Free Republic

Md. gets permit to shoot 525 swans Federal agency approves reduction of mute species; opponents file complaint -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- By Michael Stroh Sun Staff Originally published August 13, 2003 The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has given Maryland permission to shoot another 525 mute swans, an animal that officials blame for widespread damage to the fragile Chesapeake Bay. But the agency's decision to issue the shooting permit sparked an immediate legal challenge from a Washington-based environmental group that objects to the killings. Under the terms of the permit, which was issued Monday and will take effect Aug. 27, the state Department...

In a giant, dark tank at a marine laboratory at the Inner Harbor, a regal-looking blue crab rests, exhausted, in the corner. A million of her babies, hours old, swim around her in a powdery mist. She has mated and hatched her eggs even though she's never left the tanks at the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute. She herself was hatched at the lab. Researchers at the institute's Center of Marine Biotechnology (COMB) are raising their second generation of blue crabs. They're monitoring 25,000 lab-bred crabs they released last year in the Chesapeake Bay, each tagged with a tiny piece...

Maryland Changes Chicken Manure Rules Environmentalists Fear More Bay Pollution ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- Some environmental groups are crying foul over Maryland Gov. Robert Ehrlich's decision to ease regulations for big poultry producers. The regulations deal with hundreds of thousands of chickens that are raised every year on Maryland's Eastern Shore for slaughter. For years farmers have applied manure from those chickens to fields as fertilizer. But when biologists realized manure runoff was causing pollution in the Chesapeake Bay, the state sought to restrict that runoff. Previous laws held large chicken companies responsible for the manure by tying their permits...

Activists Renew Call to Restore BayEvent Honoring Environmental Pioneer Includes Push to Tighten Oversight "There simply must be a binding, legal framework if the agreed-upon goals are to be met," William C. Baker, president of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, said at a news conference honoring a retired U.S. senator considered the father of the modern movement. "The momentum to save the bay has been slowed, and it must be restarted." Baker said the effort is failing because of a lack of political leadership and willingness by federal, state and local governments in the region to live up to their...

Chesapeake Bay Cleanup Facing Harsh Fiscal Reality ANNAPOLIS, Maryland, January 20, 2003 (ENS) - Maryland Governor Robert Ehrlich says time is running out to save the Chesapeake Bay, but his state needs the federal government to fund its restoration and protection. "Time is of the essence and this has got to get done in the next five years," Ehrlich said. "The magnitude of the problem far outstrips the state's ability to pay for it." CAPTION Maryland Governor Robert Ehrlich (Photo courtesy Office of the Governor) The bay watershed encompasses some 64,000 square miles. It includes parts of six states...

Chesapeake Islands Donated to Nature ConservancyCLAM, Virginia, January 10, 2003 (ENS) - A cluster of Chesapeake Bay islands on Virginia's Eastern Shore has been donated to The Nature Conservancy for permanent protection as a natural area. The remote Accomack County islands harbor numerous species of songbirds and waterbirds as well as the northeastern beach tiger beetle, which is federally listed as a threatened species. Mrs. Ernest Carroll Justis and John Justis, whose family has owned the islands for several generations, completed the donation to the Conservancy on December 30, 2002. "This is a very generous and significant gift," said...

Chesapeake Bay's Health Not Improving WASHINGTON, DC, October 17, 2002 (ENS) - Promises by state governments and federal agencies to clean up the Chesapeake Bay have made virtually no impact in the past five years, according to an annual report from the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. The nation's largest estuary rates a 27 out of 100 on the environmental group's health index for 2002, unchanged from last year and a long way from the organization's goal of reaching 40 by 2010. The benchmark of 100 reflects the Chesapeake as described in the early 1600s, when clean water revealed meadows of...

Chesapeake Bay Studied for New National Park ANNAPOLIS, Maryland, September 12, 2002 (ENS) - The National Park Service (NPS) has been asked by Congress to consider whether parts of the Chesapeake Bay should be added to the national park system. The special resource study will explore if and how the NPS could and should further efforts to celebrate and conserve the Chesapeake. The study will examine whether having additional Chesapeake Bay resources within the national park system would make sense and would advance partnership efforts to conserve the Bay. The NPS will try to define whether there are concepts...

Glendening slows flow of Central Md. waterDrought restrictions affect seven counties FREDERICK - Two spring rites - lawn sprinkling and driveway car washing - were declared taboo yesterday in most of Central Maryland as Gov. Parris N. Glendening imposed water-use restrictions that, at least for now, don't include Baltimore. On a dry, sunny morning he considered suitable for the announcement, Glendening issued a drought emergency covering all of Carroll, Cecil, Frederick and Harford counties. Also subject to the mandatory curbs are portions of western Howard and northern Baltimore counties that aren't part of the Baltimore City service area, and sections...