Maryland environmentalists rave about the Mattawoman Creek. Eagles alight from barren trees and glide over serene waters, flocks of ducks darken the winter sky, and fish leap in the muddy shallows.

Yellow perch will soon make their annual run to spawn by the tens of thousands in the Mattawoman, a feast for raptors. They release milky strands with 60,000 eggs each, bolstering the Charles County creek’s status as “the most productive tributary to the Chesapeake Bay,” according to state fishery biologists.

Plan To Build A Highway Through The Watershed

For years, the county planned to build a highway right through the watershed. But, amazingly, local activists won a fight against a development that they said would harm wildlife. The state said no to the road in a rare denial of a development permit after the activists relentlessly picked apart the county’s arguments for it in an application.

The demise of the half-built $70 million Cross County Connector is being held up as a victory over urban sprawl that could be duplicated throughout the fragile Chesapeake Bay watershed.

From The Washington Post:

“There’s great enthusiasm for using the Mattawoman as a poster child for how the bay can be saved,” said Bonnie Bick, vice president of the Mattawoman Watershed Society.

Early in the fight over the connector, opponents were a huge long shot to win. Like a boxer who takes a multitude of jabs to land one solid punch, they acknowledged suffering a series of defeats in failed efforts to get county planners to propose development designs that were friendly to the creek.

The proposed 16-mile connector was designed to start at Route 5 and cut through small winding roads and the Mattawoman and end at Indian Head Highway. Eleven subdivisions with more than 2,000 homes were proposed, and were seen as likely to lead to more storm-water runoff laced with sediment and nutrient ­pollution — and foul the Chesapeake.

Cleanest And Most Abundant Tributary To The Potomac

Mattawoman Creek is like many of the bay’s tributaries. Its good looks are only skin deep. Below its emerald tree canopies in Mason Springs are waters with shrinking populations of yellow perch, white perch, herring and largemouth bass.

The creek is considered to be the cleanest and most abundant tributary to the Potomac River, and one of the most valuable waterways on the Eastern Seaboard.

When the fourth section of the connector was completed near the watershed in 2010, the county applied for a state non-tidal wetlands permit to go through the Mattawoman — ripping out six acres of wetlands around the creek — and finish the job.

And the county lost!

Let this amazing story of the power of activism inspire all of us activists!

Related Stories

Success! U.S. Fishing Becomes More Sustainable

Celebrating A Good Year For Marine Conservation

Make It Your New Year’s Resolution To Care For 71% Of The Planet

Photo Credit: BrianMKA