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Tabb High School's Club Earth has undertaken an industrious project to help with the rehabilitation of our local waterways by growing and planting underwater grasses. The group is sponsored by THS faculty members Sherri Sklute, Diane Kokorelis, Kristin Grigonis and Lynn Shematek.

 

Participants in the program grow wild celery (Vallisneria americana), a type of underwater grass at the school for 10-12 weeks. After 10-12 weeks of grow-out, participants will gather to plant their grasses in select local rivers to bolster grass populations and help restore the Bay. Last year, Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) participants planted over 6,000 underwater grasses between the two restoration sites on the Potomac and James Rivers.

 

Underwater grasses, also called submerged aquatic vegetation or SAV, filter polluted runoff, provide food for waterfowl, and provide essential habitat for blue crabs, juvenile rockfish (striped bass), and other aquatic species. Their leaves and stems baffle wave energy and help settle out sediments. Their roots and rhizomes bind the substrate. Underwater grasses also take up nitrogen and phosphorus that, in overabundance, lead to algae blooms that can degrade water quality. Migrating waterfowl, such as ducks and geese, eat underwater grasses.

 

At its most pristine, the Bay may have supported several hundred thousand acres of underwater grasses. Underwater grasses have been in decline to a documented low of 38,000 acres in 1984. From 1984 to 1993, underwater grasses increased to 73,000 acres, according to the CBF.

 

This is a project that is good for the Bay and economically good for the citizens in the Delmarva Peninsula. Increasing the conditions of the Bay increases its value in terms of fisheries, recreation and the value of the real estate surrounding it.