ON THE WAY TO THE BAY: Cheer Up The Watershed
With an expanse of 64000 square miles, the Chesapeake Bay Watershed supports the largest estuary in the continental United 
States. Therefore, when we joyfully exclaim, “we are on our way to the bay”, we could be approaching it from any area within the six states that comprise the supporting landmass surrounding the Chesapeake Bay. You can live in lower New York state or deep in Virginia’s Blue Ridge area along the James River and be on your way to the bay. You could also be fertilizing your farm fields or washing your car and be part of an ongoing, good and bad runoff into your immediate watershed which in turn feeds or stifles the bay.
It’s All About…. There are a great many factors that contribute to the health and life of the bay, but the most important are people. Yep, you and I, we now exert the greatest impact on Sweet Chessie and her future. Actually, people have always had an impact on Chessie’s life. Way before Captain John Smith began his explorations and settlement in the bay area, Chessie was host to and nurtured by Native American tribes all of whom maintained a caring co-existence with the bay and its inhabitants. Today there are millions, upon millions of us interacting in various ways with Sweet Chessie. It is the various ways that have affected the health and well-being of the bay and the many life-forms that comprise and sustain her existence.
It is a relationship. Even if we live way distant from the bay, but are still within the watershed, we are directly linked to the bay’s health. Like in most relationships, it is the little, caring acts we do that strengthen and sustain a relationship and that certainly applies in the case of Sweet Chessie. Yes, some of us become pro-active and fervent environmentalists and that is very helpful, but all of us can be helpful by just being mindful of how we treat our environment. Disposal is the key. How we handle garbage, waste-water, exhausts from both home and vehicle are under our control. What we do right in our own home area directly helps to protect and preserve the bay (see Suggested Reading below for ideas).
Yes, for many being labeled an environmentalist is unwanted; even frightening. This is because of the misconceptions about caring for where we live: our sweet planet Earth. Bowing to those who would profitably mess up our front yard, so-to-speak is subject to both praise and severe criticism. Well, step back a pace and begin just by taking care of your own front yard. No front yard? Just an apartment dweller? You still control what you throw away and where you throw it. You still control what you pour down your drain or flush away, and you still have a chance to control whether you drink clean water and breathe clean air. It is all very personal and there is where it should begin. Be selfish, take care of yourself, your family and your neighborhood and you then begin taking the first steps toward protecting and preserving Sweet Chessie. Most importantly, as you protect and preserve the bay in this way, you enrich your own life as well. It is truly and win, win involvement.
The Next Step is almost automatic. As you and your family and/or your neighbors get directly involved in protecting and preserving your own territories, you become alert to those who seek to harm what you protect. Well, none of you will stand for it and so you step forward to prevent damage to what you treasure. Does it follow then, that this involvement will lead you to step up to protect the Chesapeake Bay? The answer is yes, if you have come to realize that your personal efforts at home are supportive of the bay. What this means is that Sweet Chessie becomes part of your family. It is all still personal, and it provides you with a broader, more caring viewpoint about your immediate environment and how it relates to the overall Chesapeake Bay watershed and Sweet Chessie. See, you are already involved, but now you know it and feel it, and best of all, love it. Bottom line, it is all about family and family more than ever really matters.
Well here is a view of your lovely family member. Enjoy it and treasure it, but also remember that for it to remain as you see it here, you must protect it as we have recommended above and in the reading list below. Now you know you love Sweet Chessie, so keep her close to you heart; always, and she will never, ever leave you. In these fickle-values times, that is a priceless treasure.
IMAGE CREDIT:
The image (map) of the Chesapeake Watershed is from the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. It was colorized to highlight the extent and expanse of the bay and its supporting watershed rivers,
SUGGESTED READING:
What is a Watershed? (Video)
Stormwater Purification: Raingarden Treatments Blog article from My Chessie Affair
In Your Backyards – Lawns Chesapeake Bay Foundation
In Your Backyards – Resources Chesapeake Bay Foundation
Need a little extra motivation? Enter HERE.
STORMWATER PURIFICATION: Rain Garden Treatments
Residential Rain Garden
The Chesapeake Bay is the product of a continuous flow of water from its surrounding lands and those lands are graced by creeks, streams and rivers all of which comprise both their unique watersheds and the great Chesapeake Bay Watershed. So this largest estuary in this nation is both enriched and too often choked with both chemical and biological ingredients that are collected and carried to it from its watery members. Additionally each of those creeks, streams and rivers receive stormwater runoff whenever rain-storms or snow-storms come their way. Before we go further, just in case you are not completely familiar with the terms watershed and stormwater runoff, let’s take a minute and look at short definitions of both.
