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Prince Frederick Town Center: Strategic Choices for Growth

February 22, 2021 By crm

All ACLT members and supporters are urged to participate in the upcoming Prince Frederick meeting this Thursday, February 25th. Citizen participation is critical to our watersheds and the future of Prince Frederick. Click here to see options for viewing and/or participating in the workshop.

How Much Should We Grow?

The consultants are laying out planning concepts that would result in anywhere from 6,220 new households to 13,870 new households, before conducting an environmental assessment or addressing traffic capacity issues on MD 2/4 or MD 231.
Even the smallest increase (Concept A) would add another 6,000+ vehicles during rush hour traffic. The Calvert County Transportation Plan says that capacity issues are to be addressed at town center planning phase. We haven’t seen any real solutions to traffic congestion, and they are showing expansions of 130% to 413% over the current household count of 2,705.
Any of these options could force gridlock in the town center, according to a State Highway Administration report, and it could force the county to help pay for a by-pass of Prince Frederick. Such a by-pass would have a tremendous impact on Parkers Creek and Hunting Creek.

As to the environment, we have these questions for the consultants:

Parkers Creek has been called the “Most pristine watershed on the western shore of Maryland” and almost half of Prince Frederick drains into it. The other half of Prince Frederick drains into Hunting Creeks. As of the last fish survey by the Maryland Dept. of Natural Resources (DNR), Hunting Creek had the greatest diversity of fish species among the streams surveyed in the lower Patuxent River Watershed. Has there been an environmental assessment? If so, what is being done to protect these precious waterways?
Sullivan’s Branch is a headwater stream to Parkers Creek with a large wetland and a significant amount of 25% slopes. Maryland DNR has determined that it provides $280,000 per year in ecosystem services. Yet the consultant’s proposals show up to 14 housing units per acre along Sullivan’s Branch. Why? How will those ecosystem services be replaced and this invaluable stream and surround area be protected?
Is the consultant doing a cost benefit analysis to inform the citizens as to whether or not the proposed concepts will improve or deteriorate quality of life for Calvert residents and the environment?

Citizen Input Thus Far

This PARK Analysis (Preserved, Added, Removed and Kept Out) summarizes citizens’ comments submitted at the workshop held in November. Click image to enlarge.

For a more detailed analysis of the workshop comments, click here.

Consultants' Proposed Concepts

The three concepts proposed by the consultants are below. Click to enlarge each image. Do they follow the citizens’ comments and suggestions? For a detailed explanation of the three concepts (as presented to the Planning Commission in January), click here.

The Future is in Our Hands

What happens in the Prince Frederick Town Center affects us all – from traffic congestion to adverse impacts on the environment. Please get involved by watching and/or participating in the workshop this Thursday. Click here for more details.

A New Prince Frederick Master Plan-The Sustainability Test

February 9, 2021 By crm

By Greg Bowen, Executive Director & Alyssa Matanin, CCC Intern

A new Prince Frederick Master Plan is underway, as is a comprehensive rezoning along with a new zoning ordinance for lands outside town centers in Calvert County. What should Calvert County’s land use strategy be?

It is complicated. A plan that is sustainable, a plan that addresses climate, must factor in environmental, social, and economic conditions. A good land use planning process begins with a thorough assessment of land use and environmental conditions.

Calvert is a peninsula county with all but approximately 15 miles of its borders adjacent to water. A comprehensive assessment of resilient lands by The Nature Conservancy has revealed that Calvert County has more resilient lands than any other county in Maryland or even our Mid-Atlantic region. Over 70% of the total landmass exhibits certain characteristics that are necessary for the survival of a wide diversity of species.

The reasons for this high percentage of resilient lands include land elevation (well above the flood plain), soils, hydrology, and slopes that produce thousands of microclimates for a wide variety of species. Our local area has this high resiliency thanks to the abundance of microclimates that exist. In our small area that comprises Parkers Creek, we are home to many microclimates including deciduous forests, meadows, marshes, wetlands, and tidal areas, all with several microclimates of their own. It does not take much change for microclimates to show variation and can be as simple as the difference between vegetative growth on the north side versus the south side of an elevated surface.

While many may not realize the importance of these microclimates, the resiliency they create in the face of climate change is a huge benefit to the health of our local biodiversity. Having many microclimates means that our local area is more prepared for change and is more able to support adaptations and adjustments, including species migration and differing weather patterns.

Another reason for Calvert’s high resiliency is the successful implementation of its land preservation program – the first in the state. Had all of the preserved properties been subdivided into developments, most of the land’s resilience, and its ecosystem services, would have been lost. We would have also lost fisheries, farms, bird-watching areas, and hunting areas by now.

Use the Nature Conservancy’s Resilient Land Mapping Tool to compare and contrast Calvert to the region as a whole. If you zoom into the Prince Frederick area, you see that it is surrounded by resilient lands. Those steep slopes with ridges, troughs, bogs, swamps, etc. provide a wide variety of climate conditions that species need. Further west, along the Patuxent River, you also see prime farmland soils that support the production of food.

The 2019 Calvert County Comprehensive Plan adopts the following approach to sustainability:

“Sustainability Approach - The Environment and Natural Resource Chapter promotes conservation of natural resources, such as surface water, forests, open space, natural systems, and scenic areas and fisheries, so that they will be available for future generations. This chapter also promotes preservation or restoration of environmentally sensitive areas (wetlands, streams and their buffers, floodplains, steep slopes) and large tracts of forested land and wildlife corridors. These natural resources should be protected in part for the beneficial functions they provide, including habitat for fauna and flora, nutrient and sediment retention and removal, flood control and recreation.”

We agree. The new Plan should identify resilient lands (slightly-, more-, and most-resilient) and require that they be protected. This approach is best for several reasons. First, these lands don’t cost money, they save money, and they make money. Conservation lands impose the least cost to the county’s operating budget because they don’t require any services. Conservation lands save the county money by providing the following types of ecosystem services: stormwater attenuation, nutrient management and aquifer recharge. They make money by providing habitat for critters that hunters, fishermen, and nature lovers seek out. These ecosystem uses generate millions of dollars each year.

Conservation areas don’t cost money, they save money, and they make money!

This doesn’t mean that there should be no development. It means that we should promote redevelopment and development of areas where lands have already lost their resilience like Waldorf, shown below. The areas shown in brown are “Least resilient”.

What we have is both a blessing and a responsibility. We have a choice. We can save it or lose it forever. During the preparation of the new Prince Frederick Plan and comprehensive rezoning let’s do it right. Let’s protect our resilient lands and our productive agricultural lands, and by doing so we will be Implementing the 2019 Comprehensive Plan.

What We Strive For: Diversity, Inclusivity, and Equity

January 18, 2021 By crm

In all we do, ACLT strives to maintain a vibrant land conservation community that values and embraces diversity, practices inclusivity and works toward equality for all. Our nation was founded on noteworthy principles that have been replicated in constitutions adopted by many democratic nations. However, the principle of equality was not mentioned in our Constitution because the institution known as slavery could not be negotiated away. After 240+ years, the repercussions of slavery and subsequent unequal treatment are still present.

As individuals and as organizations, we cannot take on all the world’s issues at one time. However, sometimes we can look through a wider lens and do better.

For example, nationwide our fellow land trusts have been valiantly trying to save as much of the natural world as we can. However, in his recent post, “A Necessary Reckoning”, CEO of the Land Trust Alliance Andrew Bowman notes that “Land trusts, too, must acknowledge that while tremendous good has been accomplished under the banner of private land conservation, a portion of our field’s origins and some of its practices have been tainted by prejudice, discrimination and intolerance.” He cites the work of the Conservation Trust for North Carolina which has documented U.S. policies that have excluded and disenfranchised communities of color over the course of the nation’s history. This kind of work begins to explain some of the reasons why African Americans lost 90% of their farmland in the 20th century.

After the Civil War, it was very difficult for black farmers to purchase land but, despite many obstacles, they were able to amass 14 million acres by the beginning of the 20th century. In its 2002 research report 18, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) explains how racist actions (including government programs) limited African Americans’ success after they were finally able to get ownership of land. Yet it wasn’t until 2010 that the USDA settled a lawsuit brought on by black farmers claiming discrimination in its programs that benefited white farmers over black farmers.

We see these impacts in Calvert County. In 1930, black-owned farms totaled 33,352 acres in the County while white-owned farms totaled 77,287 acres. By 2002, black-owned farms totaled 785 acres (a 98% decrease) while white-owned farms totaled 29,336 acres (a 62% decrease). The economics of farming and government policies have had a profound impact on all farmers, but it clearly can be inferred by the data and recent articles (some of them mentioned above) that black farm owners were disproportionally impacted.

The history of Parkers Creek is inextricably linked to European colonization of Piscataway Conoy Confederacy Tribal lands, to slavery, the civil war, and ongoing racist attitudes and practices that limited the economic viability and freedoms of African Americans and other minorities. Telling these histories accurately and with insight is one small part of the type of healing needed in America today, and is the basis for ACLT’s Parkers Creek Heritage Trail project. We are currently in the research phase but once complete, the PCHT will share these histories through interpretative signage along our trails. Before the end of the process, we will hold a town hall meeting to bring black farmers and interested parties together in the community to discuss the Heritage Trail, land conservation, and related issues.

But our work won’t stop there. More generally, we will:

Welcome stories from the African American community and the Piscataway Conoy Confederacy Tribes about Parkers Creek (and more generally Calvert County) and their agricultural//hunting/fishing/community experiences over generations as part of the Parkers Creek Heritage Trail project;
Continue to welcome black families, all persons of color, and all ethnicities to enjoy ACLT’s lands, to become involved in our land conservancy, and to participate in our events;
Increase the diversity of our leadership team; and
Incorporate this statement and these actions into our Five-Year Planning process where we will monitor progress.

Mindfulness in Nature – A Resolution for the New Year

December 29, 2020 By crm

By Alyssa Matanin, Chesapeake Conservation Corp Intern

As a child, I took the natural world around me for granted. On one hand, I gave it more attention than the average adult because of its newness and novelty- I was filled with wonder at the leaves changing color and the snow falling so heavily that I could (dangerously) jump off the roof of my friend’s rancher. On the other hand, however, I never noticed the impermanence of the seasons. I didn’t recognize that an autumn walk up my hometown block flush with hues of orange and red in 2016 might be the last time I saw the street again in that way, as years of strange weather occurrences could lead to many of the trees simply skipping that step altogether, forever forgetting the vibrancy its canopy once offered for all the years of my childhood. But I didn’t know at the time to cherish the season’s small changes – for they would soon slip away and become foreign to me – I only knew to enjoy them as they appeared.

When I visited Iceland in October 2019, my guide, a life-long resident of Iceland, discussed how he has watched as glacial lakes expand and glaciers recede, this pattern culminating in 2014 with the first “death” of an Icelandic glacier, Okjökull, due to climate change. It is predicted that all of Iceland’s glaciers will melt within the next 200 years; a sobering thought for anyone who has admired the splendor of Iceland and its glaciers. My heart aches for those in Iceland who must watch as these familiar bits of their local ecosystem slip away, and I often stopped to reflect on the sites I was seeing, as I knew that when I return, it may not be the same Iceland I came to love last October.

The plaque pictured, placed in April of 2019 at the location of Okjökull, reads in English and Icelandic “Ok is the first Icelandic glacier to lose its status as a glacier. In the next 200 years, all our glaciers are expected to follow the same path. This monument is to acknowledge that we know what is happening and know what needs to be done. Only you know if we did it”. The plaque also lists the CO2 level in the atmosphere at that time, at 415 ppm, which is already over 100 ppm above the average CO2 levels we have on record in the last 800 thousand years before present. Our current yearly global average for 2019 is 411 ppm.

Unfortunately, the effects of this rise in CO2 levels are expected to continue to be seen, even if we were to stop emitting excess CO2 today, for anywhere between 100-300 years into the future depending on the model, due to the nature and speed in which global cycles function.

So, what then, is my point in telling you all of these things? With the onset of climate change becoming ever-the-more noticeable with regular record-setting temperature highs and abnormal and severe cloudbursts, I recognize that I should cherish the little things I enjoy in nature more, as I know now that they will certainly not always be a given. I hope to invite our readers to practice mindfulness in a similar way in order to truly appreciate what our mother has given us today and to track how we are changing her landscapes as we move forward. I think all of us in our postmodern, technology-filled, information- stressed lives deserve to take time to notice nature a little more. And she deserves the recognition. In order to guide our readers into mindfulness of nature, I want to point out a past culture of natural mindfulness, found in Japan.

Japan, as much of the “western” world, currently runs on the western Gregorian calendar; however, that has not always been the case. In fact, one of Japan’s ancient calendars was organized based off of seasons, and more specifically, changes in nature. Influenced heavily by the traditional Chinese Almanac, the year was split into 24 major divisions, called sekki, and then further divided into three parts in each sekki, coming together to create 72 microseasons, called ko. Each microseason has a poetic name to help describe exactly what is going on during these 5-day periods, with names like Silkworms start feasting on mulberry leaves, Rotten grass becomes fireflies, and Light rains sometimes fall. As you are reading this, Japan may be entering the season of Beneath the snow the wheat sprouts (January 1st – 4th), The water dropwort flourishes (January 5th – 9th), The spring water holds warmth (January 10th – 14th), or The pheasant first calls (January 15th – 19th).

