WHY IS PINEY BRANCH BOG IMPORTANT?

HOW CAN PINEY BRANCH BOG BE PRESERVED?

WHY CONSIDER PRESERVING PINEY BRANCH BOG WHEN PROPOSED MITIGATION WOULD REPLACE LOST WETLANDS?

WHAT IS BOG ENHANCEMENT?

IS BOG ENHANCEMENT A NATURAL PROCESS?

THE PLAN

LITERATURE CITED

BACKGROUND

Piney Branch Bog is a tributary of the Zekiah Swamp located between Waldorf and LaPlata on the coastal plain of Maryland in Charles County (Figs. 1 & 2). The site was discovered by Phil Sheridan and Bill Scholl in 1989 (Sheridan, 1991) and has been listed by the Maryland Natural Heritage Program as an ecologically significant area (1996).

True bogs are nutrient deficient nontidal wetlands with a unique assemblage of plants growing in formerly glaciated regions. Although glaciers did not reach Maryland, the term bog is used for certain wetlands because they share many of the characteristics of northern bogs such as acidic soils, constant water level, and low oxygen supply. These factors result in an organic soil called peat which is found in these Maryland wetlands and in true bogs.

This document was prepared to promote and ensure the preservation and restoration of Piney Branch Bog. We received no financial or other assistance in preparing this report and are not obligated in any way to the parties mentioned. All costs for publication and distribution were borne by the principal authors. We ask you to join us in a unique opportunity for the public and private sectors to solve one of our more interesting environmental challenges.

WHY IS PINEY BRANCH BOG IMPORTANT?

Piney Branch Bog is important because:

• Many bogs are considered Nontidal Wetlands of Special State Concern by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. This reflects their ecological importance as unusual habitats and rare plant communities as well as the value they provide in filtering water prior to its flowing into tributaries of the Chesapeake Bay.
• Piney Branch represents the last surviving example of a unique ecosystem described by McAtee (1918) as the gravel bog (Figs. 3a-d). Although this bog is overlain by a veneer of peat, its occurrence on a large deposit of gravel is unique in Maryland. This unusual combination of rare bog plants and geology is not duplicated until the northern coastal States, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland.

 

 
 
 

Figure 3a & b. Gravel deposits on uplands serve as recharge area for bog.

Figure 3c. Similar gravels are found below peat surface.

Figure 3d. Gravel barrens on uplands support a potentially unique plant community unrecognized in Maryland.

• Piney Branch Bog contains the only population in Maryland of the proposed Federally Threatened New Jersey Rush, Juncus caesariensis Coville (Fig. 4). This plant occurred near Glen Burnie at the turn of the century and was thought extinct until its rediscovery at Piney Branch in 1989. This species is listed State Endangered by the Maryland Natural Heritage Program.

 

 
 
 

Figure 4a & b. New Jersey Rush at Piney Branch Bog. This is the only location in Maryland.

• Piney Branch Bog is one of only two sites on the western shore of Maryland for the carnivorous purple pitcher plant, Sarracenia purpurea L., and the only known native site in southern Maryland. This species is listed State Threatened by the Maryland Natural Heritage Program.

 

 
 
 

Piney Branch Bog contains seven other rare or uncommon plants of State Threatened, State Rare or Watch List status (Fig. 5).

Figure 5. The rare bog goldenrod, Solidago uliginosa Nuttall. The only other Maryland populations are in the mountains in Garrett County.

HOW CAN PINEY BRANCH BOG BE PRESERVED?

Preservation of the Piney Branch Bog would require approximately thirty acres to maintain the aquifer quality and to ensure an appropriate area from development activities (Figs. 1 & 2). Current regulations only require a twenty-five foot buffer around wetlands which is inadequate protection of the soil, water and floristic integrity of uplands. Maintaining the environmental quality of these factors is essential to prevent damage to the endangered bog ecosystem. The proposed thirty acre preserve would protect this fragile habitat while existing environmental standards would not. Conventional regulations would not prevent the development of the surrounding area which could result in eventual degradation of this bog bog environment. Cypress Creek Bog in Severna Park has already been adversely impacted under existing regulations and it would be negligent to allow a similar fate to befall Piney Branch Bog.

An endowment (fund) of $500,000 would also be required for maintenance, insurance and study of the site. An organization which could preserve and restore Piney Branch Bog is Meadowview Biological Research Station. Traditionally the Nature Conservancy has obtained outstanding sites through either purchase or donation. Piney Branch Bog, however, is a small site outside the criteria for a Nature Conservancy land holding.

