by far the most numerous road kills around our area and their scent prevails everywhere. My wife complains about them all summer when our windows are open. We have plenty of coons in the woods around us but they stay out of our yard.
When I was a kid, dogs were easily the most prevalent road kill. That has certainly changed.
Our dog didn't learn the first time she got sprayed. I doubt she learned the second time either. I am really glad that we don't see porky pines arount here ....
I was surprised by what you said about skunks. I'd have to say that other than deer, they are by far the most numerous road kills around our area and their scent prevails everywhere. My wife complains about them all summer when our windows are open. We have plenty of coons in the woods around us but they stay out of our yard.
When I was a kid, dogs were easily the most prevalent road kill. That has certainly changed.
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