UMCES in the Media

The Baltimore Sun (Mon 29 Sep, 2008)
Weak laws: Lawmakers stop short of enacting effective environmental safeguards
Staff quoted: Don Boesch

If the Chesapeake Bay were a hospital patient, it would need major surgery, not just a tweak to the medicine it's been getting. After 25 years of cleanup efforts, the bay is barely holding its own against the tide of people who have moved into the region - drawn to the very body of water they're fouling.

Greenwire (Mon 29 Sep, 2008)
Everglades: 'Irreversible' declines loom as restoration lags -- report
Staff quoted: Don Boesch

Despite eight years of sustained federal attention and hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars spent, parts of Florida's Everglades remain headed toward an "irreversible" ecological collapse, a new report from the National Academies warns.

The Baltimore Sun (Sun 28 Sep, 2008)
Tainted Waters: Despite a generation of efforts to clean up the Chesapeake, development and farming along Maryland's rivers still foul the bay
Staff quoted: Walt Boynton, Bill Dennison, Doug Lipton

Benedict - Walter Boynton knows all there is to know about the Patuxent River - how to find its guts and marshes, where it shifts from suburban stream into bay-like vastness, when the tide is slack and when it rises.

The Salisbury Daily Times (Sun 28 Sep, 2008)
Sanitary Commission takes part in water supply talks
Staff quoted: Dave Nemazie

PRINCESS ANNE -- Members of the Somerset County Sanitary Commission agreed Thursday to take part in talks to resolve water supply issues in Princess Anne, but expressed their frustration with state officials who have denied well permits for the past two years.

News 21 Politics and the Environment Project (Sun 28 Sep, 2008)
A Line in the Sand
Staff quoted: Don Boesch

MIAMI --Trillions of dollars in public and private investment is tied up in the properties lining Florida's coastline. Towering condo buildings cast shadows on the water, mansions with pristine lawns and forbidding gates sprawl across barrier islands, and the muted pastels of Miami's art deco architecture fade into the distance.

The Salisbury Daily Times (Fri 26 Sep, 2008)
Commentary - There's real value in the 'meet and greet'
Staff quoted: Kris Beckert

There's something about a gathering -- a crowd, a group, an assembly or whatever you may call it -- that causes heads to turn and some kind of unusual electricity to flow through the air. Just ask either presidential candidate or their prospective vice president why, for the next few weeks, they will put their physical, emotional and intellectual skills to the test in the daunting task of the traditional "whistle-stop" campaign.

WYPR (NPR) - Maryland Morning Radio Program (Fri 26 Sep, 2008)
The Changing Face of Maryland's Ecosystems (Audio)
Staff quoted: Mario Tamburri

Invasive species are a problem everywhere as people move and climates change. By creating unexpected competition for resources for native species, they change the ecosystems they move into. Marylanders are trying to combat the onslaught of invasive species that our fragile ecosystem faces. We talk to Dr. Mario Tamburri of the University of Maryland's Center for Environmental Sciences and Carol Holko, Chair of the plant protection and weed management section of the Maryland Department of Agriculture about what is being done to preserve Maryland's ecosystems.

The Associated Press (Thu 25 Sep, 2008)
Md. Plants 485M Oysters in Chesapeake Bay
Staff quoted: Horn Point Laboratory

EASTON, Md. (AP) -- Maryland has planted a record 485 million oysters in the Chesapeake Bay this year.

The Easton Star Democrat (Thu 25 Sep, 2008)
O'Malley touts oyster growing; Gov. launches program encouraging private citizens to grow oysters
Staff quoted: Chris Conner

EASTON - Hope and Anthony Harrington became the first to participate in Gov. Martin O'Malley's Marylanders Grow Oysters program Wednesday as they dropped four cages of baby oysters, or spat, into the Tred Avon from the pier at their home on Ratcliff Manor Road.

The Baltimore Sun (Thu 25 Sep, 2008)
485 million oysters planted in bay in '08
Staff quoted: Horn Point Laboratory

More than 485 million oysters were planted in the Chesapeake Bay in 2008, setting a one-year record for the state's oyster restoration effort, Gov. Martin O'Malley announced yesterday. "The irreplaceable value and role of oysters in our bay gives rise to the need for escalating restoration efforts," O'Malley, a Democrat, said in a statement. Since 2000, more than 1.4 billion oysters have been planted in 1,100 acres of oyster reefs that had lost productivity, officials said. The effort is part of a nonprofit program called the Oyster Recovery Partnership, which doles out federal money to restoration projects and pays watermen to clean the oyster reefs to get rid of diseased oysters. Also yesterday, the governor announced the establishment of an initiative that encourages people who live along the Tred Avon River in Talbot County to grow oysters in cages built by inmates at the Eastern Correctional Institution.