Carr’s Right: Protect Our Headwaters

Dear Bay Weekly:

My hat is off to Steve Carr for his excellent article “From Here to There” [Vol. xv, No. 45: Nov. 8]. His message was right on target. Rivers and streams definitely connect Garrett’s mountains and most everything east of there to Chesapeake Bay. To have any chance of restoring the magnificent Bay, we must also restore and protect the 15,000-plus miles of rivers and streams that drain our rapidly changing landscape and carry the products of our consumptive lifestyles downstream.

It’s been said that every Marylander lives within a mile of a river or stream. So what we do in our back yards can affect the Bay even if we live many miles from its shoreline. The majority of our flowing waters are small and wadeable. Many headwater streams carry water only during the wettest times. But they’re all important components of our aquatic ecosystem and should be protected.

Recent scientific studies show that healthy headwater streams offer many essential ecological services, such as sequestering nutrients and retaining sediment that would otherwise flow downhill to the already over-enriched and silty Bay. Can the health of the Bay be any better than the health of the rivers and streams that drain into it? I think not.

To find out more about how Maryland’s rivers and streams are doing, check out this website: www.drn.state.md.us/streams. And take care of the stream near your home.

–Ronald J. Klauda, Prince Frederick

Global Warming Chicken Littles

Dear Bay Weekly:

In the November 8 issue [Vol. xv, No. 45] under Way Downstream you include an article and picture once again supporting global-warming Chicken Littles bemoaning the alleged doomsday of rising oceans. I was going to ignore it, but the caption under the picture continues the inaccuracies of Al Gore’s six meter/20 foot prediction. I wonder if the chalk on the sidewalk will still be there in 1,000 years.

–Glenn H. Weder, Hollywood

Cooking up a Good Story

Dear Bay Weekly:

I picked up Bay Weekly at my gym this morning and saw your article on our Junior League Cookbook, A Thyme to Entertain [Vol. xv, No 47: Nov. 15]. I am glad you had fun trying the recipes. Your personal experience makes it really fun. It is a great article.

The cookbook is turning out to be a smashing success. We have already sold our first printing, and we are hoping our current copies carry us through Christmas. Thank you for your support!

–Michelle FauntLeRoy for the Junior League of Annapolis

More Dispatches from Our Global Village

Dear Bay Weekly:

I was reading a recent edition of Bay Weekly on-line when I came across an article by Ben Miller. I believe this is the same Ben Miller of Shepherdstown, West Virgina, with whom I attended Hobart College and with whom I unfortunately have lost contact over the years. Please forward my e-mail to Ben with the hope that he will then contact me.

–Walt Deering, via email