Wetlands

Wetlands, which once existed near a lake at what is now the HashawhaEnvironmental Appreciation Center, may appear again.County officials are awaiting word on a $30,000 grant from the state Department of Natural Resources that would finance reconstruction of wetlands at the center, off John Owings Road and Route 97."We are in the process of trying to develop freshwater wetlands at Hashawha," said Loren Lustig, administrator at Hashawha. "Our objective is to turn back the clock and re-establish a wetland in an area where we feel almost certain wetland existed before the impact of white man on the land and before the agricultural impact of the 20th century."

Architectural Design Works Inc., a Bel Air-based architectural design firm, has completed a new observation deck at the Jug Bay Wetlands Sanctuary.The firm was commissioned by the county Recreation and Parks Department through an agreement with Anne Arundel County.Construction required a minimum of disturbance to the wetlands while providing maximum panoramic vies of Jug Bay.Most of the deck was completed by hand in an effort not to disturb wildlife with bulldozers, pile drivers and cranes.

Federal prosecutors were to begin presenting evidence to a jury today against a Virginia environmental consultant accused of having wreaked havoc on regulated wetlands on a 3,000-acre private hunting and game preserve in Dorchester County.In an opening statement yesterday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jane F. Barrett told the trial jury in U.S. District Court in Baltimore that defendant William B. Ellen repeatedly ignored warnings from a private engineer and an Army Corps of Engineers inspector to stop wetlands work at the preserve until he obtained the required permits.

In constructing a new Severn River Bridge, the State Highway Administration has violated federal rules protecting wetlands, state officials acknowledged yesterday.The SHA has a permit from the Army Corps of Engineers to build in the wetlands along the banks of the lower Severn River. But construction crews destroyed an eighth-acre of wetlands outside that permit area because of a "small design error," spokeswoman Liz Ziemski said.Wetlands are considered important because they provide a natural filter of pollutants before they are carried by storm water into the river.

The Patuxent Environment Science Center will present "Where Have All the Wetlands Gone?" from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday at the North Tract Visitor Contact Station on Bald Eagle Drive in Laurel.Participants can learn how human actions disrupt wetlands' health and what can be done to prevent it. Long pants and rubber boots are recommended.For more information, call (410) 674-3304.POLICE LOG* Annapolis Junction: 10600 block of Guilford Road: A 1984 Mitsubishi Tredia was stolen Tuesday, police said.

Picture this: Daffy Duck goes on vacation and finds out just how fast his favorite marshes are being developed, degraded or despoiled in America.What is Daffy's take on disappearing wetlands? "This is des-picable!" says the cartoon world's angriest bird in a series of TV, radio and print ads called Support Fowl Play. The ads are an urgent call to action on wetlands by a partnership of Daffy's creators, an environmental organization and the federal government.By Monday, 700 TV stations across the country had received the video.

A Prince George's County legislator has been cited by federal and state regulators for illegally building a road through wetlands on property he owns in Charles County. It is his second offense in three years, say federal officials.Del. Richard A. Palumbo, D-Prince George's, was ordered last month by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Maryland Department of Natural Resources to halt work on a road into an undeveloped 114-acre tract he owns near Port Tobacco, officials said.Mr. Palumbo did not have a permit to clear the forested freshwater wetlands through which the road runs, said Robert L. Zepp, assistant supervisor of the Annapolis field office of the wildlife service.

Mother Nature has struggled to reclaim the Owens gravel mine since it closed more than 20 years ago.Now, the state wants to lend her a hand.To offset environmental damage caused elsewhere by road construction, the State Highway Administration plans to transform 74 acres of sandy wasteland into fertile wetland and forest along the banks of the Patuxent River, near Bayard.The derelict mine's sandy terrain, rutted with the tracks of off-road vehicles, will give way to marsh grasses, red and black oak, shellbark hickory, dogwood and spice bush by next spring, said SHA spokeswoman Diane Levero.

A committee will interview by the end of this month five artists who are vying for a grant to cover a large wall at Jug Bay Wetlands Sanctuary with a mural of the wetlands.Chris Swarth, director of the sanctuary in the southwestern corner of the county, said the five-member committee narrowed the field of artists from 12 to five in the past week.All five are painters, he said.A grant of up to $5,000 will go to the selected artist. Centermark Properties Inc., developer and owner of the Annapolis Mall, is funding the project.

A Department of Natural Resources representative told the Union Bridge Town Council last night that the department is "very interested" in creating a wetlands area on a small parcel of the property that is being subdivided and developed by Towson dentist G. Jackson Phillips.Kevin M. Smith, a mitigation supervisor, said that it is too early to tell how much of the land could be developed into a wetlands area, but preliminary tests at the site show the land has potential.Mr. Smith confirmed town officials' concerns that once the area is designated as wetlands, town use of the property would be severely limited.