According to scientist, geographer, Wesley Powell, a watershed is “that area of land, a bounded hydrologic system, within which all living things are inextricably linked by their common water course and where, as humans settled, simple logic demanded that they become part of a community.”
According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), “Stormwater runoff is generated when precipitation from rain and snowmelt events flows over land or impervious surfaces and does not percolate into the ground. As the runoff flows over the land or impervious surfaces (paved streets, parking lots, and building rooftops), it accumulates debris, chemicals, sediment or other pollutants that could adversely affect water quality if the runoff is discharged untreated.”
The great Chesapeake Bay Watershed comprises 64000 square miles. MAP Stormwater runoff, as you can see, cascades toward the bay from many, many sources. Local efforts in monitoring and cleaning that stormwater is the critical first step in the process of reducing pollution assaults on Sweet Chessie’s home. For the homeowner and the small business including small farms, rain gardens can be how they effectively and easily take that first step.
Rain gardens are rich and attractive ways to catch and filter stormwater before it flows into segments of both a local and major watershed. Ultimately, Sweet Chessie’s life is enriched instead of being polluted and degraded.
In one respect rain gardens are acts of dutiful citizens to help protect the environment and to contribute to the cleanliness and safety of our water resources. The most lasting motivation, however, is rooted in love. Wherever we reside we are surrounded by and within the environment. That environment is Earth and without that relationship we would simply not be. So all the caring, loving things we do to care for our Earth enriches not just the planet, but each of us. Creating rain gardens to help clean up stormwater enables us to both beautify and purify our surroundings and in doing that we also help purify and protect watersheds like lovely Chessie. Now who would even consider turning their back on such a lovely lady?
Please see the list of suggested references below to get help and ideas on creating a rain garden for your home, farm or small business. Those beautiful plants and flowers that grow and bloom in that rain garden are grateful hugs from Sweet Chessie. Yep, like we said, its all about love.
A Love-struck Rain Gardener sends and receives hugs to and from Sweet Chessie
SUGGESTED REFERENCES:
Using Rain Gardens to Reduce Runoff EPA (pdf format)
A Beautiful Solution To Water Pollution (Video)
Build Your Own Rain Garden Chesapeake Bay Foundation (pdf format)
Last but not least – Why Your Rain Garden Is So Helpful and Important to Chessie (Video)
IMAGE CREDITS:
Residential Rain Garden (top of page) Maplewood, Minnesota – apwa.net
Rain Gardener – Photo from author’s collection – Susquehanna Riverfront – (c)2010
STORMY SUSQUEHANNA:Keeping Chessie’s Main Artery Clean
Susquehanna Watershed Map: Overlays the Marcellus Shale.
Yes, many creeks, streams and rivers comprise the massive Chesapeake Bay Watershed, but one of Chessie’s main arteries is the Susquehanna River. This river is the biggest of the contributing watersheds and, as we have already noted, a major vector of potential damage from fracking. An added and important pollutant is stormwater runoff and as the above Susquehanna watershed map displays that runoff stands to capture spills and hiccups from the frackeries (authors nickname for fracking drill sites) scattered across the watershed. Of course wastewater is another pollutant, but for this article we will only consider stormwater runoff.
What is stormwater runoff? After rain or snowstorms, water accumulates and heads for the areas lowest point and often into various streams and rivers. In urban areas this runoff water sloshes through parking lots and other flat, often heavily polluted (oil and other bio-chemical residues) areas. Ultimately the water flows toward and into storm drains which in turn empty the water into nearby streams or rivers. In the Susquehanna watershed those streams or rivers eventually flow into it, and it in turn flows into the Chesapeake Bay. Stormwater then is like a wash-water filled with pollutants that make their way right into Chessie’s domain. Fortunately there are ways to capture and treat stormwater so that it becomes beneficial instead of harmful. Please watch the video below to learn how we can treat and use stormwater to help all of us live in a safer and cleaner environment. Of course, these efforts also make sure that Sweet Chessie and all her residents live in a safer and cleaner estuary.
