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2004 Field Observations and a First Look at the Aerial Photography
04/21/04 Mike Naylor, MD-DNR Tangier Sound (Quads 091 , 092 , 099, 100, and 101) Dave and I are back from flying Tangier Sound. The news is good. The beds in Back Cove, Terrapin Sand Cove, Twitch Cove, Shanks Creek, between South Point Marsh and Goose Island, in the Little Annemessex River, southeast of Cedar Island, and in the Cedar Straits are in good shape and very dense. The only exception is the bed due East of Drum Point, which we could not see. Particularly encouraging was beautiful, extremely dense growth at the North side of the mouth of the Little Annemessex close to the launch at Crisfield, and the South shore of the Big Annemessex off of Janes Island. The beds in these areas looked as good or even better than the Smith Island beds, and will provide a great break from any North or East winds we may get, allowing us to work on days we otherwise might need to miss due to weather. We weren't able to look at the beds just south of Crisfield due to a line of storms which we danced around all morning. We will need to look at these by boat, which we will do next week to check the flowering stage of the plants themselves. What a nice ride we had, just a beautiful morning despite the weather. 05/11/04 Geoffrey Jay, Aberdeen Proving Ground Bush and Gunpowder rivers This year for the first time in 2 years I am able to get out and start sampling and groundtruthing in the spring on the APG waters. Good news we are finding plants starting to come up all over already. Bush River:
Gunpowder River:
We also found Myriophyllum and cripsus at the mouth of Canal Creek. 05/13/04 Geoffrey Jay, Aberdeen Proving Ground Battery Island and Swan Creek (Quad 009) I have some initial observations on the lower portion of the flats near the Fishing Battery and the two Spoil islands. Also we obtained some initial data for lower Swan Creek also. Observations made 5/12/2004 Water was extremely turbid in the area of the flats Fishing Battery: South side of Island found small clumps of Myriophyllum spicatum scattered with in 15 meters of the shoreline. In what could basically be called the harbor or the island we found several small pieces of Elodea and a little bit of Myriophyllum spicatum. I will monitor this throughout the season. On Western Side of Channel near Spoil Islands: We found a large bed of Myriophyllum spicatum~25-30% cover at depths up to 1.1 meters. Water temp of 21.3 C Bed was a at least 50 m wide by ~200 m in length. Center Coordinates of above bed: N 39 30' 12.0" W 076 05' 25.7" A bed with ~ 20% cover of Myriophyllum spicatum was between the two islands with a maximum depth of 1.0 meters In the mouth of Swan Creek behind Plum Point over to Palisades Park: There was a total cover of ~ 30% the predominate species observed was Myriophyllum spicatum with occasional Ceratophyllum demersum and a lone Heteranthera dubia plant trying to come back. The maximum depth recorded in this area were plants were located was 1.25 meters 05/18/04 Peter Bergstrom, NOAA Muddy Creek and Rhode River (Quad 030) CBP Fellow Kenna Oseroff and I canoed on Muddy Creek and the Rhode River today, so I could prepare for a field trip I am leading there on Friday and show her some local SAV. We saw bald eagles, water snakes and thrashing carp along the way. The Rhode River has had no SAV mapped since 5.9 ha were mapped there in 1978, so our expectations were low. Some patches of widgeongrass (Rm) and horned pondweed (Zp) have been reported by citizens (most recently in 1998, see http://www.vims.edu/bio/sav/sav98/quads/sr030.html) but no other species recently. Coontail (Cd) was reported in upper reaches of the river in 1991, and Sago pondweed (Ppc) from the same area in 1986. We were pleasantly surprised that in about 2 hours on the water we found numerous patches of 3 species of SAV growing in murky water, starting right at the canoe launch. Secchi depth was 0.45 to 0.5 meters and water was chocolate to reddish brown. We found Milfoil (Ms), Sago pondweed (Ppc), and horned pondweed (Zp) in the lower, tidal portion of Muddy Creek. The creek was about 0.8 m deep or less at low tide in this portion and the SAV occurred across the creek with Zp more limited to the shallows. The Ppc was long and green with large bayonets but no flowers or seeds. One plant we collected still had a turion attached to the roots. It is surprising that sago has not been reported from the Rhode River with a ready source of propagules in this creek draining into it. I suspect that sago has been mis-identified as widgeongrass (Rm), since it rarely flowers in the mesohaline waters where I have seen it, and Rm was reported from the tidal fresh portion of Muddy Creek in 1993 and Rm is rarely found at salinities less than 5 ppt in Chesapeake Bay (although it grows in fresh nontidal waters). Farther downriver the SAV were more limited and we found very sparse Ms and Zp in a few shallows, but no Ppc. In Boathouse Creek we found a more extensive dense bed of Zp in the shallows; mute swans and mallards were nearby and probably feeding on it. 06/18/04 Drew Koslow, South Riverkeeper South River (Quads 030 and 031) Greetings from South River, Maryland. Horned pondweed is all over the River. While it is present in shallows, it seems to be the healthiest with dense coverage in the 2.5-5 foot contours. In the deeper water, it is growing almost up to the surface. Virtually the entire River is thick with it, which may explain the large number of commercial trotliners in the River. A nice widgeon bed is up with moderate coverage east of Long Point in Selby Bay, I noted widgeon in the shallows (<2') at Cedar Point. Large amounts of Zannichellia washing up on shore as water temperatures rise. I have also noted quite a bit of Eurasian watermilfoil in the head of Duvall Creek off South River. Last year was the first time I'd ever seen it in South River and it is quite a bit more dense this year. 06/27/04 Fred Kurst Chester River (Shippen Creek and Robin Cove) (Quads 022, 026, and 027) It is interesting that I have not seen any quantities of SAV in Robin Cove. It is pretty well protected and difficult to get into. Also, in the past there have been a couple of large fish nets almost in front of the entrance to the cove. I will check it out again. Yesterday, I went to Shippen Creek and did see SAV there. No where near what we saw last summer but it is early. Today, at the mouth of the Corsica I could see 24 inches to the bottom. A lot of large green leaf algae, or at least that is what I call it, at the sand beach about a half mile from the mouth on the north side. I will be interested in how Church Creek right adjacent to Eastern Neck Narrows is this year. This is pretty well protected and the land on both sides of the creek has good buffer area before there is any farm land. There are very few houses in that area and not much boat traffic there that I have seen. 06/29/04 Terry Willis Chester River (Quad 026) I have begun 2004 SAV surveys in the Chester River area. Water in the Chester and around Eastern Neck is clearer this year than for many years, and there are grasses in places I've never seen before. Most of the areas are not dense growth, but it is better than I've seen for a while. I'm seeing that redhead grass, widgeon grass, sago pondweed, and milfoil have returned. I'm also seeing a lot of coontail around the bay side of Eastern Neck Island. There are two really large dense areas of several acres extent. I have not seen coontail here before. I believe it likes lower salinities. Measured salinities here have dropped this year from 12-15 ppt to 10-12 ppt. In areas of grass the secchi depths are up to 1 meter. 