Under blue skies and calm conditions, staffers from the Naval Air Station
Patuxent River Environmental Division set out by boat Sept. 7 for two
Chesapeake Bay islands — Bloodsworth and Adam — a task they’ve undertaken
twice a year for decades.
The islands are part of the Bloodsworth
Island Range, which from the 1940s through 1996 served as a Navy shore
bombardment and bombing range for firing and dropping live ordnance from ships
and aircraft that included bombs, small and large caliber ammunition, rockets
and missiles that contained explosives, propellants and other energetics.
“It
used to belong to Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek, Virginia, but it was
formally transferred to Pax River in 2001,” explained Kyle Rambo,
environmental planning and conservation director. “Part of our job is
stewardship of the resources the Navy is using and even when Bloodsworth was
still owned by Little Creek, they contracted with us as the closest naval
facility to the island, to conduct monitoring and management. I think my first
time out there was 1982 or ’83.”
Surrounded by water, uninhabitable
and scarred from years of artillery testing operations, Bloodsworth Island is
located 18 miles from Pax River’s shoreline. Salt water encroachment is
inundating the island — which sits only slightly above sea level — leaving the
ground spongy, wet, and difficult to walk on without each footstep sinking
into mud. Large trees have been killed off over the years and the windswept
landscape is now covered mostly in marsh vegetation.
“People don’t
realize Bloodsworth Island, at nearly 5,000 acres, is actually Pax River’s
second largest property,” Rambo noted. “It’s dominated now by a single plant
known as black needle rush, but there are still a few skinny Eastern red cedar
trees left on the northern end of the island on an elevated ridgeline known as
Fin Creek,” which is the island’s highest point, at approximately 5-feet above
sea level.
What’s being monitored?
Disembarking at Fin
Creek and walking the entire ridge, Rambo and team record whatever species of
birds, insects, mammals or reptiles they see.
“There are no
amphibians out there,” he said. “We look for evidence of any rare, threatened
or endangered species. One sandpiper in particular we’ve been looking for is
the rufa subspecies of red knot, which is federally endangered, but we didn’t
see any. When there’s a specific target like that, we’ll coordinate the time
of year we visit to when the resource we’re looking for might be there.”
They
also recorded any evidence of bird nesting as part of the ongoing Breeding
Bird Atlas 3 survey for the state of Maryland, and they counted great blue
heron nests, which were once abundant on the island.
Bald Eagle on Bloodsworth Island
“Decades ago,
we built artificial structures for the herons to nest on after the sturdy
trees died off, but they’re dwindling now too,” Rambo added. “It’s a harsh
environment out there and hurricanes have knocked them down or they’ve fallen
over. Also, bald eagles came in one year and built a nest right in the middle
of the rookery, which numbered hundreds of heron pairs in its heyday. Since
eagles eat young herons, there went the neighborhood.”
Rambo
verified there is still a ring of a few heron nests on the periphery of the
colony the Navy built, but he believes it’s close to abandonment.
“It
produced thousands of young herons through the years, so it served its
purpose; it was successful,” he said. “They’ve now moved on to the mainland or
other islands.”
An eagle pair continues calling Bloodsworth their
home, and animal remains collected by staffers from below the nest show they
have quite a taste for diamondback terrapins.
Another bird that has
taken a liking to the island is the American black duck, a species of concern
due to its plummeting population.
“It’s not endangered yet, but it
is a species of concern and Bloodsworth Island seems to be a fantastic
habitat,” Rambo explained. “These ducks love coastal salt marshes but they
need pockets of fresh water and the holes left by past bombardment are perfect
for that; we saw heavy use. It kind of shows the things we do aren’t always
incompatible, and can actually be beneficial to the environment.”
Spotting tower on Adam's Island
I've spent a lot of time around Bloodsworth and Adams Island while fishing
with Pete, usually within casting distance of the island itself:
While out there, the environmental team also checked to make sure the
multiple signs warning the public to avoid the area are still standing.
Years of bombing and bombardment – and the resulting presence of live
ordnance – is the reason the islands and portions of surrounding waters are
off limits. No trespassing on land or in adjacent waters within 75 yards of
Bloodsworth Island Range is permitted without the express consent of the
Navy. Even Pax River personnel are required to attend special training in
order to visit the islands.
“The shorelines are
eroding at a rapid rate and in those eroded areas we’re always on the
lookout for unexploded ordnance that could date as far back as the 1940s and
for many years after,” Rambo said. “No one should be setting foot on that
island.”
In addition to the signage, a safety
bulletin regarding the hazards has been distributed to various waterman’s
associations, civic groups, charter boat captains and museums to forewarn
the public.
Oops. I have a lot more photos from Bloodsworth/Adams Island, but for fun, check this out:
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