Potomac River Association

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The Potomac River Association

The PRA is one of the oldest environmental groups in Maryland. It was founded as the Potomac River Association in 1967 to oppose the siting of an oil refinery on the Potomac River in St. Mary’s County. After a hard-fought and ultimately successful grassroots campaign, the organization realized that the struggle for protection of the environment and for enlightened land use is an ongoing struggle. The organization merged with the Patuxent River Association in 1983. The PRA continues to serve as advocate and watchdog for the land and waterways of Southern Maryland.

The PRA is incorporated as a nonprofit educational and charitable organization. Its funds are derived from membership dues, member contributions and grants.

From PRA’s September newsletter. To receive the monthly newsletter contact PRA at potomac.org@verizon.net

LAY OF THE LAND

A Brief Description of Natural St. Mary’s County

St. Mary’s County is a peninsula, bound by three rivers and the Chesapeake Bay. Two of the rivers, the Wicomico and the Patuxent, are wholly contained within the state of Maryland. The Potomac River is the third, of course. Its headwaters are in West Virginia, its western shore in Virginia.

The Patuxent begins in Laurel, Maryland, passes through some of the most densely populated areas of the state and ultimately merges with the Chesapeake Bay at Solomon’s. The headwaters of the Wicomico are in Zekiah Swamp in Charles County. The Zekiah Swamp is regarded by the state Department of Natural Resources as the healthiest and most biologically diverse freshwater watersheds in the state. Somehow those qualities do not transfer to the Wicomico River itself.

The county occupies 370 square miles, running approximately 32 miles southeast from its northern border. It is widest, perhaps fifteen miles wide, in a line drawn from Colton’s Point (on the Potomac River) northward. It is narrowest at the last grain of sand on the southernmost spit of land behind the radar station at Point Lookout.

The highest elevation is 170 feet above sea level, in Charlotte Hall. The lowest elevation is at the water’s edge.

Just to the west of the county’s main highway (Rts. 5/235) is an old railway bed. For most of its length, to Lexington Park and beyond, it rides the ridge of the county. Rains that fall on one side of the ridge drain toward the Patuxent River. Rains that fall on the other side drain toward the Wicomico or the Potomac. The drainage toward the Patuxent is steeper. The land on that side is, in some places, dramatically sloped and ravined. The western drainage is gentler, as topography characterized as lowland plains, The Department of Agriculture has identified more than half the county’s land as having “…a moderate-to-severe hazard of erosion.”

Drainage. It is the defining words for the region, the principle that shapes its destiny. The running off of rain, the duration of its hesitation on land-these things determine the health of the local and downstream environment. Ultimately all of the efforts of the PRA are about the movement of water from land. (see “Steep Slopes Lawsuit,” this issue)

The county has three hundred miles of coastline. The climate is temperate. Recent history notwithstanding, the wettest month of the year is June or July, the driest months January and October. The annual rainfall is around 40 inches per year, the prevailing winds from the west-northwest to northwest but more southerly in summer. The growing season (the period between the last frost of spring and the first frost of fall) ranges from 180 to 200 days. It is worth mentioning that the ranges within the same year can differ significantly within the county. There are two points on Breton Bay, four miles apart, that have recorded and average difference in growing season of 33 days. We have heard tobacco farmers speak about predictable differences in crop quality within a single field with the surety and passion of Bordeaux vintners.

In 1970 the county had a population of 48,000. In 1990 the population was 70,000. In 2007 the population exceeded 100,000. Population projections for the next ten and twenty years are easy to come by and diverse.

In future articles, we will focus on different areas of the county. We hope to leave the reader with a deepened appreciation for the land and natural resources of St. Mary’s County.

Bob Elwood, President