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Chester conservation directors tour the Bay
CHESAPEAKE BAY -
“Chesapeake Bay is shallower
than I thought!”
Has the Bay always been this
shallow?”
“The corn fields came down to
the water’s edge. There are water
grasses . growing there. Why
shouldn’t they be dead from the
run-off of the com fields?”
These and many more questions
were raised and discussed when
the Directors of the Chester County
Conservation District recently
spent the day taking an ‘on-sea’
look at Chesapeake Bay. The
Directors wanted to see for
themselves the expanse of water
that has been the focus of a seven
year, |27 million study. The
watershed is now being targeted
for a multi-million dollar nutrient
reduction program.
The harvest of fish and shell fish
from the Bay has declined
dramatically in the past 20 years.
Water grasses and other
vegetation that the harvest
depends (hi - have disappeared.
The fishing industry that utilized
the Bay is slowly withering away.
The $27 million study alleges that
the nitrates, phosphates, potash
and trace minerals being eroded
from farmer’s fields and flushed
from dairy, poultry, pig and beef
operations are the major causes of
the decline. Conservation Districts
in the watershed are gearing up to
locate the “worst-cases” con
tributing to the demise of the Bay
harvest. Farmers with potential
nutrient run-off will be encouraged
to use the multi-million dollar
subsidy program for the con
struction of nutrient-containing
facilities.
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Some 180 tons of stone were placed by a bayside farmer to
prevent scouring from the discharge of a field waterway into
the Chesapeake Bay. Chester County conservation directors
examine project.
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Sediment samples are taken from the bottom of Chesapeake Bay during Chester
conservation directors’ tour. Bob Hodge holds pail while Elbert Wells releases sample.
Jenny Russell stands on boat’s transom to take water sample for testing at Algal Virual
Research Labs. Harold Kulp. left, and PownjUl Jones look on.
Directors on the day-long trip
were Charles Harris, Cochran
ville; Pownall Jones,
Toughkenamon; Robert Hodge,
West Chester; Jenny Russell,
Lewisville and Harold Kulp,
Pottstown. Elbert Wells,
SCS,USDA accompanied the
Directors. Elizabeth Hodge served
as skipper on the trip.
Cruising down the Sassafras
River in the 37-foot sloop Contrail,
the group saw the bay grasses
along the shore. Boat speeds were
limited to six miles per hour or less
to reduce the erosion of the river
banks. It was pointed out that large
yachets and excessive speeds
causes high wave action. This, and
wind caused waves, had un
dermined sections of the banks
along the Bay shore. Directors
recognized that some of the silt in
the Bay must have come from
natural sources.
Sailing across the Bay, the
changes in water depth were
noted. Five to ten or fifteen feet
was common. It was necessary to
stay in the marked channel to
avoid grounding. Crossing the
shipping channel toward Harve-de-
Grace, MD., depth increased to
forty feet. The navigation charts
indicated as little as one and two
feet depth of water in upper sec
tions of the Bay.
Veteran Chesapeake Bay wat
chers suggest that Hurricanes
Agnes and Hazel did much to upset
the ecology of the watershed
streams feeding into the Bay.
Gulleys and scars were started
which feed silt and sediment into
the Bay. It will take years for them
to reach an equilibrium and heal.
Dr. Tony Mazzaccaro, Assistant
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Raw steep banks near Turkey Point, upper Chesapeake Bay, continually sloughing off
into the Bay, indicate that some silt and sediment comes from natural causes.
Director of the Maryland Ex
tension’s Marine Advisory
Program, speaking at a recent
meeting in Maryland, contended
that a principal source of
phosphorus is detergents used in
laundries. It finds its way into the
sewage and ultimately into the
waters of the Bay. He also linked
the change from farming to ur
banization as part of the problem.
He indicated that the Bay
watershed has lost 24 percent of its
agricultural cropland, 39 percent
of its pasture land and 13 percent of
its forests to suburbia.
Mazaccaro pointed out that more
people mean more sewage. And
sewage plants don’t clean the
effluent, they disinfect it. He
estimates that 70 percent of the
treatment plants in the Bay area
are substandard.
Long time Bay watermen have
been quoted m the Cecil Whig as
saying that the state had used
herbicides to kill the grasses so
that they would not foul up the
motorboat propellers. The
waterman say that exhausts, bilge
cleaners and toilet chemicals
continue the devastation of aquatic
life in bay.
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Jenny Russell and Pownall
Jones collected water samples for
testing by the Algal Virual
Research Center, Landenberg,
PA. Marjorie Kraus, Research
Director for the Center will check
them for pollution and virulence.
Other samples were taken to
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Pownall Jones, of Chester Conservation District, displays
water sample from Elk River below Elkton, Md. Sample will
be tested.
compare sediment loadings now
with loadings collected next
spring. Probing in the boat channel
found very little sediment ac
cumulation.
A passing tug, pushing two stone
laden barges, kicked up turbid
water in its wake. The currents
from the thrust of the propeller
apparently reached the bottom and
forced mud to the surface. A radio
call to the Captain of the tug
revealed that the stone was to be
used for the construction of a ship
mooring facility near
Philadelphia. The stone was
quarried near Port Deposit, Md. It
had to travel the length of
Chesapeake Bay, out into the
Atlantic ocean and back up
Delaware Bay, over 400 miles, to
reach its destination.
This day, being the first day of
Goose season, several blinds and
decoy sets were spotted. A number
of geese had been harvested by the
middle of the day. They were
displayed on the fantail of the
tender.
Conservation District Directors
appreciated the trip. “It gave me a
better perspective of what we are
concerned about-it’s clean water
and not damaging neighboring
property. Even though that
Poultry report available
TROUTMAN, N.C. - Results of
the recent North Carolina Random
Sample Test and Fourth Annual
Egg Quality Contest and an article
on Managing Feed Restrictions of
Hisex Brown Layers are among
features in the latest issue of Hisex
News, a publication from the Hisex
Division of Pilch, Inc.
Published periodically by the
Hisex Division, the Hisex News
property may be many miles away
from us,” Charles Harris said.
“Some farmer’s group should do
an investigation of the dumping
areas,” Bob Hodge suggested.
Apparently, there are areas in the
Bay where scows have dumped
various types of wastes during
years past. Does anyone know
what has been dumped? The Army
Corps of Engineers might have
some information Hodge said.
“The Bay is large and the in
terrelationships complex,”
Pownall Jones pointed out. “The
Chespeake Bay watershed has
always been intensively fanned.
Has farming changed so much in
the past 20 years as to upset the
Bay,” Harold Kulp asked?
“Perhaps there should be ad
ditional analysis of the rivers
feeding the Bay to pinpoint
possible over-normal contributions
from any of them,” Jenny Russell
suggested. “A biological study of
bottom sediments might indicate
factors now being overlooked.”
The District Directors are now in
a better position to consider and
evaluate proposed programs for
Chesapeake Bay that will impact
Chester County agriculture,
participants said.
also features an article on the
availability of new technical
manuals, an article on Mr. Charles
Dixon, a veteran of 50 years in the
poultry industry, plus other items
of interest.
For a free copy of Hisex News,
contact Hisex Division of Pilch,
Inc., P. O. Box 438, Pilch Road,
Troutman, N.C. 28166-0438.