Beneath the towering span of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge and away from the high-powered political wrangling over its replacement, a lush crop of underwater grasses is stirring a controversy of its own.
Its days are numbered: To make way for the barges that will carry construction supplies and machinery up the Potomac River, dredges will scoop mud from the river bottom--and with it, as much as 30 acres of aquatic "meadow." New beds of grasses--essential habitats, scientists say, for a host of underwater creatures--will be planted elsewhere in the Potomac to compensate for the loss.
River watchers eagerly await what could be the largest underwater transplantation in the United States.
If it succeeds.
Maryland officials had hoped to start plucking grasses from the coastal bays of Maryland in September or October and transplanting them in a Potomac test bed to make sure they will grow.
But they failed to mention their plan to locals on the Eastern Shore, who were appalled to learn that the state wanted to harvest the very grasses they had sought to protect from clam dredgers and recreational boaters.
"It was, like, 'You've got to be kidding,' " said Erin Fitzsimmons, an Ocean City council member who was elected two years ago on an environmental platform. "I just couldn't believe that with all the work we've done on our estuary . . . that it would be a given that they could just come over and take the grasses."
Local environmental groups were unhappy to hear that Maryland had ruled out donor sites in the Chesapeake Bay and that Virginia officials had refused to allow harvesting in their waters.
To many, the state once again is taking for granted its "forgotten bays," the smaller cousins of the 64,000-square-mile Chesapeake.
"Some agencies haven't caught up with fact that we're over here," said Carolyn Cummins, owner of Frontier Campground and convenience store in Berlin, Md., near Ocean City. "The Chesapeake has had all that publicity about cleaning it up, and the states left us out. So now they're getting around to saying, 'Oops. We should've told them about it.' "
Last month, Eastern Shore residents requested a public hearing on the project, saying that they wanted to know more. Officials with the Maryland Department of the Environment say that if residents were still unhappy after the hearing, they could appeal the decision. The department then might seek alternatives, they said.
Consultants on the Wilson Bridge project have explained to residents that while the landmark Chesapeake 2000 agreement--signed this summer by leaders of Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and the District--calls for accelerating the restoration of underwater grasses, the bridge plan is designed strictly to offset the anticipated destruction of about 33 acres of aquatic grass during construction.
The grasses grow beneath the current bridge to about 200 feet south of the new bridge, a swath flush with underwater plants, which filter the water and provide a habitat for an abundance of aquatic life.
"The habitat in there is really quite nice," said Todd Nichols, an environmental specialist with the Maryland State Highway Administration, which is responsible for the bridge project. "It's considered by many to be a prime bass fishing area."
