"I hate phragmites!" - high school field trip

Children Today, Sept-Oct, 1990 by Dick Swartz

"I Hate Phragmites!" was the cry that rang out from the "Marsh Muckers" (Deal Junior High School Science Students, Washington, D.C.) as they explored the marshes of historic Smith Island, Maryland, located in the Chesapeake Bay. The phragmite is a tall plumed marsh grass, very much a part of the intertidal zones of this island and only one of many new vocabulary words, such as benthic, detritus, estuary, nekton, scat, salinity, turbidity, to name only a few, that the students learned on their exciting, cold and muddy field trip. More familiar terms took on a new sense of importance as they saw first hand the effects of sewage, sediment, erosion, conservation, and recycling on the small fragile Smith Island community, of which they were a part for three days.

Smith Island is the largest inhabited offshore island in the Chesapeake Bay. It is eight miles long and four miles wide, interlaced by a maze of guts, creeks, and thoroughfares. The island's three villages, Ewell, Tylerton and Rhodes Point, emerge on higher ground cropping out of the marsh land. Captain John Smith in 1608 wrote in his log: "Heaven and earth seemed never to have agreed better for man's commodious and delightful habitation." It is land where time holds still and traces of Elizabethan speech may still be heard. But gone is the abundance of sea food that once was: over harvesting, pollution, drought, increased salinity, and disease have all taken a mighty toll on the Smith Island community whose very survival is linked to the health of the Bay.

The students not only studied the exciting natural areas of Smith Island, which includes the Glenn L. Martin Wildlife Sanctuary, but also observed how the "watermen" lived, worshiped, and used the crab-shedding shanties and work boats in this area, considered to be the "soft-shell-crab capitol of the world." The crabbing operation is done under the watchful eyes of three very enthusiastic and capable Chesapeake Bay Foundation staff members, who "practiced what they preached," by recycling and composting, and setting the example of good conservation practices. Consequently, the students, staff members, and chaperones were limited to one shower per trip with a time limit of three minutes (quite a culture shock to many who have become accustomed to showers lasting long enough to shampoo your hair twice and add a cream rinse or conditioner) in order to conserve the water supply.

Ms. Clemontene Rountree, a science teacher at Deal Junior High, has been a long time advocate of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. For her efforts over the years in the area of conservation and teaching her students the value of wetlands, she has been given several honors. Among them are: Outstanding Biology Teacher (National Award), Presidential Award for Excellence in Science Teaching (National Award), as well as two National Science Foundation Awards (a) Science for Science Teacher-Berkeley and (b) Honors Biology-Ball State.

Due to its small size and remote location, Smith Island is an appropriate place to study the limited resources of our environment and to practice basic conservation habits. A group of 20 increases the population of Tylerton by 20 %, which puts a lot of stress on the town's water resources, already complicated by garbage removal situations. The "Marsh Muckers" were responsible for obtaining their own meals and came up with "muscles" for a delicious spaghetti dinner. Each year more of Smith Island is lost to erosion. It will be under water in the not too distant future unless something is done to prevent the damage ... maybe it can start with all of us being aware of how fragile and beautiful this planet is.

The Chesapeake Bay Foundation runs trips for organized groups with a minimum number of 20 people, from the seventh grade through adulthood. To make arrangements for an estuarine field trip, group leaders should contact the Education Coordinator, Chesapeake Bay Foundation, 162 Prince Street, Annapolis, Maryland 21401.

Dick Swartz is the art director for Children Today and was one of the chaperones on this field trip to Smith Island.