Story by Debra Zimmerman Murphey

When I moved to Charles County in the mid-1980s, the area was much more rural and far less developed than it is today. I both lived and worked in Waldorf and it wasn't until I traveled down Chapel Point Road one weekend afternoon that I discovered the historic Port Tobacco River. My love of this river first came when I stood at the hill near St. Ignatius Church and looked down at the water.

The view was, and still is, breathtaking, even strangely haunting because you can literally feel the past and present merging at this spot. Even today, I am moved by this vista or the sight of fish jumping as birds dance above the river's calm surface.

Now, as the new executive director of the Port Tobacco River Conservancy, a nonprofit dedicated to restoring the river and surrounding 30,000-acre watershed to pristine conditions, I am just one of many people who love this river and the Chesapeake Bay.

In recent decades, there has been a greater focus on water quality throughout the United States, but the bay continues to suffer because of ongoing pollution that degrades waterways. Sadly, the signs of destruction are everywhere.

o Increased flows of stormwater from impervious cover and urban development.

o Dead fish and dying underwater grasses that were deprived oxygen because of excessive levels of nitrogen and phosphorous that led to algae blooms.

o Bacteria that spills from wastewater treatment plants and failing septic systems.

o Eroded shorelines and wiped-out wetlands and riparian buffers.

o Agricultural runoff.

o The introduction of toxins and chemicals into ecosystems.

o Compromised populations of, and habitats for, species such as rockfish, blue crabs, oysters and shad.

Groups such as the widely known Chesapeake Bay Foundation, the funding mammoth Chesapeake Bay Trust and the Center for Watershed Protection are key touchstones in the fight to clean up the bay and its tributaries. Local watershed groups, however, also play a crucial part. The groups educate residents and work to convince elected officials about the need for cleaner waterways - from both a public health standpoint and one that concerns the preservation of vital species - as well as important ecosystems and our planet's increasingly fragile health.

In Southern Maryland, grassroots causes have been launched by small nonprofits, with a focus on watershed advocacy, restoration and protection. Their efforts include water testing to uncover sites where there are high levels of bacteria and nutrients such as nitrogen; pushing for tougher stormwater-management policies; leading cleanups, wade-ins and restoration efforts; partnering with other organizations to focus on "green" living; lobbying for state monies to upgrade individual septic systems and wastewater treatment plants; educating agricultural communities about minimizing runoff; and serving as watchdogs and change-agents.

Len Zuza is one of those change-agents. With a sense of both nostalgia and urgency, he is aware daily of the decimation of the bay's oyster population and how oysters - which are wonderful natural filters - serve as a type of barometer for the bay's health. Zuza, like Richard Pelz of the Circle C Oyster Ranchers Association, Inc. in St. Mary's County, are among those working in Southern Maryland to introduce new oyster populations and focus attention on a species that has been hit hard by over-harvesting and diseases such as MSX and Dermo.

"I don't think the public is really aware of the extent to which pollutants are accumulating in the water, in the air and in the land," said Zuza, president of the recently formed Southern Maryland Oyster Cultivation Society and a Lusby resident. "Politicians need the economic link when we're asking them to take tough votes on (spending money on cleaning up waterways, new policies and enforcement of regulations). We need to better educate the public so it can put more pressure on elected officials."

Jim Long, coordinator of the Mattawoman Watershed Society, believes people in the area are aware of the decline of the Chesapeake Bay.

"But at the same time, surveys also show that 40 percent of people don't understand what a watershed is," he said. "Because aquatic resources are rooted by tributaries to their watersheds - and so reflect the quality of the landscape that provides their water and nourishment - it is important that we all appreciate the role of a watershed in either sustaining or degrading our rivers, streams, creeks and estuaries. Without broad public support for watershed protection, efforts to maintain or restore fishable and swimmable waters will be doomed to failure."

"Each stream has its own watershed that circumscribes all of the land that drains to the point where we cross it. Collectively, these small watersheds provide critical natural services that sustain or enrich our daily lives: they supply our drinking water, critical habitat for plants and animals, areas of natural beauty, and water bodies for recreation and relaxation," according to the Center for Watershed Protection in Ellicott City.

The Port Tobacco River Conservancy, for example, is at the forefront of a critical movement to restore the Port Tobacco River through grassroots advocacy and public education. Once one of the largest shipping ports in Maryland centuries ago, the river is now listed as "impaired" by the Environmental Protection Agency.

