http://occoquanwaterfront.com

The Maryland Department of Natural Resource plans to reward 3 lucky snakehead killers with $200 cash. You read that correctly: anybody who catches and kills a snakehead fish should email photographic evidence to fishingreports@dnr.state.md.us for a chance to win.

This contest is good thing because the Northern snakehead is a non-native, invasive species that  negatively impacts the Potomac River ecosystem. As a top predator, the snakehead fish is a direct threat to valuable fish populations, including bass.

In case you were wondering, there are 3 ways to kills a snakehead: decapitation, evisceration, or gill arch removal. Check out the video for more information.

Via Baynet.com

The 3rd Annual Occoquan River Spring Clean-Up with take place on Saturday, April 14th from 9:00am to 3:00pm.

The Prince William Trails and Stream Coalition is looking for experienced kayakers and canoeists to go for a paddle and pickup trash and debris along the way. Shuttle service for kayakers and canoeists will be available on a scheduled basis on both the Prince William and Fairfax sides of the river.

Register now and join your neighbors and volunteers in sprucing up the shoreline in town! Meet at Town Hall wearing sturdy shoes. Dumpsters, toilet facilities, trash bags, gloves and refreshments will be provided.

The Featherstone National Wildlife Refuge is a strip of 325 acres of pristine riverfront property wedged between Route 1 and the Potomac River.

In 1970, the refuge was made off-limits to the general public. As of today, access is no longer limited. At this point, only boaters can access the refuge via the trail at the southernmost point of Farm Creek, which leads out to Occoquan Bay.

If you’re a fan of hiking and boating, you’re in luck!

A worthy article about protecting and improving the Occoquan Reservoir:
Occoquan Reservoir: A Rare Gem Worth Protecting

The Occoquan Reservoir is a rare gem in our increasingly developed area. It is already an irreplaceable drinking water source for 1.7 million people.

…

Sedimentation input results in knee-deep mud along the bottom of the reservoir that reduces water capacity and aquatic diversity, the clarity of the water is poor, aquatic grasses grow unchecked that inhibit fish stocks and diversity, and on and on.

Check out PWConserve.org for more information.

The 10th Annual Occoquan River Spring Clean-Up with take place on Saturday, April 9 from 9:00am to 12:00pm. Join your neighbors and Friends of the Occoquan volunteers in sprucing up the shoreline in town! Meet at Town Hall wearing sturdy shoes. Gloves and trash bags will be provided.

The image above, courtesy of the Fairfax County Stormwater Management Program, indicates that the watersheds around Mount Vernon are the lowest quality in the county. The areas around Belmont Bay, fortunately, are high quality.

With the exception of the Colchester stretch, the entire Fairfax shoreline of the Occoquan river is a high-quality watershed.

According to the Washington Post, the Potomac River is now the healthiest that it has been since the 1950′s.

“The comeback has been closely tied to the Blue Plains treatment plant, which handles waste from the District and parts of Montgomery, Prince George’s, Fairfax, Loudoun and Arlington counties. Its outflow is a river in itself: about 300 million gallons a day of treated sewage, enough to fill RFK Stadium.”

“In the past decade, responding to mandates from federal regulators, the plant has added $1 billion in new efforts that allow bacteria to consume the algae-feeding pollutant nitrogen in sewage.”

Read the full article at the Washington Post

I found an interesting EPA report released in the waning days of Bush 43 shows that many areas around the Chesapeake Bay’s shoreline are already witnessing the effects of sea level rise and that vulnerable tidal marshes may erode more rapidly over the next century because of climate change. This graphic really says it all:

Luckily, it appears that Occoquan is in the green “safe” zone but when I think about the loss of habitat throughout the bay region, I don’t feel so lucky.  The report, Coastal Sensitivity to Sea-Level Rise: A Focus on the Mid-Atlantic Region, examines the impacts of sea level rise on the human communities and wildlife habitat of the Mid-Atlantic coast, including Chesapeake Bay. According to the EPA, the Mid-Atlantic region is one area of the U.S. that will likely see the greatest impacts of climate change due to rising waters, coastal storms and a high population concentration along the coastline.