The non-profit Maryland Biodiversity Project (MBP) is celebrating its 10th Anniversary. The non-profit began cataloging the state’s biodiversity in 2012 and has now documented more than 20,600 species. Our team is almost completely volunteer and works to curate the state’s biodiversity data and put it to use for science, conservation, and education. This dedicated group has emphasized building a lively community around documenting the state’s flora and fauna and features the work of nearly 20,000 contributors.

The MBP board set a bold list of targets to make 2022 a “year-long celebration” of the 10th anniversary milestone. The team dramatically ramped up its field trips in both number and diversity, including outings focused on novel subjects such as bolas spiders and terrestrial isopods. It held its first major BioBlitz since before the COVID-19 pandemic, documenting the varied inhabitants of Marshy Point Nature Center in Baltimore County, Maryland. They focused on major new website enhancements, especially deepening its integration with the popular iNaturalist application. Finally, MBP is coordinating two fall migration bird counts, one at Turkey Point on the northern end of the Chesapeake Bay and a second at Dans Rock in western Maryland. These counts run every day from August 1st through November 30th, tallying every passing bird. This year’s lead counters, Jonathan Irons and Carl Engstrom, are collecting invaluable data that is loaded with insights about East Coast bird migration. With each successive year of these counts, the value will compound and teach us more about bird migration, bird populations, and how birds respond to all the dynamic variables that affect them along the way. MBP co-founder Bill Hubick believes birds are our clearest window into ecosystem health. For example, while measuring insect biomass as part of the “insect apocalypse” is nearly impossible (especially without baseline data), hard trend data on numbers of aerial insectivores such as Chimney Swifts can tell part of that story.

The team hopes to continue expanding its targeted data collection efforts as it starts its second decade of operation. The MBP board will set data collection priorities based on opportunities to do the most good for conservation and science. They also hope to create more impact by delving more deeply into analysis, such as identifying areas of special importance based on insect diversity. As co-founder Jim Brighton has noted in many of his 100+ presentations around the state, “How do we know what we are losing, if we don’t know what we have.”

Learn more at the Maryland Biodiversity Project web site (https://www.marylandbiodiversity.com/) and see their daily biodiversity-focused outreach on the major social media sites.

Environmental Concern (EC) is celebrating the 50th anniversary of its founding in 1972. In recognition of this milestone, EC will host a series of events next spring highlighting the non-profit’s accomplishments over the last 50 years.

In the early seventies, when most people thought wetlands were worthless, mucky swamps filled with mosquitoes, EC’s founder, Dr. Ed Garbisch, recognized the importance of wetlands and the disastrous effects of losing tens of thousands of acres of this critical ecosystem in the Maryland watershed.

Living Shoreline Restored by Environmental Concern located on the Chesapeake Bay in Tilghman, MD.

Garbisch decided to take a new path, leaving his career as a University professor and devoting his life to restoring wetland habitats. EC was born! After months of trial and error, Garbisch and a team of research assistants developed the propagation protocols for over 20 species of marsh plants, growing the plants from seed to mature plant. EC staff propagated tens of thousands of plants in two glass greenhouses, using the plants to create the first successful wetland restoration project on Hambleton Island in Talbot County.

EC has always focused on the practical work required to grow native plants and restore wetlands throughout the Chesapeake Bay watershed. The staff members are practitioners, planters, and planners, expanding and refining the processes developed in the seventies to maintain the quality and sustainability of its restoration projects.

Over 50 years, the organization has restored 40 miles of shoreline. With the help and support of staff members, interns, and wetland stewards, this small non-profit has propagated over 30 million native plants. In the spring and fall, Retail Native Plant Sales are held at EC’s campus in St. Michaels. These annual community events allow the public to purchase native species that are not readily available in large retail plant outlets. EC’s growing operation has resulted in the increase of thousands of acres of critical natural habitat for songbirds, bumblebees, and endangered monarch butterflies in backyard gardens.

“The last five decades have given us plenty of reasons to celebrate,” said Suzanne Pittenger-Slear, president of Environmental Concern. “Our initiatives have expanded in all areas, including native plant sales and living shoreline restoration. In addition, EC has been a pioneer in wetland restoration, developing the wetland restoration protocol still used today to control erosion and restore wetlands in Maryland, and establishing the nation’s first Native Wetland Plant Nursery.”

Evidence of EC’s impact can be found around Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay Watershed. Poplar Island, once on the verge of disappearing, is now a model of the beneficial use of dredging materials and habitat restoration for diamondback turtles, egrets, and monarch butterflies. EC was awarded the contract to plant 650,000 plants in Cell 3D on Poplar Island. Dorchester County selected EC to design and construct a Living Shoreline on Elliott Island to protect the only road access to this quaint waterfront village.