As the above video illustrates, individuals and families as well as governments and industry all have an opportunity to help manage stormwater runoff. The rain garden is a classic example of a do-it-yourself management technique that not only helps to purify stormwater, but provides luscious garden landscapes that enhance the grounds or yards of the participants. This is also true of the vegetated swales, but most of these take some level of construction work that is more commonly seen in government and corporate settings.
Get Involved. Be an activist: Oh yes the word activist often translates into some kind of rabble rousing renegade and that is unfortunate. Most activists, like myself, are simply individuals dedicated to encouraging private industry, governments and citizens to take action to preserve and protect our living space; planet Earth. The most important thing you can do is find out what plans your state, county and local governments are committed to do regarding stormwater runoff. So, often just asking questions with phone calls, or letters (emails too) or even letters to the editor of your local newspapers will draw public attention to what is or is not being done to manage the runoff. Whatever you do, first of all, it is to your benefit and secondly to the benefit of your fellow citizens. Over and above this, what you do and what you help to get implemented increases Sweet Chessie’s safety and good health.
Oh, you never go near the Chesapeake Bay? You live too far away, but you still live in Chessie’s watershed? That is understandable and actually makes all that you do even more important because you are directly improving the health of the specific watershed in your locale. See the map above to better understand the scope of your influence and help.
When you take care of your local creek or stream or river, you are also taking care of the Susquehanna. Most importantly you are taking care of Sweet Chessie. So in helping to manage stormwater runoff in your locale you help both your own environment and the environment of the entire Chesapeake Bay Watershed. You are, therefore, a very important person. Sweet Chessie and all her residents love you.
We end here by, again, asking you to view the wonderful video from the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. It says it all and emphasizes my point of how important and vital your efforts are to keeping your home, your neighbor’s home and your entire watershed safe and clean. In doing that you literally breathe life into the Chesapeake Bay. Please watch the following video and be proud that you are doing your part for yourself and for Sweet Chessie.
SUGGESTED REFERENCES:
List of counties in the Susquehanna River Watershed. http://tinyurl.com/6m85jcs
What your state, Pennsylvania, is doing to manage stormwater runoff. http://tinyurl.com/6w2yu8l
America’s Most Endangered Rivers – The Susquehanna. http://tinyurl.com/7v9ntyx
IT’S A FRACKING SHAME : Chessie Under Attack From A Polluted River
Fracking Map - The Susquehanna Watershed - Courtesy of American Rivers
Unhappily that invading, polluted river, the Susquehanna, is the largest member of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. The river is both a friend, and in this case an uninvited guest at the Chesapeake estuary. The American Rivers environmental organization reports that “”The Susquehanna River and its tributaries flow over the Marcellus Shale region, a rock formation underlying much of New York and Pennsylvania, containing reserves of natural gas. The rush to develop natural gas has come without consideration of the impacts to clean water, rivers, and the health of these communities.”
Note the NY and PA watershed area (Susquehanna Watershed)
The image on the left is a map of the entire Chesapeake Bay Watershed, and there you can see the powerful influence the Susquehanna Watershed has on the bay. Despite the TMDL/WIP program that is being jointly managed and implemented by both the Environmental Protection Agency and the member states of the watershed, the influx of the fracking effects from the Susquehanna can directly impede the success of those efforts.
Fracking? What’s Fracking?: Fracking is a slang word for hydraulic fracturing and American Rivers defines it with respect to Chessie’s watershed, “.. as … the hydraulic fracturing or “fracking” process to extract natural gas, massive amounts of water are withdrawn from rivers and streams. The water is then mixed with sand and toxic chemicals and pumped underground to fracture the shale under extreme pressure. A portion of that highly toxic, highly saline, and potentially radioactive wastewater will return to the surface, and requires specialized treatment, but at this time, only a limited number of wastewater treatment facilities have the capacity to handle it.” So at the moment this heavily polluted water can end up re-entering the Chesapeake Bay Watershed and drastically slow down its restoration.
What Is Being Done or What Can Be Done? There is a strong battle between industrial advocates and environmental protection organizations. Corporations see the natural gas recovered as a way to keep their energy costs under control and to also reduce their dependence on foreign resources. At the same time, political advocates shout out about the many job opportunities that these operations will provide in our present climate of extreme unemployment. Poverty and joblessness create a special deafness to the warnings being made by most environmental organizations, including American Rivers. So yes, jobs are being created and workers hired, but the potential health effects are yet to be clarified and addressed.
The Chesapeake Bay Foundation, the environmental organization most concerned with Chessie”s restoration has demanded a Federal analysis of the fracking process with respect to its potential threat to water quality and human health within the entire watershed. Additionally the foundation has produced a report that points out the major threats that fracking of the Marcellus Shale region poses for Chessie. A key point of the report states,”natural gas holds tremendous energy and economic promise. It also could create the next devastating environmental legacy if not handled the right way.”
Most importantly we must realize that when we talk about watershed pollution and damages we are talking about more than just lovely Chessie. We are talking about all that land that lies beside and around each contributing creek, stream, and river that flow into the Chesapeake Bay. All watersheds enrich and sustain life of all kinds. It follows that damaged and polluted watersheds in each of the member states spread that damage across all life that depends upon them. By-the-way that includes we humans.
Explorations of our galaxy and beyond are turning up many, many candidates as possible Earth-twins. In all cases the most critical criterion is WATER. Abundant, clean, life supporting and enriching water is an absolute necessity for life to begin and to exist. Knowing this, how can any of us turn our backs on our own water resources as we may be doing with fracking? So it is a personal involvement, an environmental agency involvement, and a political and corporate obligation to take the steps necessary to either make hydraulic fracturing totally safe, or STOP for the sake of you, I, and above all, Sweet Chessie. Make you watermark now. Speak up, Speak out. Be heard.
SUGGESTED REFERENCES:
America’s Most Endangered Rivers. American Rivers – http://tinyurl.com/7v9ntyx
Water Quality Issues: Natural Gas Drilling and Marcellus Shale – Chesapeake Bay Foundation – http://tinyurl.com/75veyuc
EPA: Fracking May Cause Ground Water Pollution – EPA USA Today- http://tinyurl.com/co27w5u
NO CHESSIE NO CRY*: Reviving The Chesapeake Bay Boosts Jobs
No Chessie No Cry* *Special acknowledgement to Bob Marley and his marvelous reggae tradition and his song "No Woman No Cry"
The Chesapeake Bay Watershed is a 64000 square mile community of life that includes almost every imaginable life-form including we humans. We have always cared for Sweet Chessie, but we suddenly began to realize that in our eagerness to grow and prosper we were endangering, even killing off, part of our community. We need to take action to revive our precious bay. That action is to restore and preserve and in doing that we will enrich all aspects of the community. Unfortunately some political action groups, and other special interests strongly believe that this activity is harmful, especially with respect to a threat of extensive job-loss. That threat is imaginary and we will endeavor to show you that the opposite will occur as we all proceed to save Sweet Chessie’s life.
Lifesavers at work, testing water quality. Soggy, but vitally important. Unsung heroes, until now.
Jobs? What Jobs? The word jobs has a wide range of meanings depending upon your social and economic status. For this discussion jobs refers to all types of employment opportunities that develop as we implement the restoration of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. The leading jobs that come from saving Sweet Chessie center around construction specialties, engineering specialties, waste and storm water processing, and water quality assessment and monitoring specialties. Together these categories provide both blue-collar and professional employment opportunities.
Additionally, there will be extensive sci-tech specialties involved in devising ongoing improvements in the way we handle all pollutants endangering the bay. A key objective of this latter effort is to enhance regulatory measures by providing technological processes that directly alter the polluting effects of chemical and biological effluents that endanger the watershed. This is emphasized by the Environmental Protection Agency‘s new Path Forward program which, “calls for a new emphasis on the application of EPA’s expertise in problem assessment to the development, creation, invention, and innovation of environmental solutions.” This activity can be expected to extend into both the private and academic research sectors adding extra strength to the growing environmentally focused worker population.
In all of this, whether the worker wears a blue collar or carries a powerful laptop at his side; all stand tall and on equal ground as they reach out to save Sweet Chessie.
Really? A Whole New World? For Chessie it is new because she is being reborn and regaining the surging life that enriches all that surrounds her. Actually as she arises she will extend her influence and charm worldwide. Her bursts of energy produces both new biological and economic strengths that send hope and prosperity beyond her new, pristine boundaries. Progressive environmental revival not only creates new jobs and new careers, it opens wide the doors of opportunity that have been slammed shut by a sickened and weakened Earth.
In saving Chessie we confirm the fact that humankind is not distinct from all life on Earth. We are vital members of the life community. We are the organizers, the caring protectors and grateful benefactors of not just Chessie’s charms but from our home planet, Earth. We once pondered wealth and its acquisition, now we are universally wealthy and joyfully bound by that wealth to preserve and enrich the entire world community.
