Back Creek

With shovels, nesting boxes and survey equipment, volunteers will start tomorrow on what they plan as a long-range project to give some much-needed help to a 5.5-acre nature preserve at the Anne Arundel County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.The nature preserve, on Bay Ridge Avenue at the headwaters of Back Creek, is suffering from the stresses of being an urban oasis. The creek's water is murky, stream banks are eroded and there are few water insects for birds and animals to eat. Increasing development has meant fewer nesting spots, fewer berries and fewer bugs.

A body found Monday morning in Back Creek in Annapolis was believed to be that of a man who lived on a nearby houseboat. The body's sighting was reported to police about 9 a.m., according to Annapolis police spokesman Ray Weaver. Officers went to the area, near Bert Jabin's Yacht Yard, and turned the investigation over to Maryland Natural Resources Police. Last Tuesday, police took a report that Heino Hans Gerard Hopp, 62, was missing and his dinghy found adrift in Back Creek, said NRP Sgt. Art Windemuth.

The Rev. Johnny Calhoun A conversation last fall aboard a historic ship sparked the idea of bringing a Baltimore nonprofit program for at-risk youths to Annapolis this summer. A tangible result could be rebuilt wood windows throughout the state capital's historic district. A more far-reaching result could be that the work would be done by local youths learning to become carpenters. The proposal took a significant step this week as a group of city leaders toured the Living Classrooms Foundation campus in East Baltimore to watch its "learning by doing" educational philosophy at work.

Not only was it a dark and stormy night -- it was muggy, too. But that didn't stop the recently formed Friends of Back Creek Park from going to work. Members of the nonprofit organization met for several hours Wednesday night during intermittent thunderstorms to plant native grasses in the small Back Creek Park in Annapolis. "We had nine hearty souls dancing around the lightning bolts," said Mel Wilkins, a group member. The grasses, planted along the shoreline that the group had recently rehabilitated, will serve several purposes: They will be food for ducks and a place for fish to lay eggs, and they will prevent erosion, Wilkins said.

Back Creek Nature Park, once the site of a Depression-era wastewater treatment center, is being transformed into an "urban ecology living classroom," focusing on environmental education. And much of the work is being done by children. Youngsters from local schools, especially the Key School in Annapolis and Eastport Elementary School in Eastport, have been yanking out invasive plants and planting more-suitable ones as part of a plan to restore the shoreline along the creek, expand the Osprey Nature Center and install technologies such as green roofs and storm-water filtration systems.

Just how clear is the water around Annapolis? People can measure for themselves at the city's fourth annual Back Creek Wade-In on Saturday. In this low-tech assessment of water clarity, people wade into the water until they can't see their toes. The water line is then measured on their clothes. The wade-in is modeled after a similar event started in 1988 by Bernie Fowler, the former Southern Maryland state senator who leads a group into the Patuxent River each year. At Back Creek, Annapolis Mayor Ellen O. Moyer and other participants will walk into the water.

Rescue officers were searching last night for a boater who disappeared in 2 feet of water along Back Creek after running his 30-foot sailboat aground.The 35-year-old captain of the Catalina sailboat had purposely run the vessel aground shortly before 3 p.m. to clean the hull, according to Coast Guard officials.He got out of the boat to begin cleaning it, leaving two passengers on board.After several minutes, the passengers realized that the man had disappeared, the Coast Guard reported.Another boat in the area contacted the coast guard after being alerted by the passengers on the sailboat that a man appeared to be missing in the water.

Yacht Basin Inc. has opened a sewage pump-out station, the first of its kind on Spa Creek, for boat holding tanks, a state official announced yesterday.The company built the facility with financial aid from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, said DNR Secretary Torrey C. Brown.The DNR has helped 66 marinas install pump-out equipment in an effort to prevent the illegal dumping of sewage into state waters.Port Annapolis and Annapolis Landing marinas on Back Creek also offer pump-out stations.

Pfiesteria has been ruled out as the cause of rashes on two environmental workers a week ago, but a third case remained under investigation yesterday and state officials urged people around the Manokin River in Somerset County to remain wary of the toxic microbe.Maryland Department of Natural Resources officials were optimistic after periodic weekend checks of the area around Back Creek, a tributary of the Manokin, turned up no fish kills or other signs of Pfiesteria. Two years ago, the toxin killed more than 30,000 fish and sickened 13 people in Maryland.

On a summer evening, a breeze tinged with salt you can taste blows cool and gentle along the narrow streets by Back Creek.And the generations gather again to savor it.For blocks around, the old folks sit on their stoops watching theworld go by, ever so slowly, just the way they like it. Their children and grandchildren and nieces and nephews play on the pavements, onthe streets or down by the dock.It's always been this way for the black families whose ancestors settled here in Eastport more than acentury ago.But on this summer night, the talk turns to whether the neighborhood will survive, and whether the little houses ultimately will be squeezed out by soaring property values and taxes no old-timers could afford.

Back Creek Nature Park, once the site of a Depression-era wastewater treatment center, is being transformed into an "urban ecology living classroom," focusing on environmental education. And much of the work is being done by children. Youngsters from local schools, especially the Key School in Annapolis and Eastport Elementary School in Eastport, have been yanking out invasive plants and planting more-suitable ones as part of a plan to restore the shoreline along the creek, expand the Osprey Nature Center and install technologies such as green roofs and storm-water filtration systems.

Just how clear is the water around Annapolis? People can measure for themselves at the city's fourth annual Back Creek Wade-In on Saturday. In this low-tech assessment of water clarity, people wade into the water until they can't see their toes. The water line is then measured on their clothes. The wade-in is modeled after a similar event started in 1988 by Bernie Fowler, the former Southern Maryland state senator who leads a group into the Patuxent River each year. At Back Creek, Annapolis Mayor Ellen O. Moyer and other participants will walk into the water.

The Rev. Johnny Calhoun A conversation last fall aboard a historic ship sparked the idea of bringing a Baltimore nonprofit program for at-risk youths to Annapolis this summer. A tangible result could be rebuilt wood windows throughout the state capital's historic district. A more far-reaching result could be that the work would be done by local youths learning to become carpenters. The proposal took a significant step this week as a group of city leaders toured the Living Classrooms Foundation campus in East Baltimore to watch its "learning by doing" educational philosophy at work.

It has been decades since homeowners on Main Creek in Pasadena could wade into the water without fear of sinking hip-deep in slimy sediment. It has been just as long since they fished from backyard piers or pulled up heavy crab pots just in time for dinner. Today the creek is so choked with sediment that residents say the waterway behind their homes is dead. "There's nothing in the water anymore," said John Sadler, who has lived with his wife, Ellen, in Lake Shore on Main Creek for about 10 years.

It has been decades since homeowners on Main Creek in Pasadena could wade into the water without fear of sinking hip-deep in slimy sediment. It has been just as long since they fished from backyard piers or pulled up heavy crab pots just in time for dinner. Today the creek is so choked with sediment that residents say the waterway behind their homes is dead. "There's nothing in the water anymore," said John Sadler, who has lived with his wife, Ellen, in Lake Shore on Main Creek for about 10 years.

A new proposal for 25 large, detached homes in a retirement community to be built on 19 acres in Glenwood got enthusiastic approval last night from the Howard County Planning Board. "I love this plan. I hate townhouses in the west," said board member Joan Lancos, referring to an earlier proposal by developer Donald R. Reuwer Jr. to build 116 townhouses for seniors near Cattail Creek Country Club. "I really think it's a high-end retirement community," board member Gary Kaufman said about the 2,400- square-foot homes that would cost $400,000 to $500,000.

Not only was it a dark and stormy night -- it was muggy, too. But that didn't stop the recently formed Friends of Back Creek Park from going to work. Members of the nonprofit organization met for several hours Wednesday night during intermittent thunderstorms to plant native grasses in the small Back Creek Park in Annapolis. "We had nine hearty souls dancing around the lightning bolts," said Mel Wilkins, a group member. The grasses, planted along the shoreline that the group had recently rehabilitated, will serve several purposes: They will be food for ducks and a place for fish to lay eggs, and they will prevent erosion, Wilkins said.

WHILE SUMMER was making up for lost time here at the end of June, my husband and I were opting for sweaters on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington state and enjoying beautiful Oregon days.Aging parents, a growing grandchild, siblings and friends were the focus of our 16-day trip, and it was a grand vacation, with minimal stress and no strict schedules.Visiting my in-laws, retired for 29 years in Sequim, Wash., reminded us that our own retirement needs a bit more thought than we've given it. So we fantasized as we drove up the Oregon coast from Florence to Astoria and found the perfect site to park our older selves: a former church on the inland side of the coast road, with a view of mountains, tidal flats, and the Pacific Ocean.

Pfiesteria has been ruled out as the cause of rashes on two environmental workers a week ago, but a third case remained under investigation yesterday and state officials urged people around the Manokin River in Somerset County to remain wary of the toxic microbe.Maryland Department of Natural Resources officials were optimistic after periodic weekend checks of the area around Back Creek, a tributary of the Manokin, turned up no fish kills or other signs of Pfiesteria. Two years ago, the toxin killed more than 30,000 fish and sickened 13 people in Maryland.

CHAMP -- Three teams of state biologists scoured the meandering Manokin River in this remote corner of Somerset County yesterday, searching for signs that Pfiesteria, the toxic microbe that killed fish and sickened watermen two years ago, has again turned up in Maryland waters.About a week since learning that three people have reported symptoms of Pfiesteria-related illness after coming in contact with water from the river or its Back Creek tributary, officials say they've found no evidence of the microbe in its toxic form.