Conference brings together broad local group to explore
impact of sea level rise on Chesapeake
The ravages of climate change are already beginning to affect
the fragile lands of the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay as
sea level rise drowns islands, erodes shores, floods property
and exacerbates the fading of the oyster supply. More than 130
intensely interested citizens of the area along with scientists,
businessmen, and policymakers from all levels took part in a two-day
conference in mid-October at Washington College in Chester-town,
MD, to assess the state of the Bay environment, what steps can
be taken to address the consequences of sea level rise (it has
swelled one foot in the last 100 years), and how to involve local,
regional and State decision-makers.
The second-day conference attendees were able to explore specific
areas of concern:
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Implications for agriculture
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A workshop for educators
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Bedrooms or beaches
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IPCC and the bigger picture
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Wetlands brainstorming session
Many conferences on climate change have centered around worldwide
issues, but the focus is shifting to regional implications and
this conference, "Chesapeake Bay at the Crossroads," illustrated
the relevance of the regional approach to policymakers as well
as the value of tapping into the enthusiasm of local residents.
Directed by the Climate Institute, the Conference was sponsored
by the US Environmental Protection Agency; the University of Maryland
and two of its programs, the Laboratory for Coastal Research and
the Maryland Sea Grant Program; the Thomas H. and Barbara W. Gale
Foundation; in addition to Washington College. A message from
Dr. John Toll, President of the College, appears on page 2 of
this issue. Dr. Stephen Leatherman of the University of Maryland
was chairman of the Conference, and Michele Pena of the Climate
Institute served as director.
Although the low-lying Eastern Shore is an area of rural communities
and a scattered population, many loyal residents are actively
seeking ways to soften climate change effects. Dr. Sarah Taylor-Rogers
of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources gave a vivid description
of the challenges facing the Bay area and a history of initiatives
such as the Criticial Area Program to cope with them, in a keynote
address which is printed on pages 5 and 6 of this issue.
There are 1650 local governments in the Chesapeake Bay watershed,
George O'Donnell, a Queen Anne's County Commissioner, pointed
out, and to make a regional plan work they must all cooperate.
Communication is a constant and critical problem, he said, and
success depends on having all points of view represented. O'Donnell
is a former waterman, one of the thousands who used to make a
living plying their boats dredging for oysters which were for
so long a feature of the Bay's seascape. But there isn't a waterman
in the whole state legislature, O'Donnell remarked.
Jessie Marsh, another former waterman, related some of the aftereffects
of the death of this way of life. Marsh, who grew up on Smith
Island, described the disappearance on the Island of homes, school,
church, ball fields, cemeteries, and trees. The only employment
on the Island, the fishing industry, is also gone. Marsh himself
now works for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.
Dan Bierly of the US Army Corps of Engineers described a Corps
project, a Smith Island Environmental Restoration and Protection
Study. However, the Corps does not have the authority to consider
sea level rise and therefore must base its work on cost/benefit
considerations, absent such trends.
Del. Wheeler Baker said many find the concept of climate change
and how to handle it confusing. He contended that the building
of bulkheads has preserved attractive and valuable homes and communities,
and development has saved many vital areas. We can revive the
oyster beds by seeding, he asserted.
Landowners do need help, said Dolly McSorley, recounting the
loss of trees and land (at the present rate of one foot a year)
on her property which has been in her family for many years. Fifty
feet of her land have now disappeared, she said, and she would
like to see some of the money currently spent shoring up properties
on the Western side of the Bay diverted to the Eastern Shore.
Too much money has been spent on places like Ocean City and Assateague,
said Ilia Fehrer, another landowner and chairman of the Worcester
Environmental Trust, speaking from still another vantage point.
There should be a balancing program and a more rational use of
land. Living on the water's edge has its costs, she stated; we
should purchase more land on the edges. We should also regulate
to stop sprawl and learn to live in more compact communities.
Development along the Bay first began in the late 1800s, with
permanent structures on higher ground, back from the water, built
for industry. Now on the rural Eastern Shore, development is proceeding,
irreversibly, and at a rapid rate, in a scattered, sprawling pattern
on large lots, many on the waterfront. Between 1980 and 1990,
according to Rupert Friday of the Maryland Office of Planning,
population grew by 13 percent, developed acreage by 24 percent,
and low density development by 44 percent. Such trends lead to
a rapid rise in the number of miles traveled by auto, with emissions,
at least 10 percent of the increase due to autos, spreading more
nitrogen into the Bay. The state's present population is expected
to grow by more than three million by 2020, a lot of it settling
near the Bay. The number of households is increasing faster than
the population, as household size decreases, and the average lot
size is growing. The amount of forest and agricultural land is
shrinking, with more and more converted to residential and urban
uses.