None of the above will happen on its own. It demands constant and diligent efforts to sustain the environment, but as we will be learning, with each effort we grow stronger and enjoy greater, safer progress. Suddenly all life is important to us and in that realization we know a joy that leads us boldly forward into the future. We no longer conquer life, we share it and protect it – eternally.
IMAGE CREDIT:
Watershed Workers – Courtesy Alaska Association of Conservation Districts http://tinyurl.com/8ye3sfv
SUGGESTED REFERENCES:
CBF Jobs Report http://www.cbf.org/document.doc?id=1023 Chesapeake Bay Foundation
Water Works: Rebuilding Infrastructure, Creating Jobs, Greening the Environment http://www.greenforall.org/resources/water-works – Economic Policy Institute, American Rivers and Pacific Institute
Sudden Impact: An Assessment of Short-Term Economic Impacts of Water and Wastewater Construction Projects in The United States. http://www.nuca.com/files/public/CWC Sudden Impact Report FINAL.pdf – Clean Water Council
Economic Impacts of Implementing Agricultural Best Management Practices to Achieve Goals Outlined in Virginia’s Tributary Strategy http://www.coopercenter.org/sites/default/files/publications/BMP paper FINAL.pdf – Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service – Univ. of Virginia – Terrance J. Rephann
SWEET CHESSIE’S BLOODLINES – Part III: Family Future
If we get it together and really begin to do things right then Sweet Chessie’s Family Future could be one glorious celebration as we all, again, go happily Sailing Down The Chesapeake Bay.
Getting There: As we stated above, we have got to get it together and do things right. Well what do we mean getting it together, and what is doing it right?
Getting It Together begins at home. Quickly, look in the mirror. There you are, you are the key force behind getting it 
together. Individual attention to all of the things that you and all your friends can do, on a daily basis, to help protect and sustain the Chesapeake Bay watershed is the answer. That is right you can live anywhere in that six state area that comprises the 64000 square mile Chesapeake Bay watershed. You also do not have to live nearby one of the many creeks, streams or rivers that feed into the bay. So what do you need to do? Well, here are three very important things you and all you friends and co-workers can do, on a daily basis, that will contribute to Chessie’s Family Future.
- Get to know your specific watershed (s): Like we stated above you do not need to live in the immediate area of a creek , stream or river, but if you live in the area described as part of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed then you need to get familiar with your part of that overall watershed. Your state’s natural resource agency or its environmental protection agency can give you this information. On top of that get fully familiar with watershed management concepts, and the best way to do that is to qualify for the EPA’s Watershed Management Certificate. You can read all about that by clicking on The Watershed Academy. Even if you do not want the certificate, at least do the preliminary lessons entitled: (a) Introductory/Overview Modules and (b)Watershed Ecology Modules. Then,you will not only understand the watershed concept, but you will, if not already, suddenly fall deeply in love with every creek, stream and river that flows in and around your area.
- Form a local Clean Day Club: Do this, even if it is only you and your family as initial members. So, what is a
Clean Day Club? This is where every day you and your fellow members consciously take positive steps to not abuse Mom Nature. By this we mean you avoid polluting your immediate environment by controlling what you throw away and how you do it. If you garden or even farm you want to be very conscientious about what you use to fertilize your plants/crops and what you use for pest control. Here again, your state’s environmental agencies can help you with this. If you raise livestock, you want to follow prescribed regulations on the use and disposal of animal waste. Yes, we all have bad days, and situations get out of hand, but we should not let them dominate. If we set up a Clean Day Club and daily practice good care for our immediate environment we will be contributing to the well being of our watershed and also the entire Chesapeake Bay watershed. You are your fellow members are literally full-fledged LIFE SAVERS! - Get Involved, Speak Up and Speak Out: If you have followed our suggestions so far then you are doing a great deal on your own to enhance and protect your watershed and indirectly enhancing and protecting Chessie’s entire
watershed. You are taking your time and spending your energy to make the environment better and safer. This earns you the right to know what government, private industry and individuals are doing to either help or harm your watershed. It also earns you the right to comment on those happenings and to lend your voice to both cheers of encouragement and shouts of disagreement over environmental policies and practices. As a voter you have a say in who gets to decide and lead on matters affecting the health and safety of your watershed. Don’t shy away from making this known to political candidates and current leaders. You and your fellow members have done too much to let your good works be ignored and go to waste.
