Name: ______Date: ______
Restoring Underwater Bay Grasses
Today’s science allows researchers to target bay grass restoration efforts in areas where grasses once grew. However, the Bay’s continuing poor health, coupled with irregular weather conditions and lack of funding, has slowed progress toward restoring bay grasses.
Bay Program partners are focusing on four major initiatives to restore and sustain healthy bay grass beds: improving water clarity, planting bay grasses, protecting existing bay grass beds, and enhancing education and outreach about bay grasses.
Improving water clarity
Improving water clarity is a critical part of bay grass restoration because sunlight is the single most important factor influencing bay grass growth and survival. When the water is clearer, new bay grasses can grow and existing bay grass beds can expand.
Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia have specific water clarity criteria for shallow waters where bay grasses grow or once grew. The criteria list exact amounts of sunlight that must be able to pass through the water and reach bay grasses at the bottom.
Large pollution reduction efforts aim to slow the flow of nutrients and sediment into the Bay and its local waterways. Programs to upgrade wastewater treatment plants and implement agricultural conservation practices are expected to improve water clarity, which will help bay grass restoration.
Planting bay grasses
Planting bay grasses enhances the natural expansion of grass beds that comes with reducing pollution and increasing protection. Bay grasses can naturally colonize an area at a much faster rate than can be achieved through planting.
The Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR), a Bay Program partner, led a large-scale eelgrass restoration project on the Patuxent and Potomac rivers between 2004 and 2008. Scientists with the project have concluded that using seeds is a practical way to restore eelgrass. However, sustained funding, adequate supplies of plants and seeds, and sufficient data to identify the best places to plant eelgrass are needed.
Protecting existing bay grass beds
Bay grass beds can be physically damaged by a number of factors, including human activities, invasive species and climate change.
Human activities
Clam dredging and boat propellers tear bay grasses out of the Bay’s bottom. In many shallow areas, you can see large “scars” across grass beds. Regulations exist to help prevent this damage, but more effort is needed to educate boaters about bay grasses.
Invasive species
Invasive species such as mute swans and water chestnut also threaten existing bay grass beds. Mute swans eat significant amounts of bay grasses and can deplete entire beds in localized areas. Water chestnut, an aquatic plant, floats on the water’s surface and completely blocks sunlight from reaching the bottom. Ongoing efforts to control these invasive species also help protect bay grasses.
Climate change
Of increasing concern is the potential effect of climate change and sea level rise on bay grasses. Rising temperatures may make the Bay unsuitable for certain bay grass species. Flooding and shoreline erosion could make the water even more cloudy and polluted. Scientists continue to monitor bay grasses and their response to climate change and rising sea levels.
Enhancing bay grass education and outreach
Many organizations lead programs that teach citizens about bay grasses. For example:
Students are studying, growing and planting bay grasses through Maryland DNR’s Bay Grasses in Classes.
- The Chesapeake Bay Foundation helps Virginia residents grow wild celery in their homes through a program called Grasses for the Masses. The grasses are eventually planted in Virginia freshwater rivers that flow to the Bay.
- Many people volunteer with small watershed groups to help plant and monitor bay grasses in their local rivers.
After Reading:
- What are the four main parts of the bay grass restoration program?
- Why would improving water quality be such a critical part of the restoration program?
- Explain the pro’s and con’s of planting bay grasses.
- Explain how each of the following has contributed to bay grass declines
Human activity-
Invasive species-
Climate change-
- Pretend you just purchased a house that is on the water in Middle River. Using what you know list at least 4 things you could do to help the bay grass restoration efforts.