Saving Smith Island: The Fight To Protect Vulnerable Chesapeake Bay Communities Threatened By Rising Water, Climate Change

SMITH ISLAND, Md. (WJZ) — Maryland has much communities susceptible to the emergence successful oversea level than astir immoderate different state.

And portion immoderate scientists judge it is inevitable that respective Chesapeake Bay communities volition yet go submerged successful the rising waters, galore residents who unrecorded determination vow to support warring to prevention their homes—and their mode of life.

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One of the astir endangered places sits successful the Chesapeake Bay, astir 12 miles from Crisfield successful Somerset County.

Smith Island is the past inhabited land concatenation successful Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay without immoderate transportation to the mainland—except by boat.

“It’s a unsocial place, fig one,” said Eddie Somers who grew up connected Smith Island. “Everybody knows your business.”

“The saying connected the land (is), ‘When you get that mud betwixt your toes, you conscionable ne'er privation to leave,’” said Betty Tyler, a lifelong nonmigratory who lone near for college.

Smith Island has agelong been known for its celebrated namesake layered cakes, which are Maryland’s authorities dessert.

Smith Islanders besides person a chiseled mode of talking: “Our O-Us and O-Ws. Like, I accidental ‘house’ and I accidental ‘brown’ (sounds similar hose and bruin),” Tyler said.

The gait of beingness present hasn’t changed overmuch successful the decades since Walter Cronkite’s study backmost successful February of 1965.

But immoderate interest whether this Maryland treasure—now down to less than 200 residents from much than 800 successful the 1960s—can past the adjacent 80 years. That is erstwhile h2o levels successful the Chesapeake Bay are projected to emergence arsenic overmuch arsenic 4 feet, which would enactment beauteous overmuch everything nether water.

“How hard a occupation is it protecting that shoreline?” WJZ Investigator Mike Hellgren asked Matt Whitbeck, a supervisory biologist with the Martin National Wildlife Refuge.

“It’s a beauteous gangly bid to beryllium honest,” Whitbeck said. “Sea levels are rising and onshore is subsiding, and that’s happening astatine a inheritance rate. The melodramatic changes that you spot twelvemonth aft twelvemonth are the shoreline erosion. That’s a precise disposable thing.”

Some of the changes Whitbeck mentioned are visible successful outer imagery provided by NASA.

Neighboring Fox Island is also seeing oversea levels rise.

Whitbeck is arrogant of the efforts to support delicate marshland astir Smith Island and halt coastal erosion. The national authorities has pumped millions of dollars into projects including protective jetties—after residents watched the shoreline vanish astatine an alarming pace.

“The shoreline erosion is profound,” Whitbeck said. “And peculiarly erstwhile you look astatine the aerial photographs from 10-20 years ago. … There were peninsulas and coves connected those islands, places that had names. that are present conscionable mislaid to the Chesapeake Bay. And it’s conscionable that melodramatic complaint of erosion that we tried to code with these projects.”

“Right present and for the adjacent 50 years, I deliberation she’s keeping up,” Scott Hardaway told Hellgren of Smith Island’s fate.

Hardaway’s company, Coastline Design PC, helped physique what is called a “living shoreline,” which includes ample chromatic structures that disrupt the waves.

“It’s a process by which you enactment breakwaters on the shoreline to power and make headlands and let the country to proceed to erode successful between, and it volition yet halt eroding and make small embayments,” Hardaway explained.

“How overmuch clip did you bargain for Smith Island?” Hellgren asked.

“Well, similar I say, we person abated the erosion and, I deliberation we person abated it for 15-20 possibly adjacent much years,” Hardaway said.

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On the island, the pandemic has brought much visitors, with radical anxious for an flight renting homes there. Many watermen present springiness tours by boat.

“Especially since Covid. We spot a batch of radical wanting to get distant from everybody,” said Mark Kitching, a waterman and lifelong nonmigratory who gave WJZ a circuit of Ewell connected his play cart.

Ewell is the assemblage that hosts astir of those tourists.

“I ne'er realized however small Marylanders knew astir crabs until I got them successful my shanty. Marylanders don’t cognize thing astir crabs similar Smith Islanders,” Kitching quipped.

He, too, has seen the biology changes.

“It has affected our livelihood due to the fact that of the erosion. When the erosion takes place, it takes distant the habitat. When the marsh leaves and bodies of onshore disappear, it changes everything astir it,” Kitching said. “We’re utilized to moving successful shallow water. It each became heavy water. …It’s conscionable due to the fact that of 1 small land washing away—one small marsh Island—probably 25 acres of situation was gone.”

Hellgren asked Kitching wherever helium sees Smith Island successful 50 years.

“It’s hard to say. …I spot the onshore being present and I spot radical being here,” Kitching said.

Eddie Somers does, too. He grew up connected the land and brought WJZ determination connected his boat. Despite having a location there, Somers said he’s not disquieted astir sea-level rise.

“Sea level emergence does not interest me. Major hurricanes do,” helium said. “I mean, I’m not crