BALTIMORE Masonville Cove was home to 61,000 tons of trash 14 years ago. It was a small area of woods and water that ran along the Patapsco River. It is located just north of Interstate 895. Today, it is a sanctuary.
The area is a success with deer browsing the trails and meandering through them in the morning, woodchucks popping out from their dens to hunt in the afternoon, and geese swimming in an inlet that was once notoriously polluted and foul.
In a statement, William P. Doyle, the executive director of Maryland Port Administration, stated that Masonville Cove is one Maryland’s most important environmental restoration projects. The Maryland Port Administration was responsible for a large cleanup of Masonville Cove in the past and worked closely to redevelop the site.
Two of the most visible signs of coves success include the nesting pair of bald Eagles in its trees and the personal trash wheel that captures trash before the river.
Captain Trash Wheel, a large trash-collecting machine with googly eye and solar panels that give it a hermite crab appearance, was installed in 2018. Since then, it has been the pseudo mascot of the coves. It even has its own social media presence, with almost 1,900 Instagram followers and 1,600 Twitter followers.
Storm drain runoff from the streets and storm drains is emitted into the cove every year, which collects trash in large quantities. According to data provided by the Maryland Environmental Service, the wheel removed nearly 30 tons worth of trash since its installation.
Then there are the eagles.
According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Ela-Sita Carpenter is an urban wildlife biologist at the U.S. and believes that this is a special event. They were the first to return to Baltimore. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Bald Eagles became rare in the lower 48 U.S. states in the early 20th century because of pesticides, shooting, trapping, and loss habitat. They had lost 417 breeding pairs and were among the first animals to be protected by the Endangered Species Act.
They recovered quickly and were removed in 2007 from the endangered species register. A U.S. report states that there were 71,400 nesting pairs in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services estimated that there were 71.400 nesting couples in the U.S. last year.
After successfully raising four eaglets in the previous two years, the Baltimore couple nested in the cove in 2021.
Federal wildlife officials stated that the bald eagles have not nested this year, but they returned to the cove this year. They said that researchers are not sure why.
The U.S. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service named Masonville Cove the first Urban Wildlife Refuge Partnership. The refuge is managed by the Maryland Port Authority and works with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Maryland Environmental Service, Living Classrooms Foundation, and the National Aquarium.
Genevieve LaRouche is the Chesapeake Bay Field Office supervisor with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, this refuge is a monument of the people who created it.
LaRouche said that this story tells a good story about the benefits of allowing people to share a space like it. That is important for people’s mental and physical health.
Masonville Cove was a headache in 2008 more than a source of health care.
It was known as the Masonville dumping grounds, which held more than a century’s worth of trash, dating back to the Great Baltimore Fire in 1904. According to the Maryland Port Authority.
The trash was taken away and Masonville Cove Education Center opened in 2009. In 2012, the cove was opened to the public for its first time.
Masonville is now home to a wide variety of wildlife.
Carpenter said that coyotes were first seen in the cove by Carpenter in early 2020.
Masonville’s history is that it was a dumping ground and not much wildlife was able to use it safely. She said that now there are bald eagles using the area and coyotes.
This is really cool.
This article was first published on BayJournal.com.