Meadowview Biological Research Station is a private sector initiative of Virginia and Maryland biologists and naturalists who are working on the preservation and restoration of bog habitats. This is being accomplished by detailed study of the demographics of bog plants, through improved management practices for the restoration of degraded sites and by locating high quality bog remnants. This effort is funded by the financial and time contributors of our supporters. Meadowview is the only organization in the mid-Atlantic area specifically working with bogs and it has the qualified staff to handle a project the size of Piney Branch.

WHY CONSIDER PRESERVING PINEY BRANCH BOG WHEN PROPOSED MITIGATION WOULD REPLACE LOST WETLANDS?

Piney Branch Bog is owned by both PEPCO and Interstate General Company L.P. (I.G.C.). PEPCO has a fee simple utility line which bisects the bog, and I.G.C. owns the adjoining parcels up-and down-stream. Piney Branch Bog could be used as an alternative or adjunct to conventional mitigation by the creation of a package of preservation and enhancement. Gann and Gerson (1996) suggest that restoration and preservation be the primary focus of any effective mitigation strategy. They also state that restoration and preservation are preferred to new wetland creation on upland sites because of the destruction of valuable dryland communities and the poor success rate of mitigation. Restoration and mitigation can be achieved through a method called bog enhancement.

WHAT IS BOG ENHANCEMENT?

Bog enhancement is the process whereby the canopy and part of the shrub layer are removed from a bog system and the herbaceous and moss layer spread in response to the increased sunlight and moisture. Piney Branch Bog contains nine rare and uncommon plants which are either State Threatened, State Rare or on the Watch List (MNHP, 1996). These plants are all herbaceous species which would increase in numbers under the bog enhancement program. The increase in numbers of rare plant species at Piney Branch Bog would outweigh a conventional mitigation because both the quality and quantity of biodiversity would be greatly increased. Bog enhancement can also result in a net increase in wetland habitat because the sphagnum mosses actually grow up the side slopes of the hill over time (Fig. 6). In the north these are known as raised bogs because the mass of peat increases vertically and horizontally. Thus there would actually be an increase in wetland over time as defined by floristic and soil composition of the site. A key component to bog enhancement is the removal of the canopy and maintenance of the site in an early successional state by occasional mowing which allows the growth of peat forming sphagnum mosses and sedges.

Fig. 6. Sphagnum moss responding to canopy removal. Vertical growth of almost one foot has occurred.

IS BOG ENHANCEMENT A NATURAL PROCESS?

Bog enhancement is a replacement for the lack of natural disturbance factors such as fire which would have maintained bogs like Piney Branch in an early successional state. Without intervention and restoration, habitats like Piney Branch Bog will be lost on the coastal plain of Maryland. The incidental placement of the power line at Piney Branch at the beginning of the era of fire suppression prevented many of the rare species from being eliminated or greatly reduced in numbers through succession. Enhancement and maintenance is necessary to preserve and mitigate.

THE PLAN

We propose that a thirty acre parcel known as Piney Branch Bog should be donated to Meadowview Biological Research Station with the help of the Nature Conservancy. This tract would serve as mitigation through a combination of strategies including restoration, enhancement, and preservation. PEPCO would maintain its existing fee simple ownership of utility line property but would allow activities on this site via a conservation easement. A $500,000 fund will be required to provide interest based income for conservation and research activities at Piney Branch Bog.

LITERATURE CITED

Gann, G. and N. Gerson. 1996. FOCUS: Rare plant mitigation in Florida. In Restoring Diversity, Strategies for Reintroduction of Endangered Plants. Edited by D. Falk, C. Millar and M. Olwell. Island Press, Washington, D.C.

Maryland Natural Heritage Program Dept. of Natural Resources. 1996. Ecologically Significant Areas in Zekiah Swamp Nontidal Wetland of Special State Concern.

Maryland Natural Heritage Program Dept. of Natural Resources. 1994. Rare, threatened and endangered plants of Maryland.

McAtee, W.L. 1918. A sketch of the natural history of the District of Columbia together with an indexed edition of the U.S. Geological Survey's 1917 map of Washington and vicinity. Bulletin of the Biological Society of Washington (1): 1 - 142.

Sheridan, P. 1991. Noteworthy collections. Castanea 56: 71-72.

Strong, M. and P. Sheridan. 1991. Juncus caesariensis Coville (Juncaceae) in Virginia peat bogs. Castanea 56: 65-69.

Return to Meadowview Biological Research Station at www.pitcherplant.org