Trout Stream

Growth-control bill would fill sketch work of county master planThe Sun's editorial "Baltimore County in the `post-growth' era" (Jan. 5) about Baltimore County's master plan accurately noted that the draft of this plan is full of generalities. The master plan, however, is a plan; plans are meant to be general.Master Plan 2010 will be loosely interpreted as the current master plan has been, leading to continued community disarray and continued erosion of trust that Baltimore County citizens have in their government's ability to maintain a desirable environment for themselves and their families.

Killing the ICC could lead to better, safer transportationGov. Parris N. Glendening should be congratulated on his decision to kill the Intercounty Connector ("ICC road plan killed," Sept. 23).This can be the first step toward a visionary public mass transportation system for Maryland that will serve the state for decades to come, until future technology brings us better and cleaner transportation.According to the Maryland State Highway Administration, we've built almost 30,000 miles of roads in Maryland since 1960, more than 5,200 of them in Montgomery and Prince George's counties.

In the clear, shallow water, the wiggling fish are easy to pick out. These are not just any small fry, though. These are the first brook trout in at least a decade to hatch in the right fork of the Jabez Branch.State biologists and conservationists traipsing along the snow-covered stream banks Friday could not contain their excitement. They found an estimated 60 fish -- a week or 2 old -- in this nearly 1,900-foot-long section of the meandering creek near Gambrills in Anne Arundel County.

THE DISPUTE over the temperature of water discharged from the Hampstead wastewater treatment plant into Piney Run illustrates the complexities of anti-pollution laws -- and the hidden threat of thermal pollution.It also highlights different visions of the area's future: Carroll County favors more development there; Baltimore County, just across the county line, does not.Baltimore County residents charge that effluent from the Carroll plant is too warm for a state-protected trout stream: The legal limit is 68 degrees or the ambient water temperature.

A stubborn, two-year dispute over water draining from a Pennsylvania housing development into Baltimore County may be coming to an end.The contractor building the homes near New Freedom began work last week on his part of a deal with county officials to route the water through a grass swale and into a 1,360-foot-long pipe leading to Bee Tree Run. That is designed to end complaints of flooded yards along Keeney Road -- waters that turn icy in winter.The...

In the 1970s, while gas and diesel fuel were in short supply in the United States, a considerable segment of the boating population switched from powerboats to sailboats. In the early- and mid-1980s, sailboat production in the United States and Canada continued to increase.In the late 1980s the industry entered a tailspin, with production of new boats dropping and the used boat market floundering in a high tide of sailboats no one wanted or could afford to buy.International Marine, a leading supplier of marine accessories and original equipment, says that its annual study of U.S. and Canadian builders shows the sailboat industry hit low ebb two years ago and last year made a 22 percent overall increase beyond 1991 figures.

Shortly after noon on New Year's Day, Jim Gracie, Richard Schad and Wally Vait stood in the parking lot at the end of Bunker Hill Road, close alongside a slower section of the Gunpowder River, awaiting the arrival of other members of Trout Unlimited."

A shadow beneath the rippling surface of Quail Creek caught the eye of James Gracie."There he is!" he exclaimed, wading knee-deep into a chilly pool overhung by a tree branch. A moment later, a small brook trout darted downstream.The fish is a harbinger of new life in this narrow creek, which meanders through a sylvan patch of northern Baltimore County on its way to Gunpowder Falls. It also may be a glimmer of hope for some of the 5,000 miles of brooks, streams and rivers throughout Maryland that are barren of fish, or nearly so.Three years ago, Quail Creek's headwaters were smothered under 120 tons of mud when an earthen dam built across the stream by a housing developer gave way. The silt filled in pools and riffles where trout had fed and spawned, and it triggered large-scale erosion of the stream's banks.

BLOOMINGTON -- After you turn north on Savage River Road off Route 135, the air begins to lose its stench as you ascend through the forests and past the cliff faces blasted out of Big Savage Mountain -- from the stacks and effluents of a workingman's town, to a freestone stream sided by wild laurel and rhododendron.It is at once in spite of and because of workingmen's towns such as Westernport, Luke and Bloomington that this place exists, that trout feed eagerly and spawn liberally enough to have a natural fishery the year around.

WOODBINE - Trout and wetlands are among the obstacles to county plans for a reservoir aimed at providing an adequate water supply for South Carroll.About 80 people turned out Wednesday at Mount Olive Methodist Church as county planners delivered an update on the Gillis Falls Reservoir, a 430-acre lake that would supply projected water needs for South Carroll at least through the year 2040.But in the quest for permits, the county has met resistance from the Maryland Department of the Environment and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, said Carroll planner Marlene Conaway.

