A controversial plan to build a four-lane highway known as the Cross County Connector in Southern Maryland’s Charles County not only upsets community-action groups that believe local leaders continue to live in the past, it is also being seriously questioned by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
The corps is concerned because the highway would call for the filling and grading of many acres of federally regulated wetlands, generally considered a direct violation of national and state laws. The proposed highway also would cross a major stream and floodplain complex, the Mattawoman Creek and two additional minor stream systems. The corps wants the county to explain what broader measures of watershed protection it is willing to provide to minimize habitat degradation in the Mattawoman watershed. “Compensatory mitigation is required to replace the unavoidable loss of wetland, stream and/or other aquatic resource functions,” it said.
“The corps’ concerns and statements to county commissioners are a clear indication that the Cross County Connector would push the Mattawoman over the brink by destroying acres of wetlands, wetland buffers and forests, while creating and increasing secondary impacts from undesirable new growth enabled by this highway,” said Jim Long of the Mattawoman Watershed Society, a member of the group Smarter Growth Alliance for Charles County.
Any news of potential threats to the Mattawoman Creek, which perhaps is the most important tributary stream to the upper tidal Potomac River, will also not be greeted with glee by the area’s numerous recreational anglers. Not only is the Mattawoman a premier fishing creek for tidal-water largemouth bass, it also provides major spawning grounds for herring, white and yellow perch, and it is home to exceptional numbers of channel catfish and increasing numbers of hickory shad and chain pickerel.
It is also prime habitat for great blue herons, Canada geese and a variety of duck species, including wood, mallard and black ducks. It is not difficult to view the watershed as a veritable treasure trove for waterfowl and fish.
Bonnie Bick of the SGACC said: “There are viable alternatives to this four-lane highway proposal that would allow for growth and economic development, improve safety and protect the natural environment. The decades-old highway plan should be re-evaluated given the realities of today’s lifestyle choices, environmental concerns and energy issues.”
Meanwhile, the corps reminded the Charles County commissioners that a 2003 Mattawoman Creek watershed management plan showed development pressures already have had adverse effects on the habitat value and water quality of the creek. The corps also pointed out that the county’s most recent supplemental report “lacks long-term specific management strategies to maintain or even reduce impervious cover as recommended by the Watershed Management Plan.”
The corps also wants more details and comments from various agencies concerned about development plans that deal with crucially important wetlands. One of them is a request to hear comments from the Environmental Protection Agency and the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.
That’s what is worrisome. Given that the Mattawoman is an important spawning creek for a number of fish species, including slowly reappearing shad and pickerel, it seems like the Maryland DNR would be in the fight with all its might to stop this highway once and for all.
Additionally, the SGACC said the commission has not justified why another east-west connector road - planned to run between Billingsley Road and Indian Head Highway - is needed four miles to the south of Maryland Route 228, where a connector between Waldorf and the Indian Head Highway already exists.
• Look for Gene Mueller’s Outdoors column Sunday and Wednesday and his Fishing Report on Thursday, only in The Washington Times. E-mail: gmueller@washingtontimes.com. Mueller’s Inside Outside blog can be found at www.washingtontimes.com/sports.
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