The Baltimore Banner: “Opinion: Baltimore holds the key to a cleaner Chesapeake Bay. Seriously.” (Rick Hutzell)
If you want to see the future of cleanup efforts on the Chesapeake Bay, take a good look at Baltimore.
Stop laughing.
At first, you might see 92 square miles of aging urban space that few recognize as an environmental role model. Look closer, though, and you’ll find the Middle Branch of the Patapsco River, where Maryland lawmakers, state agency leaders and environmentalists see the best path to a healthier bay.
Reimagine Middle Branch, a community-led effort to redevelop 11 miles of the waterway south of downtown, includes $56 million raised so far to rebuild a network of wetlands that will absorb rainfall and help prevent flooding. On Thursday, a nonprofit added a program to promote sustainable fishing…
…Next month, Reimagine Middle Branch will add another piece to its holistic puzzle — combining fishing with environmental research and cleanup.
The Environmental Justice Journalism Initiative said Thursday it will launch the Reel Rewards program in April, paying $30 for every invasive fish pulled out of the water. Northern snakehead, blue catfish and flathead catfish compete with native species, often pushing them out of a waterway completely.
The program will collect data on who is fishing in the waterway, already believed to be Asian, Latino and Black anglers who normally don’t get input into environmental initiatives. But it also will record what they are catching and the health of the fish landed — all information that could benefit the science driving restoration efforts.
“There’s a community of fishermen on the Middle Branch,” Executive Director Donzell Brown said. “And they can tell us who they are, but also what they’re catching.”
Reimagine Middle Branch, created by the South Baltimore Gateway Partnership and funded by grants from nearby Horseshoe Casino plus federal and state funds, will launch its first wetlands restoration next month near the century-old Hanover Street Bridge. Developers already are looking to transform the shoreline with new homes and retail and commercial districts such as Baltimore Peninsula, the future home of Under Armour.
Executive Director Brad Rogers predicted there will be visible improvements along the entire waterway well within the five-year timeframe being discussed in Annapolis.
“In three years,” he said, “there will be a major transformation.”
Access the full article and interview on The Baltimore Banners’s website here.