To catch the changes in your environment every 5 or so days requires a sort of mindfulness that is rarely given unless you spend most days outdoors. Even as someone who works outdoors, I can get bogged down in the task-finishing mode and forget to take some time to appreciate the beauty of my surroundings at ACLT.

There are many ways to learn about and keep track of these microseasons, as there are calendars that follow the ko seasons, and an app that notifies you of the new season every few days (named appropriately, 72 Seasons). These methods offer insight as to what the microseasons in Japan are at the time, which is well worth it for noting the poetic simplicity of each season as it comes, but I think that we all could build our own 72 seasons if we take the time to do it.

Once a week, enter the natural world around you with intentionality, note the changes you see as the days pass, and mark them down in a planner, on your phone, or on the calendar. Go a step further and keep a journal, perhaps including photos of where your mindful moments happen. Jellyfish engulf the bay. Mist sits low in the valley. Monarchs migrate overhead. Ginkgo seeds begin their descent.

Find the things in your world that change in 5 days. Slowly, over the year, you will catch yourself noticing the little things in nature, and maybe have a keepsake to look back upon when the year has come and gone. Commit to a new year’s resolution that will improve your mental health and help you keep track of the health of the planet.

Every day, we experience something unique in nature, and every year, those experiences are bound to change. By noting the small things, we can not only find time to center ourselves and reflect, but also remind ourselves of how the planet ebbs and flows, and of how, if we do not take care, those small things may fall out of our sight.

Raft Rescue

August 29, 2020 By crm

Written By: Nicole Stevens, Chesapeake Conservation Corps (CCC) Intern

Raft was stuck deep in the marshlands – quite a distance from where we were able to land the canoes!

When Tropical Storm Isaias hit Maryland a few weeks ago, many of ACLT’s trails were damaged by the increased water flow and downed trees. Most notably, the raft that crosses Parker’s Creek along the North-South trail was washed downstream and caught deep in the marshlands. Luckily, it was later spotted during a canoe trip by former CCC intern Rachel Delbo. This week, a team of five people (Autumn Phillips-Lewis, Dale Hutchins, Kevin Donahue, Alyssa Mantanin, and I) worked diligently to rescue the raft from the marsh.

The recovery team met on August 25^th at 8 am, timing the rescue mission to coincide with high tide to allow for easier removal. We loaded up the necessary gear and drove to the end of Double Oak Road Trail where the team hopped in canoes and paddled down the creek before wading to the raft site. Other than some damage to the handrails and a scratch in the foam on the bottom, the raft was completely intact. However, it had been flipped upside down by the storm, so the first step in our recovery process was to turn it back over. This seemed like a daunting task, but it was no match for the strength of our team!

Setting up the pulling system after the cables had been retrieved.

Next, we had to retrieve the cables that had previously secured the raft to trees on opposite banks of the creek. These cables were still attached at one end to the raft and the rest had been pushed deep into the marsh where they had wrapped around trees and grasses. After some detangling by Alyssa and me, these were safely removed and returned to the raft.

Finally, it was time to begin the most difficult part: moving the raft back to the water. While it was high tide, there was still about 50 feet of mud, tall grasses, trees, and stumps between it and the water’s edge. To make the moving process easier, the life jacket bin and several of the long boards on the sides were removed to reduce weight. Even with the five of us working together, the raft was still way too heavy to carry. So we had to come up with a new solution.

Finally pulling the raft close to the water!

Dale, Kevin, and Autumn set up a system to pull the raft closer to the shore using a come-a-long and chains attached to nearby trees. Dale operated the come-a-long while the rest of us pushed and placed boards in front of the raft, so it could slide more easily over the muddy ground. Careful maneuvering was necessary to safely remove the raft while avoiding large obstacles like trees and stumps. This was achieved by strategic pushing and moving the come-a-long to different trees to ensure the raft was angled properly to make it through the difficult terrain. At one point, the raft had to be held sideways over the mud and some water, so it could make it past a tall stump and a protruding log. After successfully navigating these obstructions, and with a few pushes over the final grassy mound, the raft was finally free! The canoes were used to haul the raft upstream back to its proper location where the damage was repaired, the cables were replaced, and it is now once again available for public use.

Team selfie after a successful mission! Pictured L-R: Kevin Donahue, Dale Hutchins, Nicole Stevens, Alyssa Mantanin, and Autumn Phillips-Lewis

Overall, the raft removal and restoration process took almost a full day of mud wading, physical strength, and careful planning, but our hard work paid off! The raft is now back where it belongs, and this adventure will be remembered at ACLT for many years to come.