Route 50 is the gateway to Chesapeake Country and the Delmarva Peninsula. Turn left on Queen Anne’s highway for Rehoboth Beach, or right in Easton for St. Michael’s. Go all the way down the Shore for Ocean City, which attracts 8 million visitors in a typical, non-pandemic year. Each of these locations has its own climate change issues to grapple with, and not in the near future; these issues are happening now. But to see the real Eastern Shore and those most affected by climate change, you have to leave Route 50 at intersections so small, they don’t even have stoplights: Gypsy Hill Road, Marsh Road, or Old Wye Mills.
While kayaking in the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge, fishing for the invasive snakehead, I realized the Blackwater River was much more lake-like. In fact, I could hardly see the opposite shore of the nearly 4,000-acre lake. As I paddled between points, my bow rammed into stump after stump, invisible in tannin-stained water hardly deeper than 3 feet. Not even 100 years ago, satellite imagery reveals that the Blackwater River was indeed a river: nothing more than a narrow channel, meandering through the 83,000 acres of marsh that make up southern Dorchester County, “The Heart of the Chesapeake”.
The culprit for this change in scenery is climate change, specifically sea level rise and saltwater intrusion. One look at projected sea level rise (yes, all that blue is water), and it’s relatively simple: southern Dorchester County could be flooded daily, and thus effectively unlivable, by 2100.
Map published in Blackwater 2100: A Strategy For Salt Marsh Persistence In An Era Of Climate Change.
First, an explanation of the issue. Global sea levels rose 5 to 8 inches in the last century. That may not sound like a lot, but in Delmarva counties where most land is at or below sea level, every inch counts. Since 1930, 5,000 acres of Dorchester’s Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge have transitioned from marsh and forest to open water. The science behind sea level rise is complicated, but basically, more cars and industry leads to more greenhouse gas emissions, which warm the planet. More glacial and polar ice melt as a result, although most sea level rise is from the expansion of warmer water. However, the situation in the Chesapeake Bay is unique and more urgent. Baltimore recorded a rise of 12 inches in the last century, because at the same time sea levels are rising, the Delmarva Peninsula is sinking: 6 inches since 1900. During the last Ice Age, glacial sheets extending from the North Pole to Pennsylvania were so heavy that the Earth’s crust beneath the glaciers sank. This meant that the land around the edges but not covered by glaciers, such as Maryland, Delaware, and Virginia, rose. Now that the glaciers are gone and the weight has been lifted, land which was once covered is rising, and Maryland is sinking back to pre-glacial levels.
Although land subsidence can be mitigated, such as smarter management of groundwater in Delmarva’s economic centers like Cambridge and Salisbury, this form of glacial land subsidence is natural and cannot be stopped. This only emphasizes the need for immediate climate action.
Fishing Bay Wildlife Management Area (top) provides a time capsule of what the Blackwater River may have looked like 120 years ago, compared to the lake in its place today (bottom).
A current mitigation strategy is the construction of sea walls. Cement walls keep marsh water out of front yards and away from important infrastructure, but are easily eroded by saltwater. Additionally, by obstructing water’s natural flow, sea walls force water into other areas. Given that sea walls cost money to build, the construction of sea walls in urban areas that can afford them displaces water into rural areas, such as southern Dorchester County. The projected cost of building the necessary sea walls from Baltimore to Ocean City is $27 billion, $7 billion in Dorchester County alone, and nearly $1 billion just for Wye Island in Queen Anne’s County. That 6 billion figure is 6 times Dorchester County’s GDP from 2012 to 2015. It’s clear that we can’t build a cement wall of armor around the Chesapeake Bay.
What can be done? More than reusable straws (but those are good too). We can increase the Shore’s resilience: the ability to anticipate, absorb, and recover from climate change-related events. Dorchester County’s current climate action plan does just this: dealing with effects instead of preventing causes, and really that’s all that can be done until further national and international action is taken. The county’s most recent study calls for updated building codes, low-impact development, and financial support for property abandonment if necessary. The most immediate solution that can be implemented on the Eastern Shore is a green suit of armor. By fortifying coast lines with oyster bars and monitoring the health of coastal wetlands and forests, we can protect the land we have left while simultaneously improving biodiversity. Hampton Roads, Virginia, perhaps the front lines of climate change impacts currently affecting the US, is treating and reusing wastewater to prevent land subsidence. However, any climate action aimed at saving the Eastern Shore has to come at a national and international level. We’re already seeing Marylanders hold polluters responsible, as Baltimore recently announced a lawsuit against coal-fired power plants that skirted emissions guidelines. Maryland, Virginia, and DC jointly filed a lawsuit against the EPA for not enforcing pollution guidelines in Pennsylvania and New York, which fall within the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. However, much more is required.
The Eastern Shore is a critical part of Maryland, past, present, and future. It’s the birthplace of Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglas. It’s home to the Chesapeake Bay waterman’s culture, which is on the verge of disappearing as communities like Holland Island fall into the Bay. We cannot let the urban, industrialized polluters of the world harm rural, culturally significant areas like the lower Eastern Shore.
Climate change will affect everyone, everywhere. We need to act for the people it’s affecting right now.
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