10,580 Pounds of Trash

On Sunday, November 22nd, close to 60 volunteers worked for three hours on a beautiful afternoon to remove 10,580 pounds of trash, such as lawn mowers, bikes, sinks, broken car windshields, construction debris, jugs of used automotive oil, and much more, on a valuable wooded corridor for animals and a deciduous ecosystem buffer zone for Sligo Creek and Northwest Branch (both in the Chesapeake Bay watershed). Seventy-five percent of the volunteers were students from Northwood High School and two feeder middle schools.

The Northwood Chesapeake Bay Trail project has taken a respite for the holidays and will begin getting into the meat and bones of it at the end of January. Two student interns at Northwood will implement the core mission of the project, to restore the land by building a trail and native meadow and conducting outreach to their peers and the neighboring communities about improving the health of the Chesapeake Bay. Stay tuned!

$7,500 Chesapeake Bay Trust Grant Awarded

In October, the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club (PATC) and Northwood High School’s Technology, Environmental and Systems Sciences Academy were awarded a $7,500 Community Outreach and Awareness grant from the Chesapeake Bay Trust to restore 15 acres of Maryland State Highway Administration land and build a nature interpretive trail, the Northwood Chesapeake Bay Trail, to educate students and the community about human impacts on the Bay and actions they can take to improve its health.
The first step in the eight month project is to clean-up thousands of pounds of trash on the property adjacent to Northwood. On Sunday, November 22, 2009 from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm at the entrance to Northwood’s Kaplan Stadium, PATC, Northwood, Friends of Sligo Creek, Neighbors of Northwest Branch, and the MD State Highway Administration invite the community to participate in cleaning up trash on a valuable wooded corridor for animals and a deciduous ecosystem buffer zone for Sligo Creek and Northwest Branch (both in the Chesapeake Bay watershed). Students participating will earn three MCPS student service learning hours.
The MD State Highway Administration bought 15 acres adjacent to Northwood High School for constructing MD Route 193. The property was not constructed on and it stayed mostly unmaintained for years which enabled people to dump household and automotive items on it. The unmaintained and trashed property has been harming wildlife and polluting the soil and a large vernal pool that directly feeds into Northwest Branch, a tributary of the Chesapeake Bay. Last spring, MD SHA, through citizen advocacy, deemed the 15 acres environmentally protected. Eventually, MD SHA will relinquish management to the Department of Natural Resources. Through a memorandum of understanding, PATC and Northwood High School, along with its partners Friends of Sligo Creek and Neighbors of Northwest Branch, will build a nature interpretive trail, connecting it to the Northwest Branch Trail in Northwest Branch Park, and restore a mowed zone into a native plant meadow. Through these actions, the organizations will educate students and neighbors about their impact on the watershed and actions they can implement to improve the health of the watershed and Bay.

Learning Leave No Trace Through Practice

All last week, the weather forecast threatened rain for the Steward program's backpacking trip on the Appalachian Trail. Learning and practicing Leave No Trace would be challenging in rainy conditions but making it more important for us to conquer that challenge. Rain increases human's impact on nature, particularly when traveling and camping on durable surfaces. Vegetation are more vulnerable. Overall, planning ahead and preparing is even more important when backpacking in the rain to lessen one's impact and to be safe and comfortable on the trail. Rain does pose challenges but it's not impossible to minimize one's impact on the land. Fortunately, the forecast became promising by Friday and the group only had to contend with some sprinkles Saturday morning. Relief.
Thursday before the trip, the students brainstormed and discussed ways to plan ahead and prepare, including repackaging all the food to minimize waste (we hiked out with about a pound of waste). Saturday morning, the group met outside Northwood High School to carpool to the AT trail head. On a cool, crisp, overcast early morning, the group strapped their packs on and head the 2.5 miles to Annapolis Rocks. We arrived within an hour and began a discussion about camping on durable surfaces. We pitched our tents on existing sites on compact dirt. By then our stromachs were grumbling, we sat down to eat and talk about disposing of trash and human waste; always a great lunch topic. Each student received a WAG bag for a future trip, not having to use them this time around because there were composting privies. By mid afternoon, the sun was peaking through the clouds and we headed down the AT to amazing Black Rocks. Some took in the views and hung out and others scrambled on the rocks. We used a teachable moment for Courtney to educate us about minimizing campfire impacts. We sat next to a homemade fire pit with a neighboring charred tree to learn how campfires impact nature and its alternatives. The sun was beginning to set and the temperature dropped as we hurried back down the trail to our campsite for a burrito dinner and a conversation about land ethics, plus a pseudo campfire, conversation, and stories. The chill beckoned us to our warm sleeping bags where we didn't want to leave upon sunrise. As the sun began streaming through the trees, some were patient for a wonderful, strong cup of coffee while a 43 degree temperature made for impatience in others. We went without the earlier decided upon pancakes and opted for the easy bagels and cream cheese to quickly break camp and finish the last three principles before hiking back to the trail head. We situated ourselves on a rock ledge overlooking the western valley to learn about leave what you find from Kady, travel on durable surfaces from James, and be considerate of others from Erol. Every year, the camping trip is a highlight for both students and teachers because we bond together as class, depending on and learning from each other.

Inventorying Fish in Northwest Branch

For the next month, the students will participate and learn how to identify and inventory plant and animal species in Northwest Branch Park. By inventorying, they will gain knowledge about the health of the park ecosystem and ways humans hamper or can improve its health. Today, two field biologists from Maryland National Park and Planning Commission (MNCPPC) taught students the process by which they inventory fish and macroinvertabrates in the park stream. By inventorying both, bioligists can determine the health of the stream. Some macroinvertabrates and fish are tolerant to polluntants in the water while others are not. We inventoried species (White Suckers, Red Breast Sunfish, Black Nose Dace, Tesalated Darter, Blunt Nose Mino, and Spot Tailed Shiner) that are categorized as tolerant and intermediate, meaning they can tolerate some level of pollutants but not at higher amounts or levels. In the coming month, look for additional postings of other species students inventory in the park.

Stormy Nature

I can her the wind brushing through the leaves. The grass is moving around me. Birds and crickets are chirping at a beat. It sounds like music if you add the flies wings moving. The clouds are turning darker and darker as I write. It looks like it is going to rain hard, then all of that music from the bugs and birds will come to a screatching hault so they can find shelter. The graceful wind that moved through the trees and grass will change to gusts of wind. Branches will break and leaves will fall. The storm came. I rushed to shelter as the drops came falling. I watched the drops crash on the window. They made a beat as they put me to sleep.
Written by Courtney, Senior.

It's My Turn!

The new year has started and the time has finally come for me to participate in this wonderful new experience. I have been interested in working with the environment for years and when I found out 2 years ago about this research group I couldn’t wait ‘til my senior year. During the first few weeks of the class are numbers got smaller to the point where it might disappear. I hope it doesn’t because from what we have done so far is very enjoyable. From hikes on local trails to read about ‘a sense of wonder’ has made this class exciting. This class also let me bring my love of art into the class from any numbers of pictures.
Also in the small hikes we have done some nature journaling. In these I have been able to reflect on the world around us and how it is changing. I remember when I used to walk along the sides of a stream near my house as a kid and you would see a trash very sparsely and other than that it was fine. Now if I go down to that very stream there are pieces of trash and cans everywhere. I remember one time during a stream clean up that we found a full bag of trash and car parts. It is things like these that make me want to get involved and help out not only with the up-keeping, but to understand how to preserve this earth we share. I am looking forward to a great year.
Written by Kady, Senior.

My Experience on the Appalachian Trail

My biggest experience in nature was when I went backpacking on the Appalachian Trail over the summer. All throughout the trail I felt as though I was free. I felt as though none of the troubles I had back home could get me here. All I ever saw was nature at its finest. It was as though mankind had never even laid their hand on the entire land. I would always hear the rustling of the trees or the chirping of birds. Unfortunately, this trip did not turn out very well later on. We were unable to stay at the first rest point so we had to hike an entire days worth ahead. This course also lead us straight through devil’s race course. It was dark when we finally got to the fully occupied rest area. We were so weak we had to rest for a day so that we would be able to trek on tomorrow. As fate would have it, this was in vain because my father had injured himself on the race course. The temperature dropped below freezing and it wasn’t going to get any better. So in the end, we were forced to quit early. It was one of the best summers I have had so far and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Written by James, Junior.