06/30/04 Peter Bergstrom, NOAA Magothy River (Old Man Creek and Cattail Creek) (Quads 024 and 030) The Secchi depth was 1.8 m in small tidal creek of Magothy (Old Man) near my house today!! A record high for that site (I've sampled there since 1991) including fall samples. Sadly nearby Cattail Creek (next creek downriver) had only 0.5 m Secchi depth. Mainstem near Ulmstead had 1.5 m Secchi depth, which tied a previous summer record from July 1993. The mixed SAV bed next to the Ulmstead pier appeared to be similar in size and density to last year, still limited in depth (out to about 1 meter MLW) and mostly redhead grass which was dense, to the surface and had stared flowering. There were smaller amounts of horned pondweed (dying back), widgeongrass (not yet to the surface or flowering) and sago pondweed (which never seems to flower on the Magothy). 07/06/04 Helen Woods, VIMS Kent Island (Quad 032) I just got back from spending the week on Kent Island doing shoreline survey. We saw quite a bit of SAV. Very large beds of Zannichellia throughout, several species of Potamogeton, and what I suspect was Ruppia which had died back for the summer. Water clarity was extremely good in parts. We could clearly make out bottom critters in more than a meter of water in areas. One interesting note: Aside from your friends the mute swans and newly resident geese and mallards, we saw quite a few other birds which should not have been there. This included a flock of buffleheads, pair of canvas backs, and a surf scoter. While the scoter and buffleheads aren't big SAV eaters, there certainly seems to be a trend going in the Bay for migratory birds to begin living here year round. This may in the future include more SAV eaters like the canvasbacks we saw. It will be interesting to see if this trend continues and if so, if it begins to affect the upper bay grass beds. I cannot confirm Ruppia blooming as I did not have time to pull up much. When I did have time to pull up the various thin leaves grasses, it most always showed Zannichellia fruits with the one exception, which was a thin leafed Potamogeton. I never pulled up any Ruppia flowers. However, much of the area was covered by a very low thin leafed grass, which may have been Ruppia which had already flowered and died back for the season. Our work load prevented me from spending the time on a proper ID. PS. The Potomac at the 301 bridge was an interesting fluorescent pea green. 07/08/04 Peter Bergstrom, NOAA Magothy River (Quads 023 and 024) Magothy River Association volunteer Carl Treff organized redhead grass plantings on the Magothy in 2002 and 2003 that both used the same site, on the upper river at the Grachur Club near Cockey Creek. They were done in conjunction with CBF's Grasses for the Masses and I provided technical support. I visited the Grachur SAV site on 7/6 and 7/10/04. On 7/10 Carl and I also visited MRA's 2004 SAV planting site, farther downriver at Sylvan View near Grays Creek. At the Grachur planting site on 7/6 and 7/10, the fencing was completely down around the 2002 redhead grass but the 2002 plants had 100% cover with only minor grazing!! The 2003 grass (in shallower water) was still mostly fenced but it had only 70% cover, and some of the shallows were bare. On 7/10 we saw mallards grazing the tops off the redhead grass, and they apparently also created the bare area in the shallows of the 2003 bed, which was opposite the point where the fencing was down. On 7/10 we removed the fencing around the 2002 plants and repaired the fencing around the 2003 plants. On 7/6, Secchi depth was 1.5 m (very high for summer on the Magothy) and salinity by refractometer was 4 ppt. The best news was that (1) the grass where the fence was down had not been ripped out by swans, just cropped somewhat by mallards, and (2) the redhead grass had spread about 100 feet downriver and 75 feet upriver from the 2002 plants. This spread was very encouraging. The redhead grass that MRA volunteers planted in 2004 at Sylvan View was not as dense or long on 7/10 as the redhead grass planted at Grachur, but it had been planted only 2.5 weeks before. Percent cover was about 20-30% and there was some browning of the leaves. However using a view scope we could see new growth on several of the clumps, so the plants may fill in later in the summer. Other SAV in the Magothy that was not planted has also been expanding in 2004. On 7/6 we found a new widgeongrass bed on the point just upriver of Cockey Creek next to red Marker 16 that appeared last year (this was mapped in VIMS survey in 2003 as bed HA3, see: http://www.vims.edu/bio/sav/sav03/quads/rb023.html. There was also a new widgeongrass bed on the point next to the Grachur Club's totem pole, just upriver of the Grachur planting site, that was not there last year (not mapped in VIMS survey and not seen in ground surveys). This means that widgeongrass has spread about 1.6 miles (2.6 km) upriver in the last 2 years, from just upriver of North Ferry Point (bed A2 on this map) to upriver of Cockey Creek (bed HA3); the latter bed is fairly dense widgeongrass but it is quite shallow (see map). There are also reports in 2004 of small natural redhead grass beds inside Dividing Creek where it had not been seen before, and increased SAV in upper Cornfield Creek. I also found slender pondweed (Potamogeton pusillis) growing in two tidal Magothy creeks for the first time this year, in Grays Creek on 7/10 and Old Man Creek on 7/15. Two species I had found in upper tidal Old Man Creek in recent years, water starwort (Callitriche sp., probably C. palustris) and sago pondweed (Stuckenia pectinata), were much more abundant on 7/15 than in any past year, but in the same location (see map). I was able to get the attached photos of them through the water due to the continued better-than-usual water clarity (recent Secchi depths in Old Man