Activists: Watershed issues often lost on suburban residents
By Sara Michael
Examiner Staff Writer
Despite living in an area flanked by two of the largest Chesapeake Bay rivers, Howard County residents often don?t feel connected to the watershed, hampering conservation efforts, local activists say.
“The river culture is much more diffused in the North,” said Patuxent Riverkeeper Fred Tutman, who will join other environmentalists for an event Tuesday night in Columbia to address watershed issues.
Land use decisions in counties like Howard, which are in the northern part of the Patuxent River watershed, directly impact communities downstream, Tutman said.
But, suburban residents are often insulated from environmental prevails, because the rivers aren?t an inherent lifeline, as they are in communities dependent on the crab or oyster industries, Tutman said.
Terry Cummings, advocacymanager for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, said Howard is not known for being one of the most environmentally friendly jurisdictions.
“Howard County has not really had a very coordinated effort in dealing with some of the environmental issues facing everybody,” said Cummings, who also is slated to speak at the forum, which is sponsored by the local advocacy group HoCoH2O.
For example, many environmentalists advocate for development limits of one house per 20 acres in rural areas, but Howard?s zoning allows for one home per three acres, making the way for considerable development, Cummings said.
Plans to widen Route 32 to four lanes also could “exacerbate sprawl,” he said.
Cummings credited Howard County Executive Ken Ulman for addressing many of these environmental issues. Ulman recently created an Office of the Environment and Sustainability and has incentivized eco-friendly development.
“They are beginning to think in that direction,” Cummings said.
But any local effort will be for naught without a grasp of the bigger picture of global warming, said Mike Tidwell, author and director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, who is headlining the event.
Environmentalists focused on restoring a stream or protecting a forest must understand “that unless we stabilize the climate, all those things we are working on will be lost,” Tidwell said.
The forum will be held at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Wilde Lake High School in Columbia. For more on the event, visit hocoh2o.com.
