More Info:

Daily Chesapeake Bay Satellite Imagery is Now Available

Monitoring Stories and Highlights

Basin Summaries

New Water Quality Status and Trends Maps Released

Eyes on the Bay

Bays & Streams Home

DNR Home

2009 Chesapeake Bay Monitoring Plan

For the 2009 season that began in April, the shallow water monitoring program is set to expand into two new Chesapeake Bay segments.

Continuous Monitoring stations at Eastern Bay – Chesapeake Bay Environmental Center (CBEC) and Rhode River – Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC) will remain active due to partnerships with CBEC and SERC, respectively.   In total, MDDNR will have more than 40 continuous monitors deployed in 2009 throughout the Chesapeake Bay and Coastal Bays with approximately a quarter displaying data in real-time on the MDDNR Eyes on the Bay web site: (www.eyesonthebay.net).

Water Chestnut Eradication
DNR Continues Eradication Efforts
on the Bird and Sassafras Rivers

Water chestnut (Trapa natans) is an aquatic plant native to Asia characterized by a floating rosette of leaves around a central stem that is rooted in the bottom sediments. Originally introduced as an ornamental plant in North America, water chestnut is an invasive species know for its aggressive growth habits. One acre of water chestnut can produce enough seeds to cover 100 acres the following year. With four, hard half-inch spines that are sharp enough to penetrate shoe leather and large enough to keep people off of beaches, water chestnut seeds are major hazards to water contact recreation. Additionally, water chestnut can wipe out native bay grasses from some areas, prevents nearly all water use where it occurs, creates breeding grounds for mosquitoes and provides only marginal habitat to native fish and birds.

In 1997, water chestnut was observed on the Bird and Sassafras Rivers after nearly three decades since previous eradication efforts ended. The water chestnut population on the Bird River reappeared with approximately 50 plants and spread to three acres in 1998 and approximately 30 acres in 1999. The Sassafras population was larger and difficult to quantify due to its remote location. A massive eradication effort utilizing a mechanical harvester in 1999 resulted in the removal of approximately 400,000 pounds of plants from both rivers.

Despite the immense nature of the 1999 efforts, the fact that water chestnut seeds can remain viable in the sediments for up to 12 years meant that follow-up surveys and harvesting were necessary. Less than 1,000 pounds of plants were removed from both rivers in 2000. Since then, small teams of DNR biologists have been able to survey both rivers each year and remove small populations as necessary.

Water chestnut eradication efforts took place in July of 2009 on both the Bird and Sassafras Rivers. On the Bird River, water chestnut plants have consistently been found in the same areas of the river, namely, Railroad Creek and Day’s Cove. Approximately 12 bushels of plants were removed from Railroad Creek and Taylor Creek (adjacent to Mariner Point Park). No plants were found in Day’s Cove. On the Sassafras River, DNR biologists removed plants from Lloyds Creek, Woodland Creek, Island Creek and Freeman Creek. Only 2 bushels total were found on the river, which was a sharp decline from the previous years' 60 bushels. While this years' low harvest is encouraging, DNR staff will continue to monitor these rivers and continue eradication efforts in 2010.

Read more about the history of water chestnut in Maryland tributaries.

  Search Maryland DNR

Restoration and Protection | Bay Grasses | Harmful Algae | Bay Monitoring
Bay Life Guide | Bay Education