It seems like everyone and their cousin is standing in line to qualify for ARPA funds to help their favorite project these days. The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, which amounts to almost $2 trillion of federal grants to states and local municipalities, is finally reaches communities in need, but the challenge doesn’t stop there.

All of these communities, whether it be county commissioners or town council members, are now in the delicate process of determining the best use for those funds. And, as expected, while ARPA funds are a remarkable blessing in so many ways, the number of needy projects significantly outnumber the funding available.

The City of Cambridge is now in the process of deciding where its funds will be going, and Alan Girard, the Eastern Shore director of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, makes a strong argument that $4.5 million of those funds needed to be used to repair and improve the city’s sewer pipes and infrastructure.

Over the last several years, Cambridge has faced increasing evidence that its current sewer pipe system is way out of date. With some piping as old as the 1930s, residents have reported seeing sewer in the streets, dirty diapers, and other pollutants that impact the quality of life and underscore the long-term threat to clean water.

The Spy sat down with Alan a few weeks ago to discuss this environmental challenge and how those ARPA funds could be the only way Cambridge can afford to get this expensive work done in a timely manner.

This video is approximately five minutes in length. For more information about Chesapeake Bay Foundation please go here.

–Through a unique partnership, Washington College has become an official test site for the American Bird Conservancy’s (ABC) bird-safe glass testing program, doubling the organization’s capacity to test and rate glass products. The College is running just the second testing tunnel for ABC and is the only college or university in the country to partner with the non-profit advocacy group in looking for ways to meet increased demand for solutions that address lethal glass collisions.

In just the first season, the College ran over 2,500 test flights and provided critical data back to ABC that helped gain approval for 10 new bird-friendly glass designs, which are in use by manufacturers in the U.S. and around the world, including in Brazil, Germany, Turkey, South Korea and the U.K. This spring, 15 new samples have been scheduled for testing between March and May.

Glass Collisions and the Threat to Birds

In the United States alone, glass collisions account for an estimated one billion bird deaths each year.

The root cause of glass collisions is the general reflectivity of the product. When it’s highly reflective, it’s generally reflecting back nature (trees, bushes, sky, etc.) and the bird sees that and wants to fly towards it. The simplest solution is glass with visible markings that birds can see. With markings spaced about 2 inches apart, most birds will pick up on the visual hint that it is solid and avoid flying into it.

ABC’s research into the efficacy of bird-safe glass began over 10 years ago. Since then, ABC has established itself as a leading advocate and has developed a standard rating system for bird-safe glass – the only rating system in use today.

The existence of the Foremans Branch Bird Observatory (FBBO) at Washington College laid the groundwork for this innovative partnership. Operating on a rural parcel of land just outside of Chestertown since 1998, FBBO is a major migratory bird banding station that focuses on monitoring seasonal movements of birds. FBBO has 92 mist nets spread over 55 acres and a rotating team that collects and bags over 15,000 birds annually. FBBO is part of the College’s River and Field Campus (RAFC), a living field lab that fosters environmental projects. With the infrastructure and process already in place, integrating the flights through the glass testing tunnel into the procedure before releasing them made for a smooth transition.

“It all started when our partners at ABC reached out and said, ‘You’ve got this great banding station, you’re banding birds daily…would you be willing to host a brand-new testing tunnel, to test the effectiveness of bird-friendly glass?’” said Michael Hardesty, Director, River and Field Campus at Washington College.  “Our answer was, absolutely!”

“It was easy to say yes to this partnership because of how incredible it is for bird conservation, but we knew it would also be such a great opportunity for our students,” added Hardesty. “The glass testing program represents the full spectrum of science moving to action, moving to implementation and our students get to witness all of that, and also to see an example of a field-based career opportunity that resulted from this partnership.”

The Testing Process

Washington College employs a Tunnel Technician as part of the project – Meghan McHenry (pictured above) a recent graduate — and during the testing season, which runs from March to November, each glass sample is tested about 80-100 times to measure key data points that determine its effectiveness. Every flight is recorded and the Technician then does a frame-by-frame analysis to record a standard set of behaviors, such as what direction the bird flew, any avoidance behaviors, the speed of the flight and if it was direct or indirect.

The tunnel itself is 24-feet long and completely dark, with the only light coming through two different panes of glass at the end of the tunnel. The testing process is fully controlled and designed to eliminate any bias by running test flights using the sample that is being evaluated, a control type and then no glass at all. If a bird does fly directly towards the glass in the test tunnel, it bounces off of a mesh net that has a little bit of give before reaching the glass, ensuring that no birds are harmed in the process.