Land use planning is by and large on a very local, fragmented
scale and covers a relatively short time frame. At the maximum,
local jurisdictions look only 20 years ahead. The US Army Corps
of Engineers has a time horizon of 30 years, the same as the standard
term for many mortgages. But an appropriate horizon for sea level
rise in the Bay is 50 or 100 years, far beyond the planning perspective
of any state or local organization. Recognizing this peril,the
Bay area should take pains not to get locked into a pattern that
policymakers can neither adapt to nor mitigate. And while by and
large there is little question about sea level rise, there are
arguments about who will pay for abatement measures and how the
costs will be divided between society and the individual.
As the nation's largest estuary, the Chesapeake is a semi-enclosed
basin with fresh water from the Susquehanna flowing in from the
north and salt water from the Atlantic Ocean coming in from the
south, creating a body of water turbid with sediment and rich
in nutrients. With tons of nourishing vegetation, the Bay is the
habitat of five important species of fish and of the blue crab.
Climate change will affect the Bay's sea level, precipitation,
wind and water circulation patterns, but the master change factor,
according to Victor Kennedy of the University of Maryland's Center
for Environmental and Estuarine Studies, is the effect on shallow
water temperature. Temperature influences activity, feeding, growth,
metabolism and reproduction. Its effects may be lethal, eliminating
whole species, or sub-lethal, favoring competitors, predators
and parasites. Under climate change both warm and cool water species
will retreat north.
More intense precipitation may result in increased runoff, squeezing
habitats, and it may increase the stratification of water, depleting
available oxygen, and worsening pollution
How do we take the information we have gained on climate change
and "make something happen on the ground?" asked Jim Titus of
the US Environmental Protection Agency. If education is one answer,
the next question is where do we target educational efforts?
Del. Mary Roe Walkup pointed out that members of the legislature,
the elected officials who face critical planning issues, are not
going to find time to go to the library to research climate change.
Among the welter of lobbyists in Annapolis, some are needed, Ms.
Walkup said, to educate her colleagues on this important issue.
It is also important to have constituents bring to bear on the
legislature the strong interest expressed at the Conference. US
Cong. Wayne Gilchrest urged a well thought out strategy to get
policy information to policymakers at all levels. Maryland is
ahead of the game in understanding the "reasonable urgency" of
the situation but few Congressmen talk from scientific knowledge
about sea level rise.
Beyond these efforts, the whole state education system should
be involved. At the moment there is no specific environmental
education teacher training. However, as part of the five-year
Vanishing Lands Project under the direction of Stephen Leatherman
of the University of Maryland, an informative booklet has now
become available (Ed. note See a review of the handbook on pages
3 and 4 of this issue of Climate Alert) and a teacher's
guide is forthcoming.
Valuable resource people are available: Kathleen Buppert, educational
coordinator of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources and
Sarah Clemmit of the NOAA Teacher at Sea Program are both anxious
to cooperate.
A particularly important resource will be the students enrolled
in Washington College's Environmental Science Program which announced
its formal inauguration at the Conference. Dr. Donald Munson,
who heads the new program, described it as covering the scientific
basis for environmental issues and also including economics, policy,
philosophy and literature. Graduates of the program will provide
a valuable asset for the whole Bay region.
We should think in the longer term, Leatherman suggested. Environmental
problems take time to develop and their impacts may not be severe
enough initially to engender action. The small community of Annapolis
Roads did not realize that 20 years of dredging in a nearby channel
was cutting off the town's supply of sand. One day it woke up
to find its beach was gone.
The unusually high rate of sea level rise partly stems from land
sinking due to ground water withdrawal. Global positioning satellite
measurements now permit careful monitoring of the withdrawals.
Maryland, for a modest cost, could place two dozen GPS sites around
the state to monitor danger spots..
The Conference participants ended in an enthusiastic mood, stimulated
by the interchange of views and optimistic about possibilities
for overcoming future challenges. Many talked of meeting again
to continue the progress they felt had been made.
In summing up, Dr. Rob Wolcott of the Office of Policy, Planning
and Evaluation of USEPA, complimented Chesapeake Bay residents
on their understanding of their own ecosystem and recognition
that they must grasp responsibility for their own back yard. They
understand that how they manage and plan for the use of the land
is critical, and they are willing to look at alternate forms of
growth in order to assess who should bear the costs of actions.
They have an unquenchable thirst for information in order to calibrate
their response. In seeking a more rational use of agricultural
land, the biggest business on the Eastern Shore, they recognize
that solutions will not be "dirt cheap," that a bargain politically
may turn out to be expensive economically. Wolcott commended the
community on beginning a process and offered the services of his
office to help.
Other articles in this issue:
