Features (All)

Article - News; by Matt Driscoll - 4/21/11

Close Call for Newly Restored Cove Point Marsh

Recent storm spares freshwater marsh

Just over a month ago, a new sand barrier was topped off with 60,000 plants of native grass to protect the fragile Cove Point freshwater marsh in Calvert County from the open Bay. Mother Nature had breached the barrier in 2004 and 2006, and once again this month, she has proved that she is in charge. With driving rain, powerful wind gusts and waves over seven feet, the Bay saw Victory-at-Sea conditions on Saturday April 16. At the Gooses Reef Buoy just north of Cove Point,...

Article - Green Living; by Sandra Olivetti Martin - 4/21/11

The Carnivore’s Conundrum

Locally grown and ethically treated livestock brings meat you can trust to your table

Growing your own veggies is one thing; raising your own livestock is entirely another. That’s the lesson of my friends’ rabbits. Back when Earth Day was a bright new idea, green pioneers Janice and Phil turned their mildly urban garage into a high-rise rabbit warren. Chemical-intensive factory farming had scared the health-minded couple away from grocery meat. Home-raised rabbit seemed the sustainable solution. ...

Article - Gardening; by Margaret Tearman - 4/21/11

Digging In

From their yards to yours, Master Gardeners protect Mother Earth’s stability and sustainability

Let no one think that real gardening is a bucolic and meditative occupation. It is an insatiable passion, like everything else to which a man gives his heart. –Karel âapek, 1931 There are gardeners — and then there are gardeners. People whose love, whose devotion to gardening runs so deep they can’t keep it to themselves. It’s more than a hobby. It’s a passion. They have to share it, teach it. Because what they’re giving is something big:...

Article - Green Living; by Matt Driscoll - 4/14/11

SLAMMED by Mother Nature

New website gives an eye-opening look at the effects of sea-level rise

Dobbins Island in the Magothy River is a summertime attraction for boaters. On a warm summer weekend, the sandy north-facing beach becomes crowded with enthusiasts dropping anchor and floating languidly in the gentle current. Sooner rather than later, though, Dobbins Island will be reduced to a skeleton by rising sea levels. Water will cover the sandy shores, and the beach will turn into an obstacle course of submerged trees. This scenario will happen to most of the islands...

Article - Creature Feature; by by Peggy Traband - 4/14/11

This Week’s Creature Feature

The Rescue of Mr. Owl

God works in very mouseterious ways –from ChrisMouse: The Real Story of Silent Night, by Anon E. Mouse The lump of feathers on Nutwell-Sudley Road was an owl. Rescuing Mr. Owl took five guardian angels. Once husband Jim and I recognized the lump as an owl, we turned around to block traffic, thus becoming Angels No. 1 and 2. I waved drivers around while Jim went back home for our forgotten cell phone and the blanket we wished we’d had when we...

Article - Good Living; by Heather Boughey - 4/14/11

Park Quest Took My Family Back to Nature

Now It's Your Turn!

In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks. -John Muir On a hot day in early summer 2010, Team Bay Bougheys went seeking Isabella at Cunningham Falls State Park in Western Maryland’s Catoctin Mountains. A swim in Little Hunting Creek — our second stop along the trail to find Isabella — was inviting. But we were on a mission, and our sweaty three-person team persisted in our mile-and-a-half quest. We Bay Bougheys — husband Jon...

Article - Creature Feature; by Diana Beechener - 4/7/11

It’s No Spring Chicken

A wattled crane is the National Zoo’s newest addition

On March 20, a wattled crane cracked its egg to become the third of its species to hatch in the National Zoo’s history. Unlike mammals, the crane was ready to make an appearance almost immediately, showing off its downy feathers to visitors in the Crane Run. This baby is an important addition to the zoo for another reason: Wattled cranes are listed as vulnerable on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species. Hunting,...

Article - History & Lore; by Margaret Tearman - 4/7/11

Rogue Daffodils

A Blooming Mystery

Hundreds of sunny yellow daffodils line the edge of busy Route 2/4 south of Prince Frederick, seemingly popping up out of nowhere. Brilliantly announcing spring’s arrival, the daffodils blooming along the woodland’s edge are neither naturalized nor deposited will-nilly by bulb gathering critters. Nor are these daffodils escapees of an old garden; there is no house in the vicinity and besides, escapees don’t line themselves up in such an orderly fashion. It...

Article - News; by Paul Lagasse - 4/7/11

How to Avoid the Taxman

Use this loophole to help a kid meet a dinosaur

When tax day cometh, Deborah Wood hopes you’ll choose to write a check for your Maryland taxes to her Chesapeake Children’s Museum rather than to Maryland Comptroller Peter Franchot. True, Maryland needs your money; even now, as the General Assembly rushes to finish its work, thousands of good causes are competing for your every dime and dollar. Where your money goes, you’ll never know. At Chesapeake Children’s Museum, you’ll...

Article - News; by Margaret Tearman - 4/7/11

Power Play

Electricity will cross over rivers and tunnel beneath the Bay — if given a foothold.

Whether it’s wind turbines in Annapolis, Western Maryland or Ocean City, or power poles and pathways in Calvert, the debate keeps coming closer. Do you want affordable, reliable and accessible power? Or do you want to protect the environment, starting with your own backyard? In the court of public opinion, Calvert County won against local electrical provider Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative, SMECO, bringing down dozens of behemoth power poles. ...