"This is not a label you would think leaders and residents would want to describe their home waterways," said Mark Stancliff, president of the conservancy's Board of Directors. "We are working to make the connection that unclean and compromised waters affect our economy, our land values, our health, our planet and our children's futures."

Since forming in 2001, the conservancy spearheaded water-quality monitoring and testing - a program that is headed by its volunteers and is based on bacteria indicator counts - so that health warnings can be posted by the local health department. In addition to encouraging the passage of Charles County's Watershed Restoration Action Strategy, the conservancy has secured grant funding to head restoration projects, such as installing rain gardens to filter runoff, and was a catalyst for the town of La Plata committing to upgrading the infrastructure of its Wastewater Treatment Plant, which it continues to upgrade to address sewage overflows. More recently, it is placing a greater emphasis on providing policy insight and has launched "Your Clean River," a new fundraising and outreach campaign.

But the conservancy is not the only Southern Maryland watershed-focused nonprofit making inroads into framing the argument for protection and restoration of the bay's tributaries through grassroots outreach. Through its Web site, the St. Mary's River Watershed Association reiterates its mission and strategies, but also provides valuable educational material such as "A Homeowner's Manual for Backyard Conservation" and media resources.

These groups intrinsically know that long-term solutions, proactive thinking by decision-makers and a collaborative push to engage the public and win buy-in from stakeholders and the media are imperative.

"Watershed groups are important because they get citizens involved and engaged in constructive action, which raises the diligence (and) the level of expectations of finding real solutions to the problems facing our waterways," said Riverkeeper Fred Tutman of the nonprofit Patuxent Riverkeeper.

For instance, insight on policies and legislation remain part of this Calvert County nonprofit's 24/7 quest for change. The nonprofit's executive director, Jennifer Bevan-Dangel, is an attorney and was among those who attended a Feb. 1, 2008, focus group held in Charles County by the Maryland Department of the Environment on new stormwater-management proposals. Throughout Southern Maryland, watershed activists are vocalizing the need for forward-thinking environmental site design criteria that are embraced by homeowners and developers during the planning phases, and required, regulated and enforced by local authorities.

But the efforts of watershed groups are also boosted by their eco-brethren, including land trusts and other leaders on the conservation front, such as the Accokeek Foundation. Its successes include installing a demonstration green roof (vegetation soaks up rain water instead of spilling to the ground) on its education building, working in the area of sustainable agriculture through an ecosystem farm and partnering with the Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin to offer rain barrel workshops. The basin was established by Congress in 1940 to help the Potomac basin-states and the federal government enhance, protect and conserve the water and associated land resources of the Potomac River basin through regional and interstate cooperation, according to the commission's Web site.

Overall, points out Stancliff, environmentally minded activists and organizations, as well as watershed groups, hope that their messages grow to a drumbeat that can't be ignored, and potentially averts a crisis.

"It always heartens me the interest residents and volunteers take when they learn the facts and truly understand what we're fighting for," said Maury Tobin, Port Tobacco River Conservancy vice president and communications officer. "And we're hopeful that our elected officials are on our side, too, and understand that if we continue to destroy our watersheds, we are doing damage to ourselves and our counties in the long run."

Author's note: Debra Zimmerman Murphey is the executive director of the Port Tobacco River Conservancy. She and her husband live in Port Tobacco in a renovated waterfront home that was originally a hunting lodge built on farmland.

Watershed & Environmental Groups in Southern Maryland

Accokeek Foundation: Founded 51 years ago, the foundation's mission is preserving, protecting and fostering "for scientific, educational or charitable use and study for the benefit of the people of the nation, the historical sites and relics, trees, plants, and wildlife rapidly disappearing from an area of great natural beauty along the Maryland shore of the historic Potomac River." Web site: www.accokeek.org.  Contact: Julie Brunton, outreach@accokeek.org.

Alice Ferguson Foundation: Serving nearly 10,000 students and teachers annually through its programs, this 54-year-old venture is based at Hard Bargain Farm Environmental Center in Accokeek. One recent undertaking is "Bridging the Watershed," a partnership between the foundation and the National Park Service that utilizes "national park labs" to provide field studies and service-learning opportunities for urban high school students. Web site: www.fergusonfoundation.org.  Contact: Tracy Bowen, tbowen@fergusonfoundation.org.

