The Eyes of Paint Branch - Spring 2001
Newsletter Volume: 7 Issue: 1
New Biodiversity Survey Urges Protection of Paint Branch Watershed
Eyes of Paint Branch has released a new survey of the biodiversity and significant habitats of the Paint Branch watershed. The survey lists both native and invasive flora species and includes several species of ferns and orchids. It catalogs rare, threatened, and endangered species, including "watchlist" species (as designated by the State of Maryland Heritage and Biodiversity Conservation Program).
In addition, it examines the restricted and sensitive plant communities found in several places throughout the watershed, including at rock outcrops, Thompson Seeps, Powder Mill Bog, McKnew Bog and Forest, and Little Paint Branch I-95 Bog. Preliminary lists of amphibians and
forest-dependent birds are also included. The study, commissioned by the Eyes of Paint Branch, covers the year 2000 field season in both the Montgomery County and the Prince George's County portions of the watershed. The study was funded as part of a grant from the EPA's Chesapeake Bay Program Small Watershed Grant, administered by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.
Author John Parrish, a local field botanist and ecologist, writes in the survey that the greatest threat currently facing the Paint Branch watershed is something called "cumulative impact." Parrish describes this phenomenon as the accumulated effects of millions of smaller impacts to the environment that have added up over time, resulting from choices we watershed residents all make daily. He adds that "every individual, home or business owner, and government official can contribute to either the restoration and protection or the degradation of our natural environment."
John Parrish, kneeling at center, identifies several different species of frog eggs in a wetland near Good Hope tributary.
Other threats, each of which contributes to cumulative impact, that are highlighted by Parrish include
habitat loss and ecosystem degradation resulting from suburban development (roads, housing, schools, and business development); the watershed has lost nearly three fourths of its forests and one third of its historic (pre-colonial) nontidal wetlands, and forest and wetland acreage continues to decline.
forest fragmentation, leading to the isolation of flora and fauna populations in tracts of forest that are often too small to support the ecosystem.
invasive species, which outcompete and displace native species.
use of off-road vehicles, which cause extensive destruction of vegetation, floodplain, and wetland areas and "are a source of erosion, sedimentation, soil compaction, vernal pool destruction, noise, and pollution."
sand and gravel mining, which destroys natural habitat and causes increased soil erosion and stream sedimentation.
stormwater runoff/impervious surfaces, which leads to streambank erosion, stream habitat sedimentation, increased pollution from toxic compounds, and dangerous increases in stream water temperature, and can reduce the stream's base flow. The impervious area for the entire watershed stands at 18 percent, well above the 10 percent limit determined to be the maximum for a watershed supporting trout habitat.
In addition to listing the threats to the watershed, Parrish suggests specific actions that will be necessary to maintain the native biodiversity. Some of these, such as parkland acquisition, conservation easements, and development design that spares forests, must be pursued in cooperation with government agencies. But he also suggests a number of things that individuals can do (see box).
Parrish stresses that "we all must be conscious that even our smallest actions are important and play a significant role in the healing or destruction of the 'natural' quality of life. Our air and water quality is directly affected by the accumulation of each of our daily actions. Do we drive our car everywhere or do we sometimes choose to walk or ride the bike? Do we use lawn and garden chemicals that run off and kill aquatic life or do we choose to garden organically? Do we dump piles of yard waste in the local park or do we recycle our leaves and grass clippings? Millions of such decisions, if changed, could halt and reverse previous destruction. . . . The quality of life within the Paint Branch Watershed depends directly on preservation and restoration of forests, wetlands and native biodiversity." The full study will be available soon on the EOPB Web site at www.eopb.org.