Creek have been 1.6-1.8 m which are record high levels; 1995-2003 July values were all between 0.5-0.9 m, median 0.72 m). The increased water clarity in the Magothy in 2004 follows a dramatic increase in the abundance of dark false mussels that started in fall 2003, as I noted in my report from 7/8/04 above. A photo I took of the mussels attached to the fencing used at the Grachur SAV planting can be seen near the middle of the page here: http://www.magothyriver.org/Who_We_Are.html 07/08/04 Mike Naylor, MD-DNR Main Creek and Upper Bay (Quads 019 and 024) I have received about a dozen calls this spring from people in the upper bay reporting a combination of more SAV than they have never seen before and clear water. Just this morning I took a call from a woman who lives in a small tributary of Main Creek (between the Patapsco and Magothy Rivers) who reported that her shoreline was completely covered with milfoil that she has never seen before, and that the water was so clear they could see minnows swimming in the SAV next to her dock. She was calling to ask us to come remove the SAV, of course... Most of the calls have been from the upper Western Shore from the Flats themselves down to the South River. Every report seems to indicate that this will be a banner year for upper bay SAV- and my own visits to the Bird, Gunpowder, and Sassafras seemed to confirm this. 07/08/04 Evamaria Koch,UMCES Horn Point Lab Chincoteague Bay (Quad 172) Things are looking quite interesting. At Mills island, in some areas the eelgrass rhizomes of last year were about 1 cm above the compacted peat (held up by the roots in the peat). Our theory: the area became colonized when the peat was covered with sand but the hurricane washed away the sand and exposed the rhizomes. New shoots were growing from these exposed rhizomes... At Tangier, the sediment surface is much more irregular than last year. Eelgrass is on elevations in areas that were a homogeneous sand last year. Hypothesis: hurricane washed away the sand in areas where eelgrass was not very dense exposing the peat. In contrast, in vegetated areas, eelgrass was able to retain the sand leading to the irregular topography we have now.... That agrees with the lower densities you are seeing. There are some VERY dense patches (covering sand) intermixed with completely bare areas (peat). We also observed such irregular topography (eelgrass elevated in comparison to adjacent unvegetated area) at our SeagrassNet site at Tizzard island. 07/09/04 Drew Koslow, South Riverkeeper South River (Quad 030) Yesterday (July 8th) I visited the area adjacent to a 1/2 mile shoreline restoration project inside the north side of the mouth of Selby Bay (bed A2). There has been some Ruppia there in the past, but this year there is an area of approximately 5 acres with large patches of very dense coverage. The plants are relatively heavy with epiphytes but have gone to seed. 07/13/04 Todd Beser, APG Gunpowder River (Quads 007 and 014) We have seen huge expansion of SAV coverage in the Gunpowder River over last year. Around Battery Point there are large beds consisting of V. americana, P. perfoliatus and N. guadalupensis with sparse P. crispus. From Maxwell Point north to Hog Point at Reardon Inlet (the Edgewood Area shoreline), there are patchy areas of V. americana, M. spicatum, P. perfoliatus, H. verticillata, and C. demersum. The beds of V. americana and M. spicatum become larger as we moved upriver. North of the Amtrack bridge there are very large beds of V. americana and H. verticillata at 100% cover. This area extends to Mariner Point Park and into Days Cove. There is also P. perfoliatus in Days Cove. In Cunninghill Cove on the Eastern side of the river, there is nearly 100% cover, consisting of P. perfoliatus, V. americana, M. spicatum, P. pusillus and N. guadalupensis. Weir Cove has sparse patches of P. perfoliatus and V. americana and a patch of Sago Pondweed (possibly from Julie Bortz's plantings) Also, behind the break waters on Carroll Island there is a good mix of V. americana, P. perfoliatus, M. spicatum, H. verticillata and P. pusillus. Saltpeter Creek also has a long stretch of large patches of V. americana running along the western shoreline. We have had secchi depths over one meter at both nearshore and midchannel sites in the Gunpowder River, Dundee and Saltpeter Creeks. The Bush River is shaping up very well also. There are many species present in Doves Cove including M. spicatum, V. americana, E. canadensis, C. demersum, H. verticillata, P. pusillus and dense spots of N. minor. There was very dense filamentous algae as well. Towners Cove has sparse patches of M. spicatum, while Redmans Cove has M. spicatum, H. verticillata, C. demersum, V. americana and P. pusillus, all at a moderate density. The most surprising observation to me is the amount of H. verticillata and M. spicatum present in Lauderick Creek. Grasses extend from the ramp at Skippers Point out to the marina. Last year there was almost zero cover, and the increase is tremendous. There is also a small patch of V. americana that may have survived from a small planting last year. The secchi depths in the Bush have been lower, ranging around 0.5 meters at the nearshore sites and slightly higher at the midchannel sites. This afternoon there was a huge plume of muddy water coming down the Bush Creek side towards the Amtrack bridge (from the storms last night), while the Otter Point Creek side was much clearer, thanks to all the H. verticillata at OPC. Hopefully both rivers stay clean and clear and the grasses continue to grow. 07/13/04 Bob Orth, VIMS Field and Aerial Observations THE 2004 SAV ANNUAL SURVEY Listed below are the flight lines and the dates they were flown. Locations of those lines are in our annual reports. Also, none of the beds noted here in the 2004 photography have been mapped or digitized and these are simply my first observations from the photography. They include notes on what I perceive as effects on SAV by Hurricane Isabel which appear to very site specific, as well as field observations VIMS has made in the segments. ******************************** WESTERN SHORE BROAD BAY (CB Segment LYNPH)(Flight lines 102, 103 flown on June 21) (Quad
152). LYNNHAVEN RIVER (CB Segment LYNPH)(Flight lines 102, 103 flown on June 21) (Quad
152). LITTLE CREEK (CB Segment LYNPH)(Flight line 102 flown on June 21) (Quad 151
). LOWER JAMES RIVER (CB Segment JMSPH)
(Flight line 101 flown June 21) (Quads 147,
149). DRUM ISLAND FLATS, POQUOSON FLATS AREA, including the BACK and POQUOSON
RIVERS (CB Segment MOBPH)
(Flight lines 96, 96a, 97, and 98 flown on June 21, 27) (Quads
140,
141,
147). LOWER YORK RIVER INCLUDING GOODWN ISLANDS (CB Segment MOBPH, YRKPH)
(Flight lines 93, 95, 96, 96a, 97 flown on June 21, 27) (Quads
130,
131,
132,
139,
140).
