Subscribe
Community
Fowler more optimistic about Patuxent's future
Annual wade-in made positive by Executive Order
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
 Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photo by ROB PERRY
Former state senator Bernie Fowler showed his enthusiasm with the promising words from House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md., 5th) in regards to a recent Executive Order signed by President Barack Obama to expedite efforts to clean up nitrogen and phosphorous levels from the Chesapeake Bay.
|
E-Mail This Article
Former Maryland State Senator Bernie Fowler seemed re-invigorated Sunday in his long fight to restore the Chesapeake Bay to the healthy waterway he enjoyed in his youthful days.
He spoke with passion and excitement at the annual Patuxent River Wade-in Sunday afternoon, an event he has been hosting since 1978. His vigor was easily attributed to the recent Executive Order from President Barack Obama, which establishes a Federal Leadership Committee on the bay, and will be headed by the federal Environmental Protection Agency. The committee is tasked with setting two-year milestones for reducing nitrogen and phosphorus pollution in the bay.
"We will not in any way relent," Fowler told the large crowd that gathered on Broomes Island last weekend. "We have the [men] who are dedicated [to saving the bay]. Things are going to happen … the stars are shining."
Fowler, who recently turned 85, has been hosting the event for more than two decades. Clad in his torn white canvas shoes, overalls and straw hat, complete with American flag, Fowler has been leading people hand-in-hand into the Patuxent River, walking until he cannot see his shoes through the murky water. Fowler said when he was a child, he could walk nearly 56 inches into the bay before he lost sight of his feet.
Last year, Fowler seemed a bit more defeated and saddened about the state of the Patuxent River and the bay as a whole, but recent events have put the steward of the Chesapeake in good spirits. In May, Obama hosted a press conference in Virginia, attended by Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley (D), Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine (D), Washington, D.C., Mayor Adrian Fenty and EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson announcing the aforementioned Executive Order.
Prior to that, in January, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation filed a lawsuit against the EPA to order EPA to reduce pollution from all sources — air, wastewater treatment plants and runoff from cities, suburbs and farms — with an ambitious timetable so the bay can be removed from the federal "impaired waters" list. Fowler was among the plaintiffs in the lawsuit.
Indeed, things are happening.
And Sunday's presence of luminaries showed the commitment from Congress, Annapolis and Richmond, Va. Those attending included House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md., 5th), Virginia State Senator Chap Peterson (D-Fairfax), O'Malley, Maryland State Sen. Roy P. Dyson (D-Calvert, St. Mary's, Charles), Del. Sue Kullen (D-Calvert), Del. John Bohanan (D-St. Mary's), and Calvert County Commissioner Susan Shaw (R).
Sunday's wade-in was blessed with pleasant weather and a breeze that kept the mood pleasant, even as Fowler and others discussed the Patuxent River's recent health grade as a D-minus — the third worst out of the 14 bay tributaries — in a report released in April by the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science.
"We need to get our hearts out of the dead zone and get our hands into the river," O'Malley said when he addressed the audience. "We are but a small group here, but we can do it."
As Hoyer addressed the audience, he pointed out the beautiful view of the river as he spoke.
"As all of you are looking out here, this is an A-plus view," Hoyer said. "We want an A-plus view that matches with the A-plus quality … President Obama has said that the grade [ranking] of the bay is not acceptable as our governor has said it is not acceptable.
"All of you know you need a leader. Maryland has been blessed with Bernie Fowler, whose vision, tenacity and hard work … will get that river that A-plus quality."
In addition to the elected officials in attendance, local celebrity Tom Wisner, a folksinger and bay advocate, spoke about his friendship with Fowler and his love for the Chesapeake Bay, inviting O'Malley to join him at the podium and lead the audience in singing one of his many songs about the Chesapeake Bay. Wisner, who has been attending the wade-ins with Fowler since they began, has been battling cancer, but seemed enthusiastic and in high spirits at the event, and mustered up the energy to join Fowler and O'Malley hand-in-hand into the water when the time came.
The only solemn part of the event came right before the wade-in, where Fowler announced that, in order for the wade-in to continue long after he is gone, it needed "to become institutionalized." Fowler said Sunday's wade-in was the last one that would occur at the Broomes Island location. Next year, it will move across the way to take place at Jefferson Patterson Park and Museum, where, Fowler said, it will continue after he is gone, which he quickly added with a laugh "won't be anytime soon."
After leading the eager crowd into the surprisingly pleasant water, Fowler's high-water mark was measured by Hoyer, revealing that Fowler lost sight of his feet half an inch sooner than last year. This year, he made it 25 inches deep before losing sight of his tattered white shoes.
See related stories
