| Author |
Message |
    
Bobby
| | Posted on Monday, April 19, 1999 - 08:24 am: | |
Educate newcomers and landowners to the necessity of proper land usage.
Following is authored by Spencer Rowe
I don’t know many people who would buy a new
home without asking about the heating system
or the foundation, yet as a private wetland
consultant, I am constantly amazed by people who
know so little about the land they bought.
I wish I had a nickel for every transplant from
the western shore who has asked me, What are
all these ditches for? And I’d like another nickel
for each of those who began building In August
on dry land and then cried the blues in February
when their houses were surrounded with water. A
man’s home is his castle, but who needs a moat?
It is this aspect of wetland regulation .s that is
often overlooked.
By now, many of us have heard of the
ecological benefits of wetlands they filter
pollutants that affect our groundwater and the
coastal bays, store flood waters and provide unique
habitat for plants and animals that benefit us in
countless ways. What is forgotten is the direct
monetary costs of altering wetlands.
What’s worth more, a house in a swamp or a
house on a hill? What’s cheaper to build, a
subdivision with lots and roads on well-drained soils
or one on water-logged soils? Which golf course is
busier? It’s not the one with the soggy fairways.
Besides these immediate costs of impacting wetlands,
there are the costs paid by all of us over
the long term. What happens to our property values
when the coastal bays no longer support a healthy
fishery? What is left of our economic base when tourists
Head for greener pastures? When there are not enough
wetlands left to act as effective kidneys for
the watershed, how much will it cost
us to deal with outbreaks of toxic organisms?
According to the Maryland Coatal Bays
Program, more than 50,000 acres of wetlands in
the coastal bays watershed have been lost or
altered.To help offset these losses, the program
has plans to replace 10,000 acres of Wetlands
within the watershed. With help from the
Maryland Department of Environment,
restoration will be targeted to where historic
losses have occurred, and technical and financial
assistance will be provided to assure wetlands lost
in the coastal bays watershed are not replaced in
the Chesapeake’s drainage.
Additional proposed safeguards will require
wetland evaluations prior to site plan approval
and the use of state mitigation funds to purchase
non-tidal wetlands critical to wildlife.
But perhaps the most important function of the
Coastal Bays program is education, because
without an educated populace, we will simply be
spinning our wheels. Worcester County is
expected to add another 30,000 people in the next
20 years, and it’s a safe bet a large majority of
those people will be refugees from the cities and
suburbs of the western shore.
I remember one builder from Montgomery
County who told me, after he had moved here and
run afoul of wetland regulations. What the devil
do I know about wetlands? All I’ve ever seen is
concrete and asphalt and lawnmowers.
Compared to Montgomery County the coastal;
bay watersheds are an unspoiled paradise, but
these newcomers although well-intentioned
are like an invading army of affluent
sleepwalkers, ready to spend money with their
eyes closed, changing our county forever. Helping
to shake them awake is the Coastal Bays Program,
holding seminars and dispensing information
the public becomes aware of the ins and outs of
good stewardship.
We should thank our luckystars for the Coastal
Bays Program; its costs are low; its benefits a
huge.
Spencer Rowe is an environmental consultant
who lives in West Ocean City. Rowe is a member
of the Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee
of the Maryland Coastal Bays Progam. |
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