MOBJACK BAY AND THE AREA ABOVE NEW POINT COMFORT LIGHTHOUSE (CB Segment
MOBPH, CB8PH)
(Flight lines 91, 91a, 92, 92a, 93, 94; flown on June 21 and 27) (Quads
122,
123,
131,
132).
PIANKATANK RIVER and MILFORD HAVEN (CB Segment PIAMH)
(Flight lines 89, 90, 91; flown on June 21) (Quads
117,
118,
123) LOWER to MIDDLE RAPPAHANNOCK RIVER and CORROTOMAN RIVER (CB Segment RPPMH,
CRRMH)
(Flight lines 87a,b,c,d, 88, 147; flown on June 19) (Quads
110,
111,
116,
117,
118) The beds noted on the photography were field verified on July 11. The small fringe of SAV in the Corrotoman and at mouth of Carters Creek is widgeongrass. Very little flowering widgeongrass was noted. At Mosquito Island along the north shore, the small patchy beds are dominated by widgeongrass with only a few sprigs of eelgrass noted in one patch. One larger patch of eelgrass was noted about 200 meters from the widgeongrass. Further downriver off Windmill Point, the small bed there is dominated by eelgrass. Unfortunately, it appears that all the eelgrass transplanted by VIMS and CBF from 1996 through 2001 just above the Route 3 bridge, including the site where the planting boat work was done in October, 2001, is gone (see Fishman, J. R., R. J. Orth, S. Marion, and J. Bieri. 2004. A comparative test of mechanized and manual transplanting of eelgrass, Zostera marina, in Chesapeake Bay. Restoration Ecology 12:214-219.) In our fall field observations of the site last year, we noted that the few remaining eelgrass patches were gone before Isabel. As of this summer, no eelgrass remains at the transplant sites. Thus, the only eelgrass remaining in this river is what was observed off Mosquito Island and Windmill Point. WINDMILL POINT (mouth of RAPPAHANNOCK) to SMITH POINT (mouth of POTOMAC)
(CB Segment CB5MH)
(Flight lines 83, 84, 85, 86, 138; flown on June 19) (Quads
106,
112) ********************************* EASTERN SHORECAPE CHARLES up to and including BIG MARSH and CHESCONESSEX CREEK (CB
Segment CB7PH)
(Flight lines 104-108; flown May 11 and June 19) (Quads
108,
113,
114,
119,
124,
133,
134, and
142). POCOMOKE SOUND (CB Segment POCMH, TANMH)(Flight lines 107,108, 109, 110; flown May 11, June 19, and July 6) (Quads 100, 101, 108, and 109). SAV (eelgrass and widgeongrass) along the north side (MD portion) around Broad Creek and into Broad Creek going to Crisfield, is present. Beds along the southern shore (VA portion) are very dense especially Webb and Halfmoon Islands and adjacent to Big Marsh. The large bed west of Webb and Halfmoon Islands (see quad 108) is still present but very patchy. Other, smaller beds noted in previous years are still present, with some denser, while others are more sparse than what was noted in 2003. WATTS ISLAND (CB Segment TANMH)(Flight line 111; flown June 19 and July 6) (Quad 107) GREAT FOX ISLAND (CB Segment TANMH)(Flight lines 109, 110, 111; flown June 19 and July 6) (Quad 100) TANGIER and SMITH ISLAND (CB Segment TANMH)(Flight lines 112, 113; flown June 21 and July 6) (Quads
091,
092,
099,
100, and
107) LITTLE ANNEMESSEX RIVER (CB Segment TANMH)(Flight lines 110, 111; flown June 19 and July 6) (Quads
100,
101) 07/21/04 Mike Naylor, MD-DNR Eastern Bay (Quad 033) Yesterday (7/20/04) a small group of us visited two areas in the northern part of Eastern Bay- specifically Marshy Creek and the shoreline of Prospect Bay between Piney Point and Cabin Creek. The south side of Marshy Creek was very densely covered with SAV, consisting of watermilfoil, elodea, hydrilla, redhead grass, and widgeon grass (listed in order of decreasing abundance). The redhead grass was flowering, and was quite dense in several areas.The areas we visited in Prospect Bay were sparsely covered with widgeon grass throughout from close to the shoreline to about 5' deep, with just a few horned pondweed plants scattered around and lots of ulva. The exclosure established by Peter Bergstrom contained lush redhead grass covering about 40% of the exclosure. A few redhead grass plants were seen floating nearby, but it was unclear whether these were from the exclosure or not. 07/23/04 Mike Naylor, MD-DNR Little Annemessex and Honga Rivers (Quad 101) We visited the SAV harvesting locations on the north shore of the Little Annemessex River just west of Crisfield yesterday (07/22), and some nearby beds in which no harvesting had taken place. In all areas, there was abundant, healthy eelgrass and quite a lot of widgeon grass that was flowering. Quite a lot of ulva was also scattered in and around the beds. We spent a considerable amount of time snorkeling these beds, and there were no substantial differences in plant height, bed density, or apparent vigor of the plants themselves between the harvested and unharvsted beds. Even with the poor visibility we had (2- 2.5 feet), snorkeling in these beds quickly reveals quite a diversity of fish and invertebrates. Within minutes, a careful observer will see numerous blue crabs, shrimp, several species of large isopods, sticklebacks, juvenile flounder, pipefish, and the occasional close encounter with a huge cownose ray. 08/02/04 Stan George Popes Creek (Quad 058) Pope's Creek is FULL of SAV this year! It's thick enough where the dock used to be that the SAV will hold the canoe in place even in a light breeze. And its like that a lot of places. There's a small variety of plant types: Horned pondweed; coontail; wild celery; widgeon grass; and, of course, Eurasian watermilfoil. The problem (if it is one) is that at least 99.9% of the plants are the watermilfoil. Is watermilfoil a real problem? I'm not sure how much it's choking out any of the native species, they just seem to grow in slightly different places. Any ideas why there is so much more SAV this year than last (when there was so much more than the previous year, when there were only a few plants in the creek)? 08/05/04 Jennifer Harlan, Maryland Environmental Service Hart-Miller Island (Quad 014) HART-MILLER ISLAND DREDGED MATERIAL CONTAINMENT FACILITY SUBMERGED AQUATIC VEGETATION (SAV) REPORT JULY 2004 Maryland Environmental Service (MES) personnel conducted a qualitative submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) survey along the western shoreline of Hart-Miller Island (HMI) on June 24th and 25th. This was done to analyze and confirm the presence of SAV at locations indicated on the VIMS maps of HMI. Field observation of HMI SAV: All field verification was done on the western or lee side of HMI from latitude 39.14.482 north (N), longitude 76.23.091 west (W) to 39.15.677 N, 76.21.474 W. Water depths during the survey were 2 to 5 ft. and surveys were conducted 10 to 100 yards offshore depending on observed presence of SAV. Due to unusual water clarity, the SAV beds were mainly observed from the boat above the water surface. Additional observations were done using a swimmer with snorkel gear, as well as using a throw-rake. MES personnel identified SAV species present. No survey was performed on the eastern side of HMI as water depths are generally 8 to 12 feet which is probably too deep for SAV. Coordinates were determined by an on board GPS. Following are the areas surveyed and the observations of SAV present:
Summary of HMI SAV Field Observations: A total of 5 species of SAV were observed and identified during the July 2004 HMI SAV survey. Species observed in order of abundance were: redhead grass, wild celery, curly pondweed, sago pondweed, and coontail. The survey was done in an approximately 3-mile transect following the shoreline on the western side of HMI in 3 to 5 ft. of water, 10 to 100 yards from shore. The area covered was from 39.14.437 N, 76.23.014 W (southern tip of HMI) to 39.15.703 N, 76.12.504 W (approx. ½ mile north of the DNR beach area). Overall coverage in the area was estimated at 40% to 60%. Most of the beds appeared healthy and actively increasing biomass. The SAV off the western shore of HMI appears to be increasing in percentage and density compared to previous surveys done in 2001 and 2002. No survey was performed in 2003. However, this may be a seasonal variation, as previous surveys were done in late summer and early fall. The next survey will be conducted in the fall of 2004. Download powerpoint file with survey map here. 08/05/04 Brett Coakley, MD-DNR Elk and Bohemia rivers (Quads 004, 005, 010, and 011) We've been out mapping the tidal largemouth bass habitats in the Elk/Bohemia system for the last few days, and I can honestly say there is more grass up there than we could ever possibly hope for! In my memory, the Bohemia was nothing more than a shallow muddy mess, but now its home to much clearer water, and grassbeds that in some cases extend 500 meters from shore! The Elk has always had grass in the coves below the canal, but now almost the whole shoreline from Grove Point to Elkton to Turkey Point has at least sparse grassbeds. Many of the bottoms of the coves of the Elk and Bohemia are 100% covered with dense celery beds. Some beds are in 5-6 feet of water! The other note I wanted to pass along is the species composition. Several years back, I remember hydrilla being the predominant grass in many areas of the Elk. Now, wild celery is the dominant species, with eurasian watermilfoil as number two. There still are beds of hydrilla, but now I think its species number three. Curly pondweed, naiads and what looks like stargrass are also present. 08/06/04 Peter Bergstrom, NOAA Magothy River (Quads 024 and 033) After doing SAV surveys on the Magothy on 7/24 (upper tidal river) and 7/26 (Cornfield creek/Gisbon Island) and in Marshy Creek off Eastern Bay near Kent Narrows (Horsehead/CBEC) on 7/27, I noticed the following changes from recent years. Most or all are explained by the high rainfall in 2003 and so far in 2004.
08/10/04 Jason Miller, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Poplar Harbor (Quads 036 and 180) Here area a few quick and preliminary maps of Poplar Harbor SAV monitoring conducted by our office in July 2004:
We found grass at 44 out of the 282 sampling points randomly chosen for the July episode. In July 2003 we found grass at 10 of 282 different random sampling points in the Harbor. Most of the grass was horned pondweed. Our sampling was mid- to late July. From casual observations prior to the sampling, there was likely a great deal more horned pondweed in the Harbor during June than what we sampled in July, as one would expect. 08/17/04 Terry Willis Chester River (Quads 022 and 027) On 08/15/04 a SAV survey was performed in Shipping (Shippen) Creek in the Chester River. At 39-07.5" N/76-06.5W we found up to 10 acres of dense growth of elodea, virtually covering entire creek. Secchi depths ranged from .75-1 m or better. Salinity was 7.5ppt. We have been seeing salinities this year that are several ppt lower than in the recent past. 08/18/04 Mike Naylor, MD-DNR Susquehanna Flats (Quads 003, 009, and 010) Stan Kollar, Nancy Rybicki, Nancy's student Allison Roche and myself spent yesterday boating from Havre de Grace to Fishing Battery to the Elk River to Furnace Bay and back to Havre de Grace. Sort of a big circle around the Susquehanna Flats for those of you not familiar with the area. What we saw was nothing short of spectacular. I spent a lot of time surveying SAV for a haul seine survey in 1996, and Stan has been doing regular work there since the 1970's. The changes that are occurring in the Flats right now are just incredible. The large central bed of the Flats- the biggest single SAV bed in the entire bay, has gone from being an extremely low density milfoil bed to a high density wild celery bed in just a few years. We saw near continuous wild celery coverage (not 100% coverage, but a patchwork of SAV at maybe 25-75% cover) from the Southeast corner of the Flats bed all the way to the channel at Stump Pt. on the north side. Tens of acres of wild celery or more- so much that the whole surface of the water was covered with wild celery pollen. Interspersed with the wild celery were patches of water stargrass and the ever present watermilfoil. I can't wait to see the VIMS photos of the area. Once we arrived at Stump Pt., we were greeted with one of the most diverse beds I've ever seen. In an area maybe 4 times the size of my office we saw wild celery, water stargrass, elodea, Potamogeton nodosus, slender pondweed, sago pondweed, coontail, milfoil, Najas minor, southern naiad, and hydrilla. I surveyed this area very intensively three times over the growing season in 1996, and all we saw was wild celery, Najas minor, milfoil and hydrilla. Just an amazing and very positive improvement in the abundance and diversity of native species. And today, the icing on the cake was receiving two phone calls from people who keep boats in Baltimore harbor- one in the North Branch and one in the South Branch of the Patapsco- complaining about how SAV is fouling their propellers. It seems that even in the harbor itself, areas that are shallow are growing SAV like crazy. 08/19/04 Laura Murray, UMCES Horn Point Laboratory Chester River, Corsica River, and Broad Creek (Quads 026 and 027) I have been in communication with people in the Chester and Corsica and they are reporting elodea in many areas... and best is that for the first time in several years, our transplants of redhead grass has not only survived but is up to the surface and doing very well. This with all the rain we've had. John Melton's transplants from 2001 are also alive and doing very well in Broad Creek off the Choptank. 