Maryland's premier trout stream, Gunpowder Falls, is under attack from an algae strain feared worldwide for its ability to coat the bottom of rivers and lakes and smother the habitat and food supply of fish. Heavy, with the consistency of a wool coat, Didymosphenia geminata is a recent invader of East Coast waterways. It begins as microscopic organism that travels from stream to stream on boats, fishing gear and the bottoms of felt boots and waders. The algae is not hazardous to humans, but could have a "profound" effect on fish and the quality of freshwater streams and recreation, upsetting the delicate balance of nature, said Jonathan McKnight, coordinator of the Department of Natural Resources invasive species team.

THURMONT - Beyond the countless no-trespassing signs, up the poorly paved winding road, stands a 450-acre wooded parcel about to go up for auction, a retreat that has been a well-kept secret in Frederick County despite its storied history. President Herbert Hoover slept here, in a stone cottage high above a raging trout stream where he loved to perfect his fly-fishing techniques by day. Other presidents and their families fished here, too. Tricia Nixon, President Richard M. Nixon's elder daughter, reportedly spent part of her honeymoon at the retreat, sitting on the banks as she patiently watched her new husband, Edward Cox, cast his line.

CEDAR GROVE, N.J. -- Back when the Peckman River was a watery dump for sewage, grass clippings and broken furniture, the notion of its becoming a trout stream seemed like a fantasy. But two sewage plants on the small river were upgraded. Residents cleared debris, then began stocking the river with trout. The state wants to label this unremarkable river in the unbroken sprawl of northern New Jersey a trout stream. The moral of the tale: Be careful what you fish for. The federal Clean Water Act, filtered through the state bureaucracy, is emitting a fine mess.

Killing the ICC could lead to better, safer transportationGov. Parris N. Glendening should be congratulated on his decision to kill the Intercounty Connector ("ICC road plan killed," Sept. 23).This can be the first step toward a visionary public mass transportation system for Maryland that will serve the state for decades to come, until future technology brings us better and cleaner transportation.According to the Maryland State Highway Administration, we've built almost 30,000 miles of roads in Maryland since 1960, more than 5,200 of them in Montgomery and Prince George's counties.

In the clear, shallow water, the wiggling fish are easy to pick out. These are not just any small fry, though. These are the first brook trout in at least a decade to hatch in the right fork of the Jabez Branch.State biologists and conservationists traipsing along the snow-covered stream banks Friday could not contain their excitement. They found an estimated 60 fish -- a week or 2 old -- in this nearly 1,900-foot-long section of the meandering creek near Gambrills in Anne Arundel County.

Growth-control bill would fill sketch work of county master planThe Sun's editorial "Baltimore County in the `post-growth' era" (Jan. 5) about Baltimore County's master plan accurately noted that the draft of this plan is full of generalities. The master plan, however, is a plan; plans are meant to be general.Master Plan 2010 will be loosely interpreted as the current master plan has been, leading to continued community disarray and continued erosion of trust that Baltimore County citizens have in their government's ability to maintain a desirable environment for themselves and their families.

THE DISPUTE over the temperature of water discharged from the Hampstead wastewater treatment plant into Piney Run illustrates the complexities of anti-pollution laws -- and the hidden threat of thermal pollution.It also highlights different visions of the area's future: Carroll County favors more development there; Baltimore County, just across the county line, does not.Baltimore County residents charge that effluent from the Carroll plant is too warm for a state-protected trout stream: The legal limit is 68 degrees or the ambient water temperature.

A stubborn, two-year dispute over water draining from a Pennsylvania housing development into Baltimore County may be coming to an end.The contractor building the homes near New Freedom began work last week on his part of a deal with county officials to route the water through a grass swale and into a 1,360-foot-long pipe leading to Bee Tree Run. That is designed to end complaints of flooded yards along Keeney Road -- waters that turn icy in winter.The...

In the 1970s, while gas and diesel fuel were in short supply in the United States, a considerable segment of the boating population switched from powerboats to sailboats. In the early- and mid-1980s, sailboat production in the United States and Canada continued to increase.In the late 1980s the industry entered a tailspin, with production of new boats dropping and the used boat market floundering in a high tide of sailboats no one wanted or could afford to buy.International Marine, a leading supplier of marine accessories and original equipment, says that its annual study of U.S. and Canadian builders shows the sailboat industry hit low ebb two years ago and last year made a 22 percent overall increase beyond 1991 figures.

Shortly after noon on New Year's Day, Jim Gracie, Richard Schad and Wally Vait stood in the parking lot at the end of Bunker Hill Road, close alongside a slower section of the Gunpowder River, awaiting the arrival of other members of Trout Unlimited."