Area Environmentalists Look Back on Year Well Spent

The last quarterly meeting of a group dedicated to the preservation of a stream in Carney was held earlier this week at a rustic farmhouse in Cromwell Valley Park. 

The Jennifer Branch Preservation Project advances the idea of environmental stewardship by helping people in the watershed of it's namesake stream take steps to preserve it. 

A great deal of the Carney-Cub Hill area is part of the Jennifer Branch watershed, bounded on the west by Old Harford Road.  Other boundaries include Hines Estate Road to the east, Joppa Road to the south and Gunpowder Falls State Park to the north.

The project is a partnership between the Gunpowder Valley Conservancy, the Baltimore County Master Gardeners, community associations and local residents in the Cub Hill/Carney area, supported by a $100,000 grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.

At a Dec. 21 meeting, Jennifer Branch project manager Peggy Perry reflected on the project, which has been operating since September 2009.  "We've already accomplished what we set out to accomplish with the grant," she said. 

She explained that part of the grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation was to have at least four quarter-mile sections of the stream adopted by residents.  So far residents have adopted seven of these plots and others are showing interest.

Marion Romans, of Carney, adopted a part of Jennifer Branch near her home; the section of the stream she is now responsible for stretches north from Northwind Road. 

"The townhouses that back up to the stream obviously use it as their personal dump — we've found everything from lawn chairs and ornaments to kids toys," Romans said. "While we're down there cleaning up, we've had the neighbors ask us what we're doing, we always explain — hopefully a light bulb goes on and they stop."

Susan Bath, of Carney, installed a rain garden this year.  Rain gardens are a type of landscaping that are naturally irrigated when it rains, preventing run-off.  "We want to do anything we can to help," she said.

As the night wound on, Perry thanked some of the people who have been very active in the project, including Steve Hobbs, of Carney, and Jim & Nancy Murray, of Carney.  Jim Murray and Steve Hobbs were both present to receive awards from the project for their outstanding contributions — recognized in absentia were Mike and Noel Phelps, of Carney.

As 2010 comes to a close, and 2011 draws ever closer on the horizon, the group looked forward to events in the spring and summer, including the potential for two 'green festivals' and several workshops.  The Jennifer Branch Preservation Project grant ends in August 2011.