08/21/04 Steve Sharkey Corsica River (Quads 026 and 027) For the first time we have found large beds of Elodea canadensis (common waterweed) in the Corsica river. The Elodea is occurring on at least 2 miles of the shoreline out to a depth of 3 feet at low tide, and at low tide the plants are tall enough that they actually reach the surface. Since July we have experienced extremely clear water in the Corsica and we are also observing massive amounts of black false mussels. Earlier in the season (June and July), we have also seen Zannichellia palustris (horned pondweed) in large amounts in small scattered beds. For the past five years we have been running, through the Chester River Association, an underwater grass growing/planting program in conjunction with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Chesapeake Bay Trust, and Horned Point Facilities. The first four years resulted in all of the redhead grasses planted surviving only about 3 weeks. This year all of our plants are thriving. All of the plantings were done over the years in various locations in the Chester River and the Corsica River. 08/21/04 Denny Motsko Piankatank River (Quad 116) I am a resident on the western most reaches of the Piankatank River in Middlesex County. My location is just east of where the Dragon Run opens at Turk's Ferry to become the Piankatank. We have owned the property for 6 years and never have seen the SAV growth that we had seen this year. In fact, previous years had no SAV whatsoever. I don't believe it's Hydrilla, but my best guess is Water Stargrass Mud Plantain Heteranthera dubia, but being a novice, I don't know. According to the USGS National Map my pier is at -76 degrees 32' 07" and 37 degrees 33' 38" . 08/23/04 Mary Groves, MD-DNR Potomac River (Quads 034 and 040) We have been out doing some habitat mapping and saw very little grass between the southern tip of Smoots Bay up into Oxon Creek. The beds that were normally thick around the bridge weren't noticeable while we were there (mid-tide). Broad creek had grass but it didn't seem to be near as thick as last year. The beds in Piscataway were thick, but they were also covered with algae. 08/30/04 Terry Willis Eastern Neck Narrows and Church Creek (Quad 026)
08/29/04- Eastern Neck Narrows and Church Creek (39-03.5'N Lat/ 076-13'W Long
at the mouth of the creek). 08/31/04 Drew Koslow, South Riverkeeper South River (Quads 030 and 031) John Flood and I recently visited Widgeon Bed labeled A2 in the 2003 survey (quad 30). The size of the bed is more like 15 acres with density very close to 100%. The plants are to the surface at low tide, and in flower. There is a quite a bit of plant material in the wrack line on the beach, perhaps due to the concentration of Canada Geese (approximately 100) and Mute swans (2) that are continually present on the site. In addition some attrition to the marsh (S. alterniflora) is evident from the concentrated waterfowl. I also surveyed Loden Pond on the North side of the river, east edge of quad 30 just below the words "Hillsmere Shores". The pond is densely covered with Eurasian Watermilfoil with Widgeon Grass mixed in. Also observed Widgeon Grass at Melvin Point, Limehouse Cove, Glebe Bay, and London Towne. In the mouth of Duvall Creek, (quad 31) I have seen sparse beds of Widgeon Grass. Also, South River Federation planted Redhead Grass in Duvall with a Grasses for the Masses program and CBF/DNR planted it with Grasses for Classes. Both areas have about 40-50% coverage, plants appear vigorous, flowering and to the surface. 09/08/04 Charles Gallegos, Smithsonian Envrionmental Research Center Rhode River (Quad 030) Summary of June Results Summary of September Results 09/16/04 Bob Stankelis, UMCES CBL Patuxent River (Quad 060) We had a chance to get up the Patuxent this week and were able to check out that location on the north side of Broomes Island. There was indeed Ruppia all over grapevine cove. However, there did appear to be a large amount of macro algae as well. I'm not sure of the species, but it was browish-green and had a highly branched morphology. It seemed intermixed with the SAV. 09/20/04 Bob Orth, VIMS Hog Island Bay (Quad 215) Scott and I met up with Karen McGlathery of UVA and her staff yesterday (9/19) to look for potential eelgrass transplant sites in Hogg Island Bay for this year's Seaside Heritage work. We came in from Quinby Inlet and plopped ourselves east of High Shoal Marsh. We anchored so we could look at the sediments for their suitability for this year's transplants. And to our surprise, we found not just 1 but about 1/2 dozen patches of naturally occurring eelgrass!!!!!!!!!!!!!! These patches were not quite a meter squared but the plants were robust and had to be at least two years old. This is an extremely exciting discovery as it lends evidence about the suitability of this very expansive area to potentially support eelgrass, similar to our South Bay site. Water depths at this particular area were very uniform meaning a very large area potentially available to seagrass restoration. These are naturally occurring patches and we believe there may be many more. We hope to go back and do a more thorough search. This is really neat and we will keep you posted on any additional findings! 09/23/04 Geoffery Jay, Aberdeen Proving Ground Susquehanna Flats Post Conowingo Dam Flood (Quads 008 and 009) On Tuesday the 21st of September, I came out of Swan Creek to take a few samples and wanted to pass on to everyone what was observed. First off as expected there was debris floating everywhere and large quantizes of dislodged vegetation floating down stream. At our two sample locations Secchi depths of only 0.15 and 0.19 meters were observed. The amount of sediment flowing through was astounding. 09/24/04 Peter Bergstrom, NOAA Shallow Creek (Quad 019) Mike Norman and I visited Shallow Creek near North Point at low tide on Wed. 9/22, which is the point on the north side of the mouth of the Patapsco. In the VIMS survey it is on Quad 19, Sparrows Point, and the latest map (2003) is online here: http://www.vims.edu/bio/sav/sav03/quads/sp019.html We were there to check on survival of SAV that we planted in 2000-2001 and also a small planting DNR did last summer (2003). We also removed all the fencing and poles in response to a request from someone living on the creek. What we found was a fair amount of floating broken wild celery leaves and whole plants, probably similar to the "dislodged vegetation" that Geoffrey mentioned from Susquehanna Flats. These plants were getting darker and appeared to be starting to die back, making them more fragile. Shallow Creek would receive little direct Susquehanna flow but get some of the extra turbidity after heavy rains in PA since it is right off the mainstem. Secchi depths were 0.45-0.5 m (not especially low for this creek) and salinity was 2-3 ppt, same as it was last August on my last visit. We have measured salinity there as high as 15 ppt in a dry year (9/26/02, 27 months after planting) so it has quite a wide range of salinity. Redhead grass was getting a bit darker but did not seem to be dying back as much as wild celery, and as usual in Shallow Creek, there was dense