|
Have you ever noticed how straight some of the rivers and streams
are on Maryland's Eastern Shore? Take for instance the Pocomoke River where it
intersects with Route 50, just east of Salisbury. You will notice that the river
is unnaturally straight. It lacks the meanders and bends that you might expect.
The practice of channelizing streams and rivers dates back to colonial days and was done primarily to improve drainage on the newly cleared agricultural lands. This was a common practice on the Delmarva Peninsula, particularly in locations where the soils tended to be waterlogged for extended periods of time. The Federalsburg Channelization
Project |
You might ask yourself why that is, and the answer is really
quite simple. Many of the streams and water courses on the Eastern Shore have
been channelized, also referred to as ditched, drained, or straightened.
|
The Alder Mystery Here's a riddle for you. What plant can only be found in the tidewater region of the Delmarva Peninsula and Oklahoma? Give up? Well, there's only one answer. It's seaside alder (Alnus maritima) and it occurs in only two places- along tidal streams and rivers on the Delmarva Peninsula and in eastern Oklahoma. Hmmm. Bit of mystery, isn't it? Here in Maryland, seaside alder grows in the low salinity and fresh tidal waters along streams and rivers on the Eastern Shore (primarily in the Nanticoke River watershed). Only growing to a height of 20 - 30 feet, it is best identified by the small round cones, called catkins, which droop from the end of its branches. These cones, about the size of a small cherry, are green into late summer, then turn brown when the cones are ripe in early autumn. If you break these cones apart, you will find many small seeds a bit larger than the head of a pin. These cones were collected as part of the Federalsburg restoration project and the seeds were germinated at DNR's nursery in Preston. From there the small seedlings were potted into containers and grown out for another year by students at Federalsburg Elementary School. Finally, with the help of many volunteers, the alders were planted at the restoration site in Federalsburg. So, why only on the Delmarva Peninsula and Oklahoma? There is
one plausible explanation: In the mid-1800s many of the Native American tribes
from the tidewater region were sent to reservations established in the
southwest. It is believed these tribes gathered seeds from local plants and took
them on their cross-country journey so they could continue to grow these species
for food, religious or medicinal purposes. |
Because of its susceptibility to flooding, the Town of the
Federalsburg, helped by the U.S. Soil Conservation Service (now the U.S. Natural
Resources Conservation Service), embarked upon a major project in 1968 to
channelize Marshyhope Creek to reduce the occurrence of such events. This
project extended from the northern to the southern end of town, for a total of
one-and-a-half miles. What was once a slow, lazy and meandering river, bordered
in some areas by shallow marshes and swamp forest, would be straightened and
widened to hasten the flow of water downstream. Although the channelization project helped to alleviate flooding problems in town, the environmental impacts were considerable. In 1968, we did not have the environmental regulations that we do today and part of the project required filling the swamp forest and the marshes that existed adjacent to the river. Based on records available today, this forest consisted of large sycamores, pumpkin ash, red maple, alder and black gum trees. In essence, the channelization project required excavating a whole new channel nearly 160 feet wide and eight to ten feet deep (the original river was only two-thirds the width of the new channel). All of the soil excavated was used to fill in the old channel and the floodplain, marshes and swamps adjacent to the old river course. The end result was a straighter, deeper and wider channel bordered by upland grassy fields from the northern to the southern end of town. Environmental and Economic
Opportunity
The Restoration Plan | In 1997, a team of restoration and construction specialists was assembled to begin the process of developing a plan to restore the filled marshes and swamps. The final plan called for creating a series of tidally connected marshes to be traversed by trails and boardwalks. In all, approximately 35 acres of floodplain along the Marshyhope would be restored. Once re-connected to the river, these shallow marshes would provide spawning habitat for anadromous fish such as herring and alewife, as well as a refuge for fry and fingerlings.
Opportunity Is Where You Find It During these brief yet intense periods, a phalanx of soldiers from the 68th Engineering Battalion descended on the town, setting up command posts, a medical tent, a commissary, and even an equipment-repair facility. But most importantly the Guard moved dirt - lots of it: 50,000 cubic yards to be exact. The heat was intense, the dust was thick, and there was barely a cloud in the sky to provide any relief during the two summers the Guard spent at Federalsburg. Nevertheless, these soldiers worked from sunup to sundown, scraping soil, dumping dirt and repairing equipment. It was truly organized chaos. The dozers roared, the dump trucks rolled and little by little the site was transformed from a high and dry grassland to a wet tidal swamp. Roughly 4 feet of earthen fill, mostly sand and gravel, was removed from the restoration area and placed in an abandoned sand mine adjacent to the site. The fill was removed down to the elevation of the old marsh that existed prior to the channelization project. Some of the old logs and stumps that had been buried for 30 years were excavated and later placed back in the marsh when the grading was finished. The Greening of Federalsburg The planting plan for the site was based on observations made
during a number of excursions to pristine sites elsewhere along Marshyhope
Creek. On these trips, plant species and their locations in relation to tidal
flows and elevations were recorded. Also recorded were
Volunteers from the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, students from Federalsburg Elementary School, members of the Maryland Conservation Corps, and the Boy Scouts helped to gather seed and grow out trees and shrubs. We had great fun canoeing into marshes filled with alder and ash, gathering seed much like the Native Americans did so many years ago. In September, when the wild rice seeds mature, we ventured out during high tide and floated into the wild rice marshes. From the canoe you could grab a cane of the wild rice plant, bend it over the boat, beat the seed heads with sticks, and let the rice seed fall into the boat. Back at the landing, all the seed was gathered from the bottoms of the canoes and stored for later use. Alder and pumpkin ash seeds were propagated at DNR's John S. Ayton Tree Nursery in Preston and grown out at the elementary school in Federalsburg. With the help of local Girl Scouts, an Eagle Scout, and volunteers from the Rotary Club among others, we began the laborious task of installing the plantings throughout the site. More than 30 acres were planted over a period of two years. The hard work paid off, and what was once a fairly desolate vista is now green with trees, shrubs and hundreds of species of grasses, sedges and other plants. When I am fortunate enough to make my way down to Federalsburg these days, I always take a few moments to visit the site to see how things are progressing. I watch as the site matures. But it is really not in our hands anymore. We gave it its start but, make no mistake, Mother Nature is the one really in charge. Magic Returned
Was the channelization of Marshyhope Creek a good thing? Did it reduce flooding in the town? Most likely, but it did have an environmental cost that was not calculated as part of the original project in 1968. It would be an overstatement to say that the environmental impacts associated with the channelization have been rectified by the restoration project. Certainly some of that cost has been alleviated and that is what restoration is really about. We cannot return to the days when Captain John Smith sailed up the Chesapeake, but we can work to reclaim some of those things that made the Chesapeake Bay region so wonderful in the first place. Restoration projects like this one are a step in that direction. Kevin Smith... |
Why
go to all this trouble? Our wetlands -marshes and swamps- are the lifeblood of
the 
the
types of plants that lived together; for example, pumpkin ash seemed to occur
with seaside alder, the alder preferring a slightly lower landscape than the
ash. These and other communal associations were used to develop the planting
plan for the site.
Now I see braids of blue water interspersed with islands of