Spring Retail Plant Sale held at Environmental Concern’s Campus in St. Michaels.

On behalf of the Town of St. Michaels, EC designed the St. Michaels Nature Trail and secured a $471,000 grant from the State to build the Trail. EC is recognized as one of the four founding Sponsors. EC employees enjoy watching the activity from EC’s Campus located between the Boundary Lane and Chew Street section of the Trail. Birdwatchers and wildlife enthusiasts linger on the covered bridge, waiting to observe the green heron in its natural habitat along the Trail.

“While we celebrate this milestone, we are proud of all of our accomplishments to date, and we look forward to the future,” said Pittenger-Slear. “We’ve seen a lot of changes over the years, but one thing remains the same – our commitment to restoring the Bay…one wetland at a time.”

About Environmental Concern
Environmental Concern, a 501(c)3 not-for-profit corporation, is committed to improving water quality and creating, restoring, and conserving wetlands, living shorelines, and other natural habitats. This is accomplished through education and outreach, propagation of native species, and professional design and installation.

To learn more, please visit www.wetland.org or e-mail Suzanne Pittenger-Slear, at sslear@wetland.org.

Scientists at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science’s Horn Point Laboratory have embarked on a research project that will lay the foundation for plastic research in the Chesapeake Bay. The two-year project, funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Marine Debris Program, will track how microplastics move through the Choptank River watershed on the Eastern Shore of Maryland.

Thanks to a $30,000 matching grant from the Mid-Shore Community Foundation (MSCF) and a group of generous donors who met the match, a short-wave infrared (SWIR) microscope will be purchased.  This camera microscope system transforms the project. Project Co-leaders are Drs. Jamie Pierson and William Nardin.  Pierson stated, “We are thankful for the support we have found with people in the local community who contributed to our work on microplastics in the Choptank River.  With this new microscope we will be able to tell not only how much microplastic is in our samples, but what are the kinds of plastic in different parts of the river.”

William Nardin and Jamie Pierson with plastics board. Photo by Dave Harp.

Plastic samples of all sizes, from plastic bags to microplastics barely invisible to the naked eye, will be collected and examined. Along with the SWIR microscope, a drone outfitted with a special camera will be used to scope out larger plastic debris in the watershed from above. Both devices can identify different types of plastics, from plastic bag from beach ball to water bottle. Experiments will look at six different types of plastic, which degrade differently and have different densities, and how they may be trapped or move differently in different places in the river at different times of year.

“Potentially, we’ll be able to make the connection between bigger pieces of plastic in a marsh that break down, and the pieces feeding into river system leading to microplastics in the water. We’re hoping to figure out if different types of debris get moved in different ways,” said Pierson.

The project will also create a group made up of experts and stakeholders that will advise the research in specific ways to ensure that the outcomes of the project are relevant to policy makers and directly inform management actions regarding plastic marine debris.

“The goal is to develop a budget that illustrates plastic debris input and retention in marsh and open water habitats of the Choptank river system,” said Assistant Professor William Nardin. “Ultimately, this information will allow stakeholders to examine how plastic debris deposition differs across habitats, different flow regimes, and different plastic loads, and to assess potential management strategies to mitigate plastic pollution.”

Studies have estimated that up to 95% of the waste that accumulates on shorelines, the sea surface, and the seafloor is plastic. To date, most published studies on plastic debris have focused on marine ecosystems and not estuaries, rivers, or freshwater systems. Even fewer studies have focused on the interaction of coastal wetlands, such as underwater grasses or marshlands, and the accumulation of microplastics.

William Nardin and Jamie Pierson looking into plastic bottle. Photo by Dave Harp.

Large pieces of debris are most obvious, but increasing attention has been paid to microplastics, which are less than 5 millimeters in size, or smaller than a pencil eraser. These smaller particles have specific and important human and ecological health implications because they can enter the food chain when they are ingested by the creatures at the base of the food chain.

All of the data gathered will be made available to stakeholders and policymakers from agencies such as NOAA and the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, as well as local agencies and NGOs, to be applied to coastal wetland systems, locally and globally. umces.edu/microplastics-marine-debris-project

UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND CENTER FOR ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
The University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science leads the way toward better management of Maryland’s natural resources and the protection and restoration of the Chesapeake Bay. From a network of laboratories located across the state, UMCES scientists provide sound evidence and advice to help state and national leaders manage the environment, and prepare future scientists to meet the global challenges of the 21st century