Event name: Horn Point Laboratory
Event time and place: April 20, 2024 at Cambridge, MD
Horn Point Laboratory is a research center in Cambridge, MD that is located next to the Choptank river in the Chesapeake Bay. This laboratory has research in many areas related to the environment and ecosystems that reside near or in the Chesapeake Bay. One thing to note is that the Chesapeake Bay is one of the largest estuaries to exist in the world. An estuary is a body of water in which the freshwater streams and rivers flow and meet up with the more saline open ocean water. In this case the Chesapeake Bay has many streams and rivers with freshwater that end up flowing out and towards the saltier Atlantic ocean. Estuaries are a main point of research because there are a variety of both plant life and wildlife that have adapted to the conditions of these estuaries. One such species that lives specifically in these bodies of mixed freshwater and saltwater are oysters and coincidentally is something that Horn Point Laboratory has dedicated to improving the population of these shelled creatures. Other kinds of research like the measurement of the temperature of the water, salinity of the water, and other aspects of the waters near the Eastern Shore are also being conducted here as well. The data collected can tell us the condition of the waters and how climate change is affecting the waters as well.
Horn Point Laboratory has an ongoing project of restoring the coastlines and increasing their resilience to erosion. With the world heating up and bringing about a rise in sea level the marshes in the area are in danger of being completely engulfed in water bringing about habitat loss for many animals as well as drowning the many plants that reside in the area. For the Horn Point Laboratory team, they more often than not restore the coast that are near homes and private property mainly because people do not want their home to be engulfed by the ocean. They also restore the coasts along the marshes that exist around the Chesapeake bay, protecting the marsh itself, the habitat for the many animals that call the marsh home, and the native grasses that grow in these marshes as well. How they restore the coastlines is by taking in lost sediment that is usually carried in by traveling ships and patch the sediment along the shoreline. To further reinforce and increase the resilience of the coast the Horn Point team adds oyster castles and rocks to help keep the sediment from eroding away. One problem that this estuary faces however is the lack of sediment in the area which makes coastal restoration a bit more difficult. Luckily this is solved through the use of dredge material. Dredge material is material that has been scraped from water systems. Rather than disposing of dredge material into the trash and possibly into the landfills, the Horn Point team uses the dredge material as a ways of restoring and reinforcing the coastlines. Horn Point has even been commissioned a project from the US Army Engineer Corps where the team is tasked with restoring the coastlines of an island called poplar island. This serves as a place where dredge material can be used rather than thrown away and try to turn the island into a home for both the plants and animals that decide to call the island home.
Horn Point Laboratory has also been undertaking a long term project that they have been doing for many years now and that is the oyster hatchery that they run here. Oysters play a significant role in the Chesapeake Bay in that they are living water filters and very fast living water filters at that. A single adult oyster is capable of filtering 50 gallons of water per day. Back when the oyster population was a lot more abundant, the entire Chesapeake Bay could have been filtered in a matter of a few weeks to a couple months just from these oysters alone. Unfortunately due to the changing climate and the harvesting of the oysters as a local delicacy and their economic value the oyster population in the Chesapeake Bay is a far cry from what it originally way long ago. As of 2024 the oyster population is only at 2% of its historic level. Another thing to note about oysters is that they are one of a few species that only lives in areas where freshwater and salt water meet, in other words they are one of many creatures that lives in brackish water. Because of the role that oysters play in the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem, not only to the environment but to human society as well in terms of food and revenue, the oyster hatchery here at Horn Point serves an important role in trying to restore the oyster population. Without the hatchery the oyster population here at the Chesapeake Bay will have likely dropped to 0 and the waters in and around the Chesapeake Bay would most likely have become much dirtier and unsafe to use in general.
Event name: Blackwater Wildlife Refuge
Horn Point Laboratory was not the only place that I visited on this day. The Blackwater Wildlife Refuge is a largely untouched piece of land that is home to many plants and animals. The drive tour through this area was a great experience and I managed to see a fair few animals that were living here like the red winged blackbird, ospreys, and even a heron! The area is under danger however because of the rising sea level. Sea level rise is already a problem as I have said when talking about the coastal restoration project at Horn Point and this wildlife refuge is one of many areas that is affected by the sea level rise. The native grasses at the marshes here will likely get drowned in the rising sea level and the waters being salt water as opposed to fresh water is none the better. Many animals here will also end up losing their homes as well. Take the ospreys and bald eagles that call this wildlife refuge home. The encroaching salt water will end up poisoning the trees that dot along the marsh causing nest building near impossible for the ospreys and bald eagles that reside in the area. The fox squirrel is another animal that resides in this wildlife refuge and was only just recently moved off the endangered species list in 2015. Losing the wildlife refuge would mean many fox squirrels would lose their homes here.
Its not all bad news however. Although climate change has caused quite a considerable amount of damage to local ecosystems worldwide there are places like the Horn Point laboratory with their coastal restoration project and oyster hatchery trying to make a difference in slowing down and trying to revert the damage that climate change has wrought around the world and the Blackwater Wildlife Refuge, despite the slowly rising water levels, continues to be a place that the people and the government protect to help create a natural home for many plants and animals. This is possible through the help of everyday people. To get more people involved Horn Point has guided tours of the laboratory explaining all that they do at the research center and even show off the equipment they use to collect data and show off the hatchery to those visiting. As for Blackwater Wildlife Refuge they provide a wildlife drive where people can drive (or walk if they really wanted) through the refuge itself and, if they have stopped by the Blackwater Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center, they can take the drive brochure and read through the information that each checkpoint provides. With more public outreach, we can potentially slow down the ever looming climate crisis and perhaps the oysters will regain their former population and the many animals in the refuge can continue to call that place home.