Cambridge, Maryland April 18, 2026 Aeron Alde
This excursion consisted of two different guided tours, each located in Cambridge, MD, a place with rich and complex history and a landscape defined by vast amounts of farmland and wetlands. We first stopped at the Horn Point Laboratory, an environmental research facility operated by the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (UMCES).
One of the research projects that they have been working on at HPL deals with the breeding and protection of a species vital to the health of the Chesapeake Bay – oysters. These creatures filter the water by removing plankton, algae, and excess nutrients, and overall have a large impact on the Bay’s water quality. Due to overfishing, destruction of habitat, and pollution, the oyster population has dwindled significantly, so in response, scientists at HPL have been managing a hatchery for the purpose of research and restoration efforts. One of the ways we were told they assess water quality was by lowering a circular device held on by a string into the water until they are unable to see the device, that way they can get a good estimate of the water’s clarity. HPL has also been working with the Oyster Recovery Partnership to collect oyster shells for the purpose of breeding. The larvae that their hatcheries produce latch on to these recycled shells and undergo metamorphosis to become spat, which is further grown and specifically placed in areas of the Chesapeake Bay in order to restore oyster reefs. Scientists at HPL and UMCES have been responsible for raising and planting billions of oysters into the Bay for several years now.
Another research project that they have been working on at HPL is the Poplar Island Ecosystem Restoration Project, a collaborative effort with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the state to reconstruct and protect Poplar Island and its habitats. In 1847, the island spanned over 1,100 acres, but due to erosion and sea level rise in the Bay area, it was reduced to only 4 acres in the 1990s. UMCES scientists have been monitoring plant characteristics such as height, density, and diversity for over 15 years, allowing scientists to assess what approaches might work for Poplar Island and other marsh restoration projects. Researchers have also been monitoring the natural buildup of layers of soil and sediment over time and comparing its growth to natural marshes. HPL has done research on pH, iron, and nitrogen levels in Poplar Island’s soil as it transforms from dredged material to marsh soil and comparing the results to natural marshes and other restorative projects. The project is projected to be completed by 2044, but has already been providing a safe habitat for birds and terrapins.
A third project that was presented to us was the UMCES glider, an autonomous vehicle that is deployed in the east coast during hurricane season to collect data that can improve future forecasts. Predicting the intensity of hurricanes is incredibly difficult because of cold pools hidden deep underwater which weaken storms before they hit land. The time evolution of ocean surface temperature is not included in the forecast models because satellites cannot measure the temperature or size of these underwater cold pools. HPL developed the vehicle with goals of tracking the cold pool in the east coast region. The glider is shaped like a torpedo and can move like a submarine, taking salinity and temperature measurements of the water in the form of 3D data. HPL had launched the glider and it was unfortunately lost at sea for a bit, until it recently washed up on shore. It has retained all of the data that it collected when it was lost, and it is currently under repair.
Horn Point Laboratory reaches out to its community by hosting guided tours such as the one that I went on. We visited several different buildings on campus, massive piles of oyster shells, and the inside of their oyster hatchery. Inside each building, they set up scientific demonstrations or showed the actual equipment that they use related to their research.
The second half of the day was spent learning about the life of Harriet Tubman by exploring several landmarks throughout Dorchester County. One of the ways Tubman and her colleagues in the Underground Railroad used the environment to help people escape from slavery was by locating and following the North Star. She also learned how to traverse the wetlands because she once had to work in the biome to catch muskrats when she was enslaved. Some ways rising sea-levels are obscuring the record of the Underground Railroad is because of regular flooding of historical landmarks, as well as the flooding of roads and wetlands.