milfoil in the upper ends of coves. In terms of the SAV we planted, most of what survived from our June 2000 multi-species planting was wild celery. Current coverage is about half of each exclosure that we planted 4 years ago, about twice as much as there was at planting. We had planted 1/2 wild celery and 1/4 each of redhead grass and sago pondweed. Initially the redhead grass survived best, but after we took down the fencing late in 2002, there was much less redhead grass and more wild celery in 2003 and 2004, with about 5% cover of redhead grass on 9/22. There was much more wild celery in 2004 (9/22) than we saw in 2003. Both wild celery and redhead grass had started to spread outside the planted area in small clumps; since we found no redhead grass in the whole creek before planting, we are pretty sure that the pioneer redhead patches came from seeds from our plating. A graph of species % cover over time shows the need for long term monitoring of SAV planting projects. Possible explanations for the decline of redhead grass and increase in wild celery between 2002 and 2003 include:
We also did a smaller Fall 2001 planting in the same area that was just redhead grass, because at the time it seemed to be surviving better than wild celery. Only patches from this planting could be found on Wednesday so we could not estimate % survival. In this and other small fall plantings I have done, they do not seem to do as well as spring plantings. Thanks to all who helped us with this project, especially Denny Klosterman for funding and Mike Norman and Jen Kujawski for supplying the plants. Potomac River (Quads 048, 056, and 057) We were in the field all last week and the water was very turbid and extremely high in most places we were working. We were in Mattawoman Creek on Monday (9/20) and Thursday (9/23), Nanjemoy Creek on Tuesday (9/21), and Aquia Creek on Friday (9/21). Vegetation is robust everywhere, especially in Aquia (Myriophyllum and Hydrilla). Vallisneria has made an incredible comeback to Blossom Point at the mouth of Nanjemoy Creek and there's an enormous bed in the mainstem Potomac downriver of Nanjemoy. 10/05/04 Bob Orth, VIMS Aerial Updates Greetings: Some of you have been inquiring about the status of the 2004 SAV annual aerial survey given all the interesting field observations that have been reported to date. Since my last aerial update on July 13, we have been unable to acquire much photography. I have commented on the high degree of difficulty in acquiring the aerial photographs for the last few years. This year has been no exception. While water clarity has been reported as generally good for most of the summer in some upper bay areas, the quality of atmospheric conditions have been the reverse. It's been either overcast (= rainy) or windy. In addition, on some of the clear and calm days, we have had to contend with abnormally high low tides that prevent the acquisition of a clear SAV signature. Check out the NOAA tides and winds web site: http://tidesonline.nos.noaa.gov/geographic.html . It really shows just how much the wind can alter the predicted tides. Through mid-September we acquired very little photography of the upper bay. However, since then we have acquired photography of the Elk, Sassafras, Bohemia, Chester, Choptank, Little Choptank, South, Severn, Patapsco; parts of the Potomac, Middle, Gunpowder, and Bush rivers; portions of Eastern Bay; as well as the shoreline from Eastern Neck to the Sassafras. The photographs show some very interesting patterns and mirror the field observations. As soon as I get a chance, I will provide you with more details. SAV abundance in the Elk, Sassafras and Bohemia can only be described as "incredible". SAV has returned in abundance to the Eastern Neck narrows in just one year! And the reported SAV in the Corsica River (tributary of the Chester) is visible on the photography. Some areas in the Potomac appear to have an abundance of SAV (e.g., Aquia Creek) while SAV in other nearby areas appear to have declined (e.g. Potomac Creek). SAV has remained in somewhat similar locations in the Severn and Magothy rivers. Abundance in parts of the Eastern Bay is very low (e.g. Parsons Island, the Romancoke area of Kent Island) while SAV in other areas appear robust (e.g. Marshy Creek). SAV, normally abundant in Trippe and Brannock bays, appears significantly reduced in cover. Reports of SAV in the Patapsco appear to be confirmed in our aerials. So, it has been quite a year, and of course the big question remains as to why SAV continues to do so well, and is even increasing, in many areas of the upper bay, despite what appears to be a second consecutive year of lots of rain! We are looking at some good atmospheric conditions over the next few weeks and hope to wrap everything up by the end of October. We still face obstacles in the Aberdeen Proving Grounds where we must have an APG observer on the plane when it flies over APG and the film is held by them through the entire development process. But APG is doing their best to help out given their security concerns. This year we are facing more obstacles regarding air space over Washington, DC. Not only must we get approval from the FAA and TSA but we must have approval from the Secret Service due to heightened security concerns. We hope we can quickly get over this last obstacle as our request is cnow pending with them. Gunpowder and Bush rivers (Quads 007, 008, 014) It's amazing to see the amount of grass out there this year. I have not seen it this good since 2001, but this year is probably better than 2001 for distribution/coverage however the communities have changed. In the Gunpowder, there are tremendous Potamogeton perfoliatus beds all over and spreading like I've never seen. Also, lots of Vallisneria; both Vallisneria and Potamogeton perfoliatus occuring as new, VERY dense (shoot count) beds; I've never seen them so dense and healthy. But less Elodea and Najas guadalupensis. The Carroll Island area isn't quite as spectacular as 2001 (in part due to the lack of the latter spp) but I just think it is still recovering from the 2002 drought. One of my concerns is how far down the Hydrilla is into the Gunpowder. It's clear below the state park (Cunninghill Cove). I can't remember seeing it much below Mariner Point Park above the railroad bridge on the river. It's definately helping clear water but filling a niche that Elodea or Najas guadalupensis did previously. Clarity out in the Gunpowder was still close to 2m secchi readings in the middle of the river. The plants are still visible and don't seemed to have lost much if any biomass yet. The Hydrilla in the upper reaches of the Bush (ie Otter Point Creek) has been declining in biomass rapidly. 10/08/04 Drew Koslow, South Riverkeeper South and Severn Rivers (Quads 023, 030) In my recent travels I have been locating small Widgeon beds in South River by observing where Mute Swans are feeding. Invariably, there are grasses present where the birds are. On 10/6 I observed 17 adults and 5 cygnets on South River. Just west of Lake Hillsmere there is approx 1 acre bed. Plants were in 2-3' of water. Melvin Point at the mouth of Aberdeen Creek has a several acre bed with dense coverage. Inside Aberdeen Creek on the west shore there is sparse coverage of Widgeon Grass. In Duvall Creek on the west Shore NE of Hill Point there is sparse coverage along the shore moving NE past the community beach. On the shoreline east of Warehouse Creek, in the area in front of an occluded pond there is moderate coverage of Widgeon Grass. In the South-west corner of Limehouse Cove, there is a very small channel that goes into an occluding pond. In the Southwest corner of the Pond there is a very dense bed of Eurasian Milfoil. Milfoil and Widgeon were growing throughout the pond (sparse coverage). On 10/1, I also had the pleasure of visiting the Redhead bed on the Severn River that runs from the mouth of Asquith Creek south to Chase Creek. This bed is nothing short of spectacular. There was a light chop on the River and the water turned glassy as soon as you got into the bed. Coverage was very dense in large patches with Widgeon growing in the patches. Water clarity improved remarkably as you moved further into the bed which was to the surface in about 4+ feet of water. I was collecting seeds to spread in South River. Approx 75% of plants had lost their seeds. Of the seed pods remaining, most had only a few (4-8) seeds present. Perhaps 10% were loaded with seed. Aerial Update Greetings: Since that last brief aerial update I sent out on Oct. 5, we were able to acquire additional photography during the week of Oct. 4-8 of the entire lower Potomac River (both shores) from Port Tobacco Creek to the mouth, the Virginia tribs including the Pamunkey, Mattaponi, and James rivers, and the flightlines that cover the tribs of Choptank (Broad and Harris Creeks, and the Tred Avon River) as well as the western shoreline of Eastern Bay including the Miles River. POTOMAC RIVER Along the Virginia side of the Potomac River, very little SAV was noted along that entire stretch from just above the 301 bridge at Mathias Point to the mouth, including all the tribs (e.g. Upper and Lower Machodoc creeks, Rosier Creek, etc). Very small pockets of SAV were noted in several locations notably Popes Creek and at the mouth of the Yeocomico River along the west shoreline. But generally, this is substantially less than what we noted several years ago when many creeks had abundant SAV beds dominated by milfoil. MATTAPONI AND PAMUNKEY RIVERS CHICKAHOMINY RIVER LOWER JAMES TRIBS LOWER CHOPTANK RIVER EASTERN BAY AREA We were able to get a couple of lines flown over the Susquehanna Flats and re-did some lines over Bloodsworth and South Marsh Islands this past Monday. I 'll send something out soon about that but will say the Flats looked GREAT! We have a few more lines to fly and am hoping to complete the acquisition effort in the coming week. However, it does look like we will not be able to fly over Washington, DC down to Piscataway Creek as we still have not gotten permission from the Secret Service as of this writing. Real Bummer! Potomac and Acokeek creeks (Quad 064) I just looked at our maps, Potomac Creek had SAV at the north mouth (Myriophyllum), in the Acokeek Creek mouth in 1 cove, and in 2 coves in the upstream end of Potomac Creek, on south side, upstream of the Marshy Point (Hydrilla). 11/02/04 Drew Koslow, South Riverkeeper South River (Quad 030) I recently revisited the widgeon bed labeled as A-2 on the 2003 quad 30. Earlier in the summer this bed was approx. 15 acres and had very dense coverage. Every day I have been on the South River, (2-3 days/wk since April) there have been mute swans and resident Canada Geese feeding on this bed. On November 1, there were 38 mute swans feeding on the bed. The bed is now very sparse, with approx. 10-20% coverage. It has been hammered. Aerial Update Greetings: This will be my final update on the 2004 annual SAV aerial survey. While I was away the last month, a lot of very positive things happened for the 2004 program. If you recall from past updates, I mentioned the security issues we had to deal with in getting access to airspace in areas over Washington, DC. While we were not able to get clearance, Air Photographics flew a mission in early October at an altitude of 18,000 feet over the DC area for another customer. By flying higher, they were able to avoid the security barrier that prevented us from acquiring our regular photography. We lucked out because the flight was conducted close to low tide and had minimal sun glint. We reviewed the photography and found we could detect SAV, which means we have complete coverage of the entire Potomac River this year. The photography showed almost no SAV in the DC area, similar to what we observed in 2003, with SAV appearing downriver from the Woodrow Wilson bridge. And that big bed around the bridge is still absent. Our luck also held out over the Aberdeen Proving Grounds (APG). As you recall, we now have to have an observer on the plane when it flies that region and when the flight is complete, APG retains the film until processing and then "blacks out" all APG areas. Since we can only get access to the airspace on weekends, having all the right conditions for good acquisition is a major challenge. However, this year it all came together on Nov. 7. From what we can tell from the photography that was not censored, taken just outside of the APG area, SAV shows up with a very distinct signature as water clarity was superb. Some notable points from that Nov. 7 photography:
The bottom line for the 2004 SAV survey is that we have a complete picture this year except for one very small line in the mid- James River (which has very little SAV anyway) and that the most notable, positive changes are in the upper Bay area above the Bay Bridge. And, as we all have been hearing, and is again evident on the aerial photos, that big bed on the Susquehanna Flats continues to get denser. Pretty amazing! We are in the throes of orthorectifying, mosaicing and photointerpreting the 2004 photos and have a goal of providing EPA 2004 numbers by early May (and with a little luck, maybe a bit earlier). However, if have any questions on a particular area, just give us a holler. We here at the VIMS SAV program wish you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. It has been another really interesting year tracking SAV changes (somehow I think I say this every year). It looks like 2005 should present us with some really exciting information and it will be interesting to see if the resurgence in the upper Bay continues, as well as what happens mid-Bay where all the widgeongrass took a hit in 2003 and had not rebounded in 2004. Cheers, JJ |
