[NOTE: this Newsletter was originally published on June 13th.]
Summer Swimming Season Water Monitoring
After Memorial Day, we began our summer swimming season monitoring efforts. So far, E. coli levels have been low enough that it is safe to swim at every point we monitor. Please keep in mind that E. coli levels can change rapidly after it rains. Currently we monitor five access points, those being: Monkton (Monkton Rd/Er. 138), Pot Rocks (Belair Rd/Rt 1), and Jericho Bridge (Little Gunpowder near Jerusalem Mill). Our Taylor Foster’s Branch Monitoring is done at Mariner’s Point Park. Our Bacteria reports are posted weekly, and can be found on our social media accounts and on our website.
Your support enables us to continue our monitoring, education, advocacy, and outreach efforts:
Staffing Changes
Last fall, Gunpowder Riverkeeper welcomed three new full-time community outreach specialists to Sparks Nature Center. After nine and a half months, their service year is coming to a close. As we prepare to say goodbye (and thank you) to Zakoi Brown, Damien Emory, and Tage Sylvan, we welcome two new community outreach specialists. Both of our new specialists are environmental science majors, and both have a lot to bring to the table. Aidan Darling, a rising junior at Skidmore College, brings with him an interdisciplinary focus on his interests in art, Spanish, and environmental engineering. Tristan McGregor, a past recipient of the Terry Newendorp Scholarship and a rising senior at Towson University, brings with him a love of fishing and prior monitoring experience with Gunpowder Riverkeeper.
Tristan McGregor preparing to collect water samples at Taylor Creek, near Mariner’s Point Park
Youth Climate Institute
The Sparks Nature Center recently became a host site for the Youth Climate Institute (YCI), an extracurricular Howard County Conservancy program that supports climate focused high school students by providing live workshops, networking opportunities, and a digital library of learning resources. This opportunity complements our focus on education and outreach with students.
If you are an interested student or parent with an interested student, you can reach out here.
All Hands on Deck Event
On April 30th, we hosted the Climate Corps All Hands on Deck Event. Climate Corps Fellows learned about the history and invasive species of the Sparks region, removed invasive forsythia bushes, familiarized themselves with water monitoring equipment, participated in a small archeological dig, and created art from garbage and natural debris picked up on the trail. Feel free to stop by the Sparks Nature Center, where you can see their art still on display.
Supreme Court Decisions
Over the past year, several very significant Supreme Court Decisions have changed the way federal and state agencies implement environmental laws and permitting.
- Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo – Overturned the longstanding doctrine of Chevron deference, meaning that judges are now expected to interpret ambiguous statute instead of deferring the interpretation to the agencies that would have enforced the statute.
- Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County – removed the need for projects to consider the impacts of construction or increased use for separate project in Environmental Impact Surveys (EIS). For example, a housing development built near a highway would no longer need to consider the increased use of said highway in its EIS, as the development has no control over the highway.
- City and County of San Francisco, California v. Environmental Protection Agency – The Clean Water Act may still be used to enforce narrative and effluent limitations, but it is no longer able to authorize end result limitations, meaning that the EPA can enforce methodology through which pollutants can be reduced, but it cannot enforce a limit without methods through which responsible entities would meet this goal. Entities can no longer be sued for failing to meet these goals, only for failing to implement the required pollution reduction measures.
Now more than ever, we need your help to protect the Gunpowder, Bush, Bird and Middle Rivers. Your support enables us to continue our monitoring, education, advocacy, and outreach efforts in the face of changing precedents:
Maryland Piedmont Reliability Project (MPRP)
Gunpowder Riverkeeper has been working with a host of other nonprofits on assessing the potential for environmental and community impacts of the proposed MPRP a 70 mile long, 500,000 volt transmission line that would impact preserved lands, conservation easements, prime agricultural lands, forests, and sensitive streams in Baltimore, Carroll, and Frederick County. We are happy to say we have some good news. The Public Service Commission recently decided to consider Gunpowder Riverkeeper an intervening party in the case, and on June 10th, a pre-hearing meeting was held that can be viewed here.
Mad About Mud Flotilla
On April 26th at Mariners Point park, we hosted a flotilla event with our non-profit partners to celebrate the progress we had made in the case against Ridgely’s Reserve. After some passionate speeches by Kathy Martin, Ralph Comega, former Harford County Council Member Dion Guthrie, and Baltimore County Councilman David Marks, 30 or so kayakers paddled out to the Amtrak bridge before returning to shore to enjoy a barbecue and listen to Harford County Council Member Nolanda Roberts speak about the sediment pollution issue.
The 4th “Snakes on the Dundee” Snakehead Derby
On June 14th we will be joining the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in hosting the 4th Snakes on the Dundee Snakehead Derby, hosted at Gunpowder Falls State Park, Dundee Creek Marina, 7400 Graces Quarters Road, Middle River, MD 21220.
Attendees can expect to see and talk about aquatic nuisance species, make fish prints of invasives and other fish to learn more about their body form, learn how to bowfish with Captain Bill Bates (Southern MD Bowfishing), hear more about how to fish using hook-and-line with Lena Sawyers (MDNR), and learn how to fillet an invasive to eat by Branson Williams (MDNR). Each registered attendee will also be entitled to a raffle ticket. Please remember to get your free raffle ticket when checking in.
Note that June 14 is a Free Fishing Day in Maryland (as is the 4th of July). If you are fishing, you will not need to have a current Chesapeake Bay & Coastal Sport Fishing license. You can find a map of the marina Here. The areas highlighted in red are for shoreline fishing.
You can check in as early as 5:00 AM and as late as 1:00 PM, though please note that the event won’t properly start until 9:00 AM. The event will end at 2:30 PM, and the marina will close at sunset.
Woody Debris
We’ve been working alongside the Maryland Park Service (MPS) and DNR Inland Fisheries to assess the conditions of trails and obstructions in waterways in the Hereford area of Gunpowder Falls State Park. This information will assist MPS in managing downed trees and overgrown shrubs.
Gunpowder Riverkeeper is Seeking Volunteers
We are currently looking for volunteers who can assist in the development, fundraising, programing, planning, and staffing of the Sparks Bank Nature Center. We would also greatly appreciate the help of Volunteers with skills or experience in: grant research, grant writing and submission, graphic design, environmental science, water quality, and legal work.
Please email us if you are interested in donating your time and expertise to protect water.
