“We’re all Fowler’s Followers,” said Congressman Steny Hoyer, as 86-year-old retired state senator Bernie Fowler led the 24th annual Wade In to his beloved Patuxent River. Hoyer had already proclaimed the river’s health — C- to D- as measured by the Patuxent Riverkeeper — “not good enough.”     When the procession of Followers had waded into the rain-fed river from Jefferson Patterson Park, Fowler announced “the news is...

New osprey heads are popping over edges of nests all over Chesapeake Country. Puffs of tiny brown Carolina wren fledglings erupt from our porches and shrubs, the second brood since April. Soon, beneath our feeders, cardinal babies, whose sprouts of downy feathers remind us of our own bad-hair days, will beg for food from their parents.     Evidence of nesting is easy to find when the birds hop about our doorsteps. But most of Maryland and D.C.’s 206 species of breeding...

Just over a month ago, a new sand barrier was topped off with 60,000 plants of native grass to protect the fragile Cove Point freshwater marsh in Calvert County from the open Bay. Mother Nature had breached the barrier in 2004 and 2006, and once again this month, she has proved that she is in charge.     With driving rain, powerful wind gusts and waves over seven feet, the Bay saw Victory-at-Sea conditions on Saturday April 16. At the Gooses Reef Buoy just north of Cove Point,...

Whether it’s wind turbines in Annapolis, Western Maryland or Ocean City, or power poles and pathways in Calvert, the debate keeps coming closer. Do you want affordable, reliable and accessible power? Or do you want to protect the environment, starting with your own backyard?     In the court of public opinion, Calvert County won against local electrical provider Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative, SMECO, bringing down dozens of behemoth power poles.   ...