Poplar Island project is a big win for Chesapeake Bay
After reading about the completion of the Poplar Island project, I tried to recall what the place looked like before the massive Tonka-esque dump trucks, cranes and other heavy equipment roamed the island like mechanized dinosaurs.
Truthfully, I drew a blank, though I do have vague recollections of the key stages of the island’s transformation. Yet, over that same time period, I can recall with great precise incredible fishing trips in and around Poplar Island — predawn rockfish topwater blowups; an epic bluefish blitz; catching fat hardheads when such thing was possible, and puppy drum. And then there was the time, on an otherwise fruitless outing, we caught a big, fat speckle trout up against the newly formed rip rap in the middle of a hot summer day.
The world has changed dramatically over the last 23 years, and not all for the good. From an ecological and economic standpoint, however, there’s no question the Poplar Island project is a big win for the Chesapeake Bay, even with its $1.4 billion price tag. Tens of millions of cubic yards of sediment dredged from the Baltimore shipping channel, necessary to allow huge cargo ships to safely navigate into the Port of Baltimore, and incredibly imaginative engineering have restored this once inhabited place to its original 1,150acre footprint.
Now, instead of people living there as they did in the early 1900s before being forced from their island homes due to unforgiving erosion, scores of iconic Chesapeake species — eagles and ospreys, ducks and geese, egrets, terns and herons — now call Poplar Island home. Crabs, fish, and terrapins swim in the newly formed embayments, and other animals make their home, permanent or transitory, among the nearly 400 acres of wetlands, which, of course, also filter water.
Poplar Island 2.0 will also serve as the template for the Mid-Chesapeake Bay Island Ecosystem Restoration, which has its sights set on rebuilding James and Barren islands, located in the Bay off of Dorchester County.
So, what’ s next for this marvel of restorative engineering? Could Poplar Island become another state park? Or possibly linked somehow to the National Park Service system? Will limited access be allowed for paddlers and waterfowl hunters, like at our publicly owned lands and refuges? Only time will tell.
There is, however, a lot of recent momentum to ramp up not only projects to restore the Chesapeake Bay and meet the climate change challenge and reverse the depletion of biodiversity,via initiatives such as30x 30, but also expand and enhance recreational opportunities. Last week, a work group was formed to help guide efforts at establishing a watershed-wide ChesapeakeNational Recreation Area to be managed by the National Park Service. It would function under the direction of Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and U.S. Rep. John Sarbanes (D-Md.).
No doubt the Chesapeake watershed, even in its impaired condition, continues to offer world-class fishing, boating, birding, and paddling, and at times waterfowl hunting. And the numbers related to the outdoor industry, which includes tourism and naturebased recreation, only back that up. In Maryland and Virginia alone, estimates are consumers spend $14 billion and generate 109,000 jobs, and $22 billion and 197,000 jobs, respectively.
Dare to imagine what additional recreational opportunities would abound if instead of just calling the Chesapeake a national treasure we actually put some meaningful framework behind that slogan.
Weigh-in on striper roadmap
In the past two weeks, public meetings have been held up and down the East Coast to get feedback on the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Public Information Document on Amendment 7 for stripers. This PID, as it’s called, is the first step toward adopting a long-term management plan that’s largely seen as the “blueprint” to not only rebuild the rockfish population in the Chesapeake and along the Atlantic coast, but also for the future health of this emblematic game fish.
On Monday, it will Maryland’s turn when the state’s Department of Natural Resources hosts its online forum from 6-8 p.m. A link to the virtual meeting should be available on DNR’s webpage.
Outdoors calendar
March 22: Maryland Department of Natural Resources online public meeting to discuss ASMFC’s Public Information Document on Amendment 7 for striped bass from 6-8 p.m.
April 9: Deadline for comments for ASMFC’s Public Information Document on striped bass. Email your to comments@asmfc.org, with “Striped Bass PID” in the subject line.
April 17-18: Junior turkey hunting days, ages 16 or younger only.
April 19-May 24: Maryland spring turkey season. Includes Sundays in certain counties, see DNR online chart.