Friday, April 11, 2008

Riverkeeper Roughnecks work the Little Patuxent

Joined the Patuxent Riverkeepers today to work on the Little Patuxent River just outside Odenton, MD. The Riverkeeper Roughneck work crew goes out on the river to clear stream blockages and open the river to paddlers. We hiked up the new WB&A trail to get to the river; the trail is all finished and ready for bikers but not yet officially open. From the trail bridge we hiked upriver about a quarter mile until we came upon a major blockage - about six or seven major tree down almost entirely blocking the river. We waded into the cold water - the air temp was only about 40F - and started to attack the first downed tree with hand saws.
It was a glorious day out. Chilly but sunny. As we worked we saw several blue herons - there is a rookery in the area, a king fisher, and then high overhead a bald eagle.


It took over an hour but we finally were able to cut the tree and winch it out of the channel. We then attacked several smaller limbs and impediments to re-open the channel. One of our members poled his canoe upriver and came back to declare there were no other major blockages for the next half mile up river. Having open this blockage, and in good spirits, we headed back out for a well deserved lunch.

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