The Wetlands Web

Treasure Hunt Underway in the Chesapeake

We are after treasure in the Bay – but not the kind you may be thinking. The hunt is on for wetland treasures! A new initiative is underway, sponsored by the Society of Wetland Scientists, called Wetland Treasures, aimed at identifying high quality wetlands in the Chesapeake and throughout the U.S.

This initiative will enable the public to access wetland information on a publically accessible, interactive website populated with wetlands in every U.S. state. Wetland Treasures will provide outdoor enthusiasts, K-12 educators, natural resource managers, wetland professionals, and academics information about the important functions and values provided by top-tier wetlands. Each treasures’ description on the website will include ecology, flora and fauna, site access information, and images. Wetland Treasures will provide the first-ever “one-stop shop” for information on high functioning wetlands. This initiative is modeled after Wisconsin’s Wetland Gems® program – known for its success in galvanizing public understanding, appreciation, and advocacy for wetlands.

One of the objectives of the Wetland Treasures initiative is to motivate the adoption of additional U.S. Ramsar Convention wetlands, those wetlands recognized as so special as to garner international recognition (see the 2/2/2015 Wetlands Blog for information about Ramsar wetlands).

There are currently only 36 U.S. Ramsar Wetlands – and our own Chesapeake Bay is one of these internationally designated wetlands. Please contact us to nominate your favorite wetland as a Wetland Treasure.

Coming Soon…..

May is American Wetlands Month! Created by the Environmental Protection Agency in 1991, this program was “created to celebrate the vital importance of wetlands to the Nation’s ecological, economic, and social health and to educate people about the value of wetlands as a natural resource.”

EPA (and your Wetlands Administrator) encourages all Americans to consider doing the following to help celebrate the month of May: 1) Learn about wetlands; 2) Explore a wetland near you; and 3) Take action to protect and restore wetlands. Visit the EPA's website for more information.

Date: 4/2/2015 Category: News

Wetlands Soil Color

Soils can be many different colors – here in Maryland usually tan, brown, reddish-brown, orange, yellow, grey, and black. Wetland soils, called hydric soils, are physically different from non-wetland soils due to a prolonged presence of water. At times wetland soils are so saturated with water that they cannot hold much, if any, oxygen. The prolonged presence of water combined with the lack of oxygen causes chemical reactions that affect soil color.

Maryland has two types of wetland soils – organic and mineral. Organic wetland soils contain a high amount of organic matter and are typically black or dark brown. Minerals wetland soils usually contain sand, silt, or clay and are gleyed or mottled. Gleyed soils usually form when soils are saturated all of the time resulting in soils that are grey, or greenish and bluish grey. Mottled soils form in areas where wet periods are followed by dry periods. Here the basic soil color contains splotches of brown, orange, red, or yellow. When the soils are wet, iron and manganese are deposited in pore spaces in the soil. When the soil dries, the iron rusts, leaving red, orange, and yellow iron concentrations or black manganese nodules. Examination of a soil sample’s color, even if the soil has dried out, can determine if it is a wetland soil.

Iron concentrations in a wetland mineral soil

March is National Women’s History Month. One of Maryland’s stirring female wetland advocates passed away on February 25, 2015. Dr. Eugenie Clark, a pioneer in the study of marine conservation and shark behavior, taught marine biology at the University of Maryland from 1968 to 1992. Much of her work focused on sharks and dispelling the public's fear of sharks, especially after the 1975 movie Jaws. One of her dozen National Geographic articles was titled, "Sharks: Magnificent and Misunderstood." Clark was known for her courage driven by curiosity – referring to a ride on the back of a 50-foot whale shark as “one of the most exciting journeys of her career.” She continued deep sea diving into her nineties. Dr. Clark served as a role model and mentor to a generation of women marine biologists and an inspiration to all wetland enthusiasts. University of Maryland tribute http://cmns.umd.edu/news-events/features/2829.

Date: 3/2/2015 Category: News

World Wetlands Day - February 2nd

Move Over, Groundhog! February 2nd each year is World Wetlands Day. The international Convention on Wetlands was adopted February 2, 1971. Known as the Ramsar Convention, members, including the United States, commit to:

"The conservation and wise use of all wetlands through local and national actions and international cooperation, as a contribution toward achieving sustainable development throughout the world."

Wetlands are among the most diverse and productive ecosystems on earth, providing essential services and supplying our fresh water. “Wetlands” includes all lakes and rivers, swamps and marshes, aquifers, wet grasslands, peatlands, oases, estuaries, deltas and tidal flats, mangroves and other coastal areas, and coral reefs. “Wetlands” also encompasses human-made sites such as fish ponds, rice paddies, reservoirs, and salt pans.

The United States has designated 35 Ramsar sites as "Wetlands of International Importance." One of these sites is our Chesapeake Bay, the largest estuary in the U.S. More than 150 major rivers and streams flow into the bay's 64,299 square mile drainage basin that covers parts of New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and all the District of Columbia.

Facts about the Chesapeake Bay, our Wetlands of International Importance:

The Bay is approximately 200 miles long from its northern boundary at the Susquehanna River to its outlet in the Atlantic Ocean.
It is 2.8 miles wide at its narrowest (between Kent County's Plum Point near Newtown and the Harford County shore near Romney Creek) and 30 miles at its widest (just south of the mouth of the Potomac River).
Total shoreline including tributaries is 11,684 miles, covering a surface area of 4,479 square miles.
The average depth is 21 feet, reaching a maximum of 174 feet.
The bay is spanned twice -- by the Chesapeake Bay Bridge from Sandy Point to Kent Island, and in Virginia by the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel connecting Virginia Beach to Cape Charles.

The Bay and other Maryland wetlands face rapid population growth and water quality challenges. With careful stewardship, we seek to guard against the destruction of tidal wetlands and maintain a healthy Bay into the future though a balanced approach to ecological, economic, developmental, recreational, and aesthetic considerations – the same guiding principles we use for evaluation of Board of Public Works wetland licenses.

Date: 2/2/2015 Category: News

A "Hot" Winter Wetland Plant

Skunk cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus) is a wetland plant of marshy woods, native to the Eastern U.S. (including Maryland) and Canada, with a distinctive trait. While it is true that bruising its large leaves produces a strong fetid odor, the cause of its name, it has an even more uncommon trait. Skunk cabbage is exothermic—it produces heat. Through a chemical process, the flower can heat itself to about 15 degrees Celsius (59 Fahrenheit). The flower sprouts in Maryland during February or March and the heat of cellular respiration resulting from its rapid growth actually melts snow or ice around it. Skunk Cabbage is plentiful along the tidal portion of the Patuxent River at Jug Bay Wetlands Sanctuary in Lothian, southern Anne Arundel County or Battle Creek Cypress Swamp in Price Frederick, Calvert County. Visit Jug Bay or Battle Creek in winter and keep your eyes pealed for Skunk Cabbage—you’re in for a treat!

Please send us your pictures of skunk cabbage and we’ll post them on this site.

The photo was taken from the Pentax profile page of NaCIH2O. See more of their photos here: http://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/members/29-naclh2o/

Date: 1/12/2015 Category: News