Doing It Right: Well if you are following our general suggestions and developing your own way to improve and protect your watershed then you are doing it right from the get go. Most importantly, you will come to realize that what you are doing is not some volunteer activity for that remote thing we call environment. What you are doing, on a daily basis, is simply doing what comes naturally; preserving and enriching life – all life. Yes, normally when we hear, think or talk about life we think about we-the-people, but ALL of this precious Earth is filled with life, and when we strive to keep all that life safe and well we are also making sure we are safe and well. This is just plain common sense. There are so many wonderful things to do and enjoy on this planet and there is so much happiness waiting to be experienced and shared so why do we let things happen that deteriorate or even destroy those gifts? Taking small, but important steps to tend lovingly to your watershed is the most important and lasting thing you can do to keep ALL LIFE on Earth ALIVE and most importantly bring back Sweet Chessie to her fullest glory and beauty.
IMAGE CREDITS:
Chesapeake Bay Watershed Map – U. S. Environmental Protection Agency
Clean Day Club local watershed cleanup – courtesy of EarthFuture
Image of voter – http://americacomesalive.com
BACKLINK REFERENCE:
SWEET CHESSIE’S BLOODLINES: Part II – Family Dynamics
Her Majesty, the Susquehanna River, Chessie's Watershed Queen - Harrisburg, PA
In Part I we introduced you to the concept of Chessie’s Watershed Family and how important they are to her well-being. With that said, we need to examine more closely just how the Watershed Family interacts to keep Chessie environmentally healthy and wealthy.
The Watershed Family is a complex and interconnected life-support system. It is not just a bunch of creeks, streams and rivers coming together in a prehistoric ditch that became the Chesapeake Bay. In fact, we need to explore the anatomy of a watershed and then relate that to Chessie’s specific family. The first step in our exploration is to complete a module in the Environmental Protection Agency’s online Watershed Management Certificate program. Not to worry, there are no tests, and you will only be asked to read and understand this first module which covers the basics about watersheds in general and their management.
Please click The Watershed Academy topic to begin your introduction to watershed ecology.
(This is a very brief introduction – 1 page)
If we live in the watershed geographic area described in Sweet Chessie’s Bloodlines: Part I, then we are an integral part of it. How we share life with the watershed and what we do to either protect and sustain it or abuse it will determine Sweet Chessie’s health and life. A healthy estuary, especially the Chesapeake Bay, provides both economic and recreational benefits that will prevail as long as planet Earth exists. The most pressing consideration in this respect is that we tend to take for granted all of the luxurious benefits provided by Chessie. We become careless, even indifferent, in our relation with the watershed and allow damaging processes and pollutants to threaten its very life. When that happens, then we also endanger our own lives and livelihood as well.
Right now, the entire family is beginning to work together to restore Sweet Chessie to her munificent self and when we achieve that we also enrich our lives. This effort is being supported by active regulatory help from the Environmental Protection Agency and the family-member states’ natural resources and environmental protection organizations. The coordination of these efforts is accomplished through the Chesapeake Bay Program – Executive Commission which represents each of the watershed member states. The most important factor is full public support and a consistency of effort in the restoration process. Political interventions can and will delay, possibly even prohibit, a successful restoration of Sweet Chessie’s life. This is were public awareness and involvement is essential. Remember as watershed residents, we are family, and it is virtually up to us to make sure the Chesapeake Bay watershed remains our home-sweet-home.
Summary: As you can see the Chesapeake Bay is about a family of humans and the watershed which is also an immense and involved family. The Chesapeake Bay Foundation the leading public support organization for Sweet Chessie does a better summary than we can produce and they do it with great charm and compassion. So please, take a moment and view the video below. In the future we hope you will return to view Part III of Sweet Chessie’s Bloodlines where we talk about her future. Please join us.
IMAGE CREDIT:
The Susquehanna River scene – (c)2011 Waddell Robey
SWEET CHESSIE’S BLOODLINES: Part I – The Watershed Family
The early European settlers in the Chesapeake Bay region arrived in the start of the 17th Century. Captain John Smith, one of American history’s most famous, and “…his crews covered not only the entire main stem of the Chesapeake but also nearly all of the rivers, all the way up to their heads of navigation.” (Chesapeake Bay Foundation)
Smith’s explorations were successful and meaningfull because of the guidance that he and his crews received from the Native American occupants of the Chesapeake Bay; the Susquehannock. Little is known about them, since they lived some distance inland from the coast, and Europeans did not often visit their villages before they had been destroyed by epidemic and wars with the Iroquois in 1675. Regardless, the Susquehannock have been called noble and heroic. Almost completely forgotten today, the Susquehannock were one of the most formidable tribes of mid-Atlantic region at the time of European contact and dominated the large region between the Potomac River in northern Virginia to southern New York. (Chesapeake Bay Foundation) Their true tribal name is no longer known, their Susquehannock name was given them by Captain John Smith, and comes from Susquehanna, meaning people of the muddy-river.
Leaders of the Watershed Family: At this point we need to take a minute and come to understand who and what the watershed is. This is absolutely essential if we are to come to appreciate the full grandeur of sweet Chessie.
The Chesapeake Bay gets its fresh water from thousands of brooks, streams, and
rivers which drain 64,000 square miles of land. The enormous piece of land which
drains fresh water to the Bay is known as its watershed. States within the Chesapeake
Bay watershed’s boundaries include New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland,
West Virginia, and Virginia (Chesapeake Bay In Captain John Smiths Time – Lesson Plan 4). “Of the more than 50 major tributaries that flow into the Chesapeake Bay…” (The Estuary System). the rivers that provide approximately 80 percent of the Bay’s fresh water are the Susquehanna (48%), the Potomac (19%) and the James (14%) rivers.
A Land of Plenty and Great Promise:When Captain Smith and his followers came to this continent they found a land of plenty and great promise. It is no wonder that the Native American inhabitants of “Chessie’s” domain were so protective and possessive of the Bay’s entire watershed. It fed, clothed and sheltered them in a vibrant, living environment. Being true to their spiritual ethics they took from the land only what they needed and carefully strived to preserve its vitality. With the arrival of the first European settlers, all of that began to change and continues to change to this very day.
Without its extensive and complex watershed, the Chesapeake Bay would never have evolved and become such a vital and fruitful natural resource, In Part II of Sweet Chessie’s Bloodlines, we will further explore those bloodlines and learn how they can both enrich and endanger this nation’s largest estuary system. In the interim you are invited to enjoy the following video.
REFERENCE:
Life In The Chesapeake Bay – Second Edition ISBN 0-8018-5476-8 Lippson & Lippson
IMAGE CREDITS:
Frontispiece: blogs.dickinson.edu Adam Wickline
Chesapeake Bay Watershed – topographic image – va.water.USGS.gov
Chesapeake Bay Watershed – states map image – vtmagazine.vt.edu
A LADY IN DISTRESS: Technology To The Rescue
My sweet Chessie is undergoing deadly assault. Her vital signs, her fishery, are weakening. Can we rescue her?
A direct descendant of the Roman aestaurium dynasty, Chessie is the largest and most significant estuary in the continental United States. She is caressed by the Atlantic, but depends upon the caring flow of her infatuated watersheds for her unique existence. In her early days, she was all grace and charm. Nurtured by caring Native American tribes who valued and conserved all her resources, sweet Chessie was a symphony of natural beauty and resource wealth. Then the settlers begin to arrive.
For people the world over, America became the land of freedom and promise. This nation has steadily grown and prospered, including the Chesapeake Bay region. For decades, sweet Chessie supported those settlers providing an array of opportunities and wealth. Chessie’s resources seemed both bountiful and endless until now we realize that a mix of pressures (pollution, population, and lax regulations) now threaten those resources and her very life. What can we do to keep her healthy and alive?
Although there are a host of organizations and agencies involved in “Saving The Bay”, including the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) is the leading organization that addresses all of the critical issues that threaten Lady Chessie. They are making progress, but the challenge and associated tasks are immense and complex. They are immense because of the magnitude of the spread of the many watersheds that feed into the Bay. They are complex because every community, every business and industry that are located along those watersheds contribute both the good and the bad content that flow down their respective watersheds into the Bay. Restoration and protective measures must be implemented and sustained in every single area of all those watersheds if Lady Chessie is to get better and survive.
Yes, there are rules and regulations, and enforcement, but these are preventative measure not restorative ones. There must be an entire array of policies and practices that serve to enrich the Bay and bring back her vitality. In addition the development and use of technology that will intercept damaging pollution or industrial practices that are harming Chessie are a positive and productive restoration effort. Considering the span of the Chesapeake Bay’s watershed there are a host of universities and private research institutions that can be utilized to begin a major technology innovation program. This is a program that directly enhances the Bay’s health. An additional outcome from this would be the introduction of profitable business operations that provide and operate those enhancements.
Right now there are strong political actions that seek to downplay, even disband, environmental protection and enforcement efforts. This could dramatically change if these opponents were shown the economic promise of technology solutions to Lady Chessie’s distress. Suddenly they can brag about boosting the economy and jobs while basking in the glory of being credited with “Saving the Bay.” Yes, we know who really is and will continue to be the rescuers of the bay, YOU, but sharing rewards from your efforts with politicians can be considered as part of the positive restoration process.
Technology ideas need to flow to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation so that a list of innovative programs can be presented to both government and private capital resources in support of research and development funding for technology solutions to help restore and sustain a healthy Chessie.
Lastly, do not feel left out as an interested individual. There is an intense need for volunteer help to keep all those watershed communities informed and inspired to help in the restoration process. Find out from the CBF how you can help in your community or become a local fund-raiser for donations to the CBF. My sweet Chessie is part of Earth and we and Earth are life. So what we do impacts all that surrounds us and when what we do is good, then life is good. Step up now and help us all save this lovely lady from her distress.
In case you missed this video in the watershed reference included here, you are encouraged to watch it here, or again to keep close to your heart the spirit of saving A Lady In Distress. In taking action we are saving all life now and far into the future. My sweet Chessie will never forget you and will reward you with her special bounty of beauty and life.
IMAGE CREDIT:
The Lady of Shallot, by John William Waterhouse – 1888 courtesy of http://amandavonhoffmann.com
THE LIGHTS OF CHESSIE’S LIFE
One of the Chesapeake Bay‘s most famous and historic landmarks (and watermarks) are its many, stunning lighthouses. Not all lighthouse are still members of the U. S. Coast Guard‘s array of Aids to Navigation, however, they still stand tall as both reminders and tributes to the long and glorious history of the United States Lighthouse Service which ultimately formed a key segment of the U. S. Coast Guard.
In total, over their entire history, there have been hundreds of lighthouses and key range lights for the Chesapeake Bay (Maryland and Virginia). Not all of these lights remain; however, the key structures do and stand tall in remembrance of duties and rescues of the past. The first lighthouse of the bay, Cape Henry (old) lighthouse, is the oldest lighthouse on the Chesapeake Bay, and the third oldest in the United States. It was constructed in 1791 and still stands its tall 164 feet to this day. Captain John Smith’s mapping of the Chesapeake Bay helped influence the location of the Cape Henry light. The image on the left is the Cape Henry (old) lighthouse.
Thomas Point Shoal light, shown above, was constructed in 1875. It remained on active duty until 1972 when the U. S. Coast Guard begin to consider the decomissioning of 100 lighthouses in the United States. Maryland lighthouse lovers and historians came to the rescue to keep Thomas Point as a standing symbol of “Chessies lights.”
All of the lighthouses of the Chesapeake Bay carry long and endearing histories that moves both residents and tourists to continually strive to make sure the lights are maintained and that they are available for all to visit and revere.
During this entire blog series on My Chessie Affair we will include discussion of individual and groups of lights as they relate to the geography and social history of the bay. Therefore, we will not be repeating here a long discussion about each of the lights. If, however, you are eager to learn more we have included here a list of references (with ISBN numbers) that you should be able to find in most public libraries. We encourage you to take time to learn more about the lighthouses because you will also be learning a great deal about the early history of these United States and especially the settlement of the Chesapeake Bay.
Here are the references:
- 1994 Inventory of Historic Light Stations – U.S. Dept. of Interior ISBN 0-16-045100-0
- America’s Lighthouses – An Illustrated History ISBN 0-486-25576-X
- Bay Beacons ISBN 1-885457-07-3
- Lighting The Bay ISBN 0-87033-466-2
- Southern Lighthouses ISBN 0-87106-548-7
- The Lighthouses of the Chesapeake ISBN 0-8018-1548-7
CREDITS:
IMAGES:
Thomas Point Light: http://tinyurl.com/3q6btjx
Cape Henry (old) Light: http://tinyurl.com/42x8s9b
QUOTES:
The Ode included with the Thomas Point image is by the author, Waddell Robey. Semper Paratus is the USCG motto: “Always Ready”
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