Pleasant Living Magazine

The starkness of winter offers each of us the opportunity to take a look at our impact on local and Chesapeake landscapes. More than 16 million people live in the watershed, and each can contribute to or reduce the amount of nutrients polluting local waterways and the Bay.

Oxygen is vital to the animals and plants in the Bay. During low oxygen (hypoxic) or no oxygen (anoxic) conditions, almost all of the Bay's life is affected. The combination of excess nutrients and sediment flowing into the Bay contributes hypoxic conditions.

The nutrients nitrogen and phosphorus are found in organic matter, fertilizers, pet wastes and more. When it rains, nutrients from streets, lawns, farms and sewage-treatment plants are washed into streams and rivers, eventually entering the Bay. These excess nutrients fuel the rapid growth of algae, creating blooms that cloud the water and reduce sunlight reaching underwater plants and animals. When these large blooms die, huge amounts of oxygen are used up as they decay.

Typical landscaping requires large amounts of pesticides, fertilizers, water and energy (human and gas-powered) to maintain. Environmental impacts can be reduced by decreasing the amount of high-maintenance lawns and gardens.

One of the simplest ways to begin is by replacing lawn areas with locally native trees, shrubs and perennial plants. Native plants naturally occur in the region in which they evolved. The structure, leaves, flowers, seeds, berries and other fruits of these plants provide food and shelter for a variety of birds and other wildlife. The roots of these larger plants are also deeper than that of typical lawn grass, making them better at capturing rainwater.

Data Collected will be Used to Guide Fishery Management Decisions

For the last century and a half, Chesapeake Bay oysters have yielded huge harvests and inspired debates, disputes and even open combat.

Yet during all that time, scientists and fishery managers never answered the most fundamental question about the Chesapeake's most iconic species: Just how many oysters dwell in what Native Americans called the Great Shellfish Bay?

Roger Mann, a longtime oyster researcher with the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, calls past efforts to assess the Baywide population "embarrassingly inadequate." "We spend a lot of time reading about their demise, and endless things are said - some misguided, some not - about potential restoration. Yet it is often done without any single, statistically accurate barometer of the numbers that are out there," he said.

Of all the major Chesapeake species, a Baywide stock assessment has never been done for oysters.

But the situation is about to change.

Master Watershed Stewards Serve as an Example and Offer Guidance to Local Homeowners

John Dawson fought a weeklong battle with the dense layer of clay that lurked beneath the surface of his front yard.

"It was red, and it was thick. The colonists could have made bricks from that stuff," he said.

Dawson discovered the clay while trying to reduce the flow of stormwater runoff from his home in Severna Park, MD, to local waters and ultimately the Chesapeake Bay. He was replacing his lawn with a rain garden designed to collect and absorb stormwater close to where it falls. But clay isn't very absorbent. For the rain garden to work, the clay had to go.

Dawson rented a dumpster and began digging. "The neighbors asked, 'Are you building a moat?'" Dawson said.

But the neighbors asked other questions, too. In the end, the excavation not only improved the rain garden but gave Dawson a terrific opportunity to use his recent training - as a "master watershed steward."

"The neighbors would all stop and talk to me," Dawson said. "I found out that most people are familiar with the term 'rain garden,' but they don't really know what the purpose is. So I was able to explain that to my neighbors, and I'd see the light bulb go on."

Dawson is among the 70 volunteers who have completed the Watershed Stewards Academy of Anne Arundel County, which trains and coordinates volunteers to promote clean water in their neighborhoods.

"These people know the community and will be there for the long haul," said program coordinator Suzanne Etgen. "They know the perceptions and barriers, and come with a unique perspective that will help them engage their communities in ways that an outsider could not."

Mistletoe has a long history of use and customs in Europe. As Europeans moved to North America, they brought some of these customs with them.

North America supports many species of mistletoe, including one native to the East Coast, Phoradendron leucarpum, more commonly known as oak mistletoe.

Mistletoe, gathered and sold as a holiday decoration, has a well-developed shoot, jointed stems and small, three-lobed white flowers. Dark green leathery leaves and tiny white berries give mistletoe its holiday appeal. Oak mistletoe is distributed throughout the Southeast from southern Ohio, Illinois and Kansas, east to New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and south to Florida and eastern Texas.

This evergreen does not grow in soil but on the tops of tree branches. Mistletoes are hemiparasitic, meaning the plant absorbs some of its food from tree sap through specialized roots called haustoria. There are two broad groups, or genera, of mistletoe. Plants in the genus Phoradendron grow on the branches of deciduous (leaf-dropping) trees such as oaks, gums, elms and maples. Dwarf mistletoes, genus Arceuthobium, feed on conifers (cone-bearing trees).

The scientific name Phoradendron comes from the Greek words phor and dendron, meaning tree thief. Actually, not all mistletoes deserve this reputation. Oak mistletoe does photosynthesize its own food and gets only water and minerals from the host tree, but little carbon. Although this mistletoe may slow the growth of tree branches, it does not permanently damage its host.

Mistletoe contains a systemic poison that can be fatal to people and pets. Even so, Native Americans and Europeans have used mistletoe for medicinal purposes.

Cedar waxwings and other songbirds, though, relish mistletoe berries.

Birds often wipe the seeds off their beaks and onto other branches, helping to spread the plants. Seeds are also dispersed by bird droppings, particularly waxwing droppings. The word mistletoe can be traced back to similar words in Old English, Norse and German, all meaning dung branch.