Chapman Forest Foundation: This organization's efforts include protecting the Mattawoman and Potomac watersheds through keeping the natural and cultural resources of Chapman Forest, stopping its forests from fragmentation, maintaining its value for historic and archaeological research and interpretation, protecting its authentic setting, and providing public access and education. Web site: www.chapmanforest.org.  Contact: info@chapmanforest.org.

Coastal Conservation Association, Southern Maryland Chapter: The CCA is a nonprofit comprising 17 coastal state chapters covering the Gulf of Mexico, the Atlantic seaboard and the Pacific Northwest. CCA started in 1977 "after drastic commercial overfishing along the Texas coast decimated redfish and speckled trout populations" and the organization's regional chapters help translate concern from anglers into action to conserve and restore the nation's coastal marine resources. One of CCA's interesting Web resources is its Grassroots Action Center that serves as a legislative matching system so people can communicate with lawmakers. The Southern Maryland Chapter meets the first Monday of the month September through June at the new Hughesville American Legion. Web site: http://www.ccamd.org/chapters/MD07/MD07.htm.  Contact Dennis Fleming, SouthernMaryland@ccamd.org.

Conservancy for Charles County: Preservation policies are focused on the Potomac River, Mattawoman Creek, Nanjemoy Creek, the Patuxent River and the Port Tobacco River. Formed in 1996, it evolved from citizen concern over Charles County's "rapid and accelerating pace of rapid development," according to Vivian Mills, president. To date, the conservancy has received donations of perpetual conservation easements of more than 1,700 acres of land and has contributed to the permanent protection of hundreds of other acres. Web site: www.conservecharles.org.  Contact: Vivian Mills, vmills@conservecharles.org.

Lower Potomac Tributary Strategy Team: This nearly 12-year-old effort is based on local citizens, farmers, business leaders and government officials (appointed by the governor) banding together toward common goals. These stakeholders work to control nutrient pollution from farm fields and horse pastures, wastewater treatment plants, construction and road building activities, and hundreds of thousands of suburban properties, according to its chair Bob Boxwell. The team's major focus is the 40 percent nutrient-reduction goal established in the Chesapeake Bay Agreement. Web site: http://www.dnr.state.md.us/bay/tribstrat/low_pot/low_pot.html.  Contact: Bob Boxwell, bobboxwell@hotmail.com.

Mattawoman Watershed Society: Started in 2006, the society grew out of the Friends of the Mattawoman Creek and has several hundred supporters. Its efforts include spotlighting the importance of the watershed's living resources and the protection, preservation and restoration of the creek and its tributaries and watershed. The group held a 2006 forum in which speakers from the Coalition for Smarter Growth, the Maryland Bass Federation Nation and the society discussed the value and vulnerability of the Mattawoman as well as solutions to averting "projected growth-induced severe degradation." Web site: www.mattawomanwatershedsociety.org.  Contact: Jim Long, info@mattwomanwatershedsociety.org.

Nanjemoy Creek Environmental Education Center, Charles County Public Schools: Formed in 1987, the center's seven staff members are dedicated to providing children with "meaningful outdoor learning experiences which promote the development of a lifelong environmental ethic and stewardship in students," said Paula Batzer, environmental education resource teacher. One of its recent projects was working with the Charles County Planning and Growth Management office, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and teachers and students at Dr. Gustavus Brown and Arthur Middleton elementary schools on a watershed restoration project to treat runoff from more than 41 acres of impervious cover on these school sites. Web site: www.ccboe.com/nanjemoycreek.  Contact: Paula Batzer, pbatzer.ccboe.com.

Patuxent Riverkeeper: Started more than three years ago, this nonprofit has nearly 300 members and its mission is to conserve, protect and replenish the Patuxent River - the state's longest and deepest intrastate waterway, said Riverkeeper Fred Tutman. Its accomplishments include creating a comprehensive "action plan" based on holistic watershed planning and restoration, working on a multi-county paddle trail linking camping sites and paddle launch destinations, patrolling the river and investigating water-quality-related complaints, coordinating the annual Patuxent River Cleanup and spearheading a citizen water-quality-monitoring initiative used by the state to collate an annual river report card. Web site: www.paxriverkeeper.org.  Contact: 301-249-8200.

Port Tobacco River Conservancy: This nonprofit got underway in 2001 and has built up momentum through water testing, and securing grants for research and restoration work. Through projects, members help in a range of grassroots ways, from wading in streams to seine for macroinvertebrates as indicators of the river's health and managing wade-ins and clean-ups at Chapel Point State Park in Port Tobacco, to focusing on protecting yellow perch - a species that has been adversely affected by habitat destruction and over-fishing. It also encouraged Charles County to apply for Bay Restoration Fund monies and manage a state-funded program for septic system upgrades with nitrogen-removal technology. Web site: www.porttobaccoriver.org . Contact: Debra Murphey, www.murpheywrite@aol.com.

Potomac River Association: It was formed through a merger of the Potomac River Association, which started in 1969 to oppose a petroleum refinery at Piney Point on the lower Potomac, and the Patuxent River Association, which was founded in 1967 to save Myrtle Point from development, said Erik Jansson, president of the association. The refinery was blocked and Myrtle Point is now a 200-acre park. Recent efforts include using volunteers to inspect stormwater systems in the critical areas. The association is the oldest environmental group serving the mid-Chesapeake Bay and Southern Maryland region and is not focused solely on the Potomac River. Its work impacts the Potomac River as well as its tributaries, the Patuxent River watershed and the Chesapeake Bay. Web site: http://www.p-r-a.org/.  Contact: Dudley Lindsley, dlindsley (at) verizon.net.

Sierra Club/Southern Maryland Group: The local arm of this national organization was formed in 1989 with a mission that encompasses exploring, enjoying and protecting "the wild places of the earth." A need for a Southern Maryland group was partially based on the reality that "Southern Maryland is unique in that it has most of the coastline for the state," said locally renowned activist Bonnie Bick. "We are crisscrossed and surrounded by waterways." The club's public outreach includes publications, presentations and public events. Web site: http://maryland.sierraclub.org/southern-md/ . Contact: Frank Fox, ff725 (at) yahoo.com.

Southern Maryland Resource Conservation and Development Board, Inc.: This nonprofit serves the citizens of Anne Arundel, Calvert, Charles and St. Mary's counties. Working with diverse partners, and with assistance from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the board helps communities address conservation and quality-of-life concerns. Initiatives have touched on extending the Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail in Charles and St. Mary's counties, large-scale shoreline stabilization efforts with the U.S. Navy, living shoreline projects, assisting with Charles County's Watershed Restoration Action Strategy and promoting innovative stormwater management. Web site: http://www.somdrcd.org/. Contact: Jeremy West, jeremy.west1 (at) verizon.net.

St. Mary's River Watershed Association: Known for RiverFest, an annual celebration of the St. Mary's River that is held the last Saturday in September, this nonprofit counts collaboration with stakeholders with economic, agricultural, environmental, social, cultural and political interests as the cornerstone of its mission. With over five years of data from the St. Mary's River Project, "the association was formed to establish a sustainable, reciprocally beneficial relationship between the ecology of the St. Mary's River and the communities that reside within the watershed." Web site: http://www.smrwa.org/ . Contact: Bob Lewis, taylew (at) erols.com.

The Patuxent River Commission: An interjurisdictional group that was created by state legislation in 1980 to address Patuxent watershed issues. The commission charged with the implementation of the Patuxent River Policy Plan and in 1995 expanded to 34 members and assumed the additional role of the Patuxent Tributary Team. Commission members envision a Patuxent River ecosystem as vital and productive in 2050 as it was in the 1950s. Web site: http://www.mdp.state.md.us/info/patux.htm . Contact: Maryland Department of Planning, 410-767-4500.

Help Your Watershed and the Chesapeake Bay

o Join a watershed group and volunteer if you can. Remember, these nonprofits rely on help from members and funding from members, donors and grantors.

o Use the list that accompanies this story to find a watershed group hosting a spring cleanup and bring your children to help.

o As Southern Maryland sees more development, its watersheds will continue to be impacted by runoff from impervious cover. Residents need to lobby elected officials about the need for cleaner water and progressive stormwater-management policies. If politicians don't hear from their constituents, they won't keep these issues on their priority lists.

o Minimize the use of lawn fertilizer because runoff damages our watersheds. Consider a rain barrel to collect, store and divert rainwater.

o Use phosphorous-free detergents.

o Use cleaning agents, such as baking soda and distilled white vinegar, which are non-toxic.

o Find out about groups that are doing restoration work and participate in events such as buffer plantings and rain-garden installations (native plants help filter runoff from impervious cover).

o Pump out your septic tank regularly and contact your local health department to find out if there are available Bay Restoration Fund monies in your county for septic-system upgrades mostly paid for by the state- not you! Remember, increased levels of nitrogen and bacteria affect water quality.

o Speak out about much-needed upgrades for wastewater treatment plants.