This testing process is also important because glass that is bird-friendly isn’t friendly to the human eye. In order to achieve the widest adoption of these products, the goal is to find patterns that are both effective at preventing collisions and desirable from an aesthetic perspective. The good news is that most bird-friendly patterns are barely noticeable to people. At the conclusion of the testing of a sample, ABC assigns the product a rating called a “Material Threat Factor”, which is based on how many times the bird flies towards the tested glass.

As awareness of bird deaths due to glass collisions has spread, the demand for bird-safe glass has grown. In New York City, legislation now dictates that all glass under 75 feet tall on new buildings use bird-friendly glass that meets the ABC standard rating of 25. Chicago is considering similar legislation. LEED, the world’s leading green building certification system, now grants buildings a credit towards certification if they meet a requirement based on ABC’s rating system.

“At ABC we have always thought that sustainable buildings can’t really be sustainable if they are killing birds, and we are enjoying watching as the world’s designers start to realize that we are onto something,” said Christine Sheppard, Director of ABC’s Glass Collisions Programs.

In Maryland, legislation requiring state-owned and -funded buildings to have windows that are bird-safe has been introduced but not yet passed. It is expected to be re-introduced next session. Howard County already mandates that building projects meet bird-friendly design standards, marking a win for this effort in at least one of the state’s jurisdictions.

The Talbot County Council last night approved a letter by a vote of 3-2 to the Maryland Department of the Environment to clarify the Council’s position regarding the wastewater treatment plans for the Lakeside housing development in Trappe.

At the Council’s request, County Attorney Patrick Thomas drafted the letter to update the MDE on the Council’s deliberations on the proposed development water treatment plans. Council members Pete Lesher and Laura Price had recommended revisions to the draft prior to approval but were not able to gain the support of the majority of the Council members.

The letter noted that “the Project may proceed in accordance therewith, notwithstanding the County Council’s e Resolution No. 327, which is currently scheduled for a public hearing and vote on April 12, 2022. If Resolution No. 327 is adopted, it will still require final approval from MDE pursuant to Md. Code Ann., Environment § 9-507.”

Here is the full segment where the letter was discussed.

Final letter sent to Maryland Department of the Environment 

The Chesapeake Bay Environmental Center (CBEC) in Grasonville, Maryland will offer a full slate of youth summer programs, according to CBEC Education Coordinator Ashley Peris.

“All of us at CBEC are so excited to be able to offer a full slate of programs for area young people,” stated Peris. “We will be exploring the Bay, making new friends and enjoying the great outdoors. Our ‘hands-on, feet-wet’ approach enables campers to connect with nature through art, stories, games, nature hikes, and outdoor play; including direct encounters with live animals, birds, and fish.”

CBEC’s 2022 Summer Camp schedule includes two camp sessions for children now in grades 4, 5 and 6: Outdoor Adventure Camp, June 20-24, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.; and Garden Chefs, August 8-12, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

For children now completing grades 1,2 and 3, CBEC Summer Camp options include Wild Discovery Nature Camp, set for July 18-22, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.; and Art and Music Adventures, July 25-29, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

A fifth camp session, Water Wonders, is designed for pre-k and kindergarten children and is set for August 15-19, 9 a.m. to 12 noon.

“Our summer camp programs fill-up fast so we encourage parents to register early,” Peris said.

For detailed information about these camp sessions and easy online registration, visit the CBEC website page, bayrestoration.org/camps. Any questions may be directed to Ashley Peris, 410-8276694 or aperis@bayrestoration.org. 

Rumbling across the main stem of the Chesapeake Bay, the Patricia Campbell was carrying about 7 million juvenile oysters. Its captain, Karl Willey, was eyeing the GPS as the planting site in the Tred Avon River approached. Soon, a capable crew of deckhands and volunteers would be guiding the spat-on-shell oysters down the conveyor belt, toward the spreader, and into the murky waters below. After about an hour, the oysters were in their new home, cleaning and filtering the water around them.

For a boat that has traversed nearly every tributary in Maryland, the planting was just another day at the office in the vessel’s lengthy career. But this year is special for the Patricia Campbell; the boat is marking a milestone—its 20th year of service.

A marvel of a vessel when it was built in 2002 to accelerate CBF’s restoration efforts, today the 60-by-19-foot Patricia Campbell is as seasoned as the deadrise crab boats it often passes on its way to oyster sanctuaries. But even today it remains innovative and unique.

Karl Willey, the first and current captain of the vessel, said he knows of one other boat on the Chesapeake—Future Harvest—that has similar features. Built by a Virginia oyster company it is smaller and used for aquaculture.

“One of my favorite things about my job on the Patricia Campbell is seeing the spat-on-shell hit the water because I know they’re going to create oyster reefs and filter the water for years to come,” said Willey.

That process begins at CBF’s oyster restoration centers in Maryland or Virginia, where oyster larvae are added to oyster shells held in cages that are submerged in large holding tanks. Once the larvae stick to the shells, they become spat-on-shell. Then the cages are hoisted up by the Patricia Campbell‘s two-ton crane into a hopper on the boat.

The Patricia Campbell plants oysters at the Campbell Memorial Reef outside of Baltimore Harbor on July 31, 2019.

One of the Patricia Campbell‘s unique features is its conveyor belt, which can rapidly transport oysters from the hopper to the spreader. The spreader then fans the oysters out over a reef using GPS coordinates to ensure oysters are added where needed. The boat also has an open floor plan, enabling the crew to catch any snags and oversee the planting process.

“When we dedicated it, the Patricia Campbell was the first boat built specifically for oyster restoration,” said Paul Willey, who served as the project manager when it was built and is also Karl’s brother. “Thousands of boats have been built for oyster harvesting, but that was the first one for oyster restoration.”

Former CBF Fisheries Director Bill Goldsborough thought up the design, and it was built by Midship Marine in Harvey, Louisiana. Longtime CBF Trustee Keith Campbell donated funds to build the Patricia Campbell, and it was named in honor of his wife.

In 2019, Campbell said the boat was inspired during a breakfast he had with Goldsborough and then-CBF President Will Baker. When Campbell mentioned his desire to get more oysters in the Bay, Baker asked Campbell for his support to build an oyster restoration vessel. Construction began soon after.

CBF Trustee Keith Campbell with the Patricia Campbell working behind him at the Campbell Memorial Reef in Baltimore.

Since that fateful breakfast, the “PC,” as it’s known at CBF, has added more than 336 million oysters to the Chesapeake Bay, traveled more than 22,000 miles, and completed about 300 trips. It has also served as a centerpiece for a community of more than a hundred interns and volunteers who have worked as crew members, some of whom have gone on to do restoration and conservation work elsewhere.

Throughout its operation, the Patricia Campbell has distributed most of those oysters onto Bay bottom inside oyster sanctuaries. Before significant oyster sanctuaries were established in Maryland in 2010, the vessel was used to add oysters to aquaculture leases held by CBF around Annapolis and in the Magothy River. Since then, CBF partnered with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to plant millions of spat-on-shell on restoration reefs in Maryland’s Little Choptank River, Harris Creek, and Tred Avon River.

The Patricia Campbell is also one of few vessels that can place oyster reef balls in the water for restoration. These three-dimensional concrete forms weigh about 300 pounds, and four at a time can be carefully lowered by the Patricia Campbell‘s crane. The PC has been used in reef ball projects to build fish habitat off Bill Burton Fishing Pier in Trappe, MD; add structure to an oyster sanctuary off the coast of Chesapeake Beach, MD; and as part of a research project to see if reef balls could help stabilize an eroding shoreline in Shady Side, Maryland.

Taken together, these planting efforts aim to stop the long-term decline of oysters in the Chesapeake Bay. Oysters throughout the Bay have declined to a fraction of their pre-industrial levels due to a combination of overharvesting, disease, and pollution. Yet, they’re vitally important to the health of the ecosystem. Adult oysters can filter up to 50 gallons of water per day, and their reefs provide habitat to fish, crabs, and hundreds of bottom-dwelling organisms. The bivalves are a source of food for birds, cownose rays, and other animals, as well as an important part of the regional fishing industry.

So what’s next for the Patricia Campbell? Karl Willey thinks the boat’s future is bright. In 2019, the boat received new engines and updated hydraulic systems.

The Patricia Campbell uses its crane to plant oyster reef balls off the coast of Chesapeake Beach, Maryland, in July 2021.

“That boat will continue to be a cornerstone of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation,” Willey said. “She’s got 1 billion oyster plantings in her. She’s ready to keep saving the oysters in the Bay from Baltimore to Chesapeake Beach.”

As for what type of boat innovation may be next for CBF, Paul Willey, who is now CBF’s director of education operations, is working on designs for an all-electric deadrise education vessel that could serve as a symbol for clean and green boating around the watershed.