The Great Marsh: An Intimate Journey into a Chesapeake Wetland

About this book

Is it still possible to make a voyage of discovery here in Maryland the nations fifth most densely settled state? In The Great Marsh: An Intimate Journey into a Chesapeake Wetland David W. Harps vivid photography and Tom Hortons eloquent prose produce a compelling portrait of one such journey in an intriguing and endangered habitat. Into this remarkable territorywhose shrinking dimensions frighten every naturalist and ecologistHarp and Horton embarked on a canoe trip exploring documenting and photographing the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge in Dorchester County. This volume at its core is the story of a single crossing of the Blackwaters length east to west while the accompanying essays discuss how the marsh functions as a refuge for migrating butterflies the wetlands sustain a lonely trapper and the bogs yield archeological treasuresremnants of American Indian hunting forays and colonial boat building. The edges of the Chesapeake Bay offer Americans some of their loveliest (and most sensitive) wetlands. The fertile waters and soggy vegetation provide a home to ducks geese eagles and dozens of other species of birds; muskrats squirrels and foxes; and of course insect varieties almost too numerous to count. The environmental importance of the marshes lies in their capacity to filter pollutants retard erosion and help maintain a natural balance among the critters.