Dayhoff Westminster Soundtrack: Scientists Warn of Smith Island's Demise, Residents Are Skeptical

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Scientists Warn of Smith Island's Demise, Residents Are Skeptical

http://chesapeakebay.umd.edu/index.php?q=article/scientists-warn-smith-islands-demise-residents-are-skeptical

Article | 04.20.10

Waterways thread through the land near Ewell, one of the three towns on Smith Island. Water has crept closer to the town as it erodes the island's shores. (Photo by Ben Giles)

By Ben Giles
Maryland Newsline

SMITH ISLAND, Md. - Capt. Larry Laird ferries passengers and cargo to and from Smith Island twice a day, each time navigating the narrow channel that grants passage to his boat through the shallow Chesapeake Bay waters.

A wrong turn to the left or right, and he’ll run his vessel aground.

Shallow waters are part of daily life on Smith Island, the last inhabited island on Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay that has no roads connecting it to the mainland. For generations, the water has been the source of the island residents’ livelihood, providing crab in one season and oyster in another.

But now, erosion and rising sea levels in the Chesapeake threaten the island’s existence.

“In the worst-case scenarios, Smith Island could be gone in, let’s say by 2025, 2030 or so,” said Raghu Murtugudde, professor at the University of Maryland’s Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center...

http://chesapeakebay.umd.edu/index.php?q=article/scientists-warn-smith-islands-demise-residents-are-skeptical

http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/2010/08/scientists-warn-of-smith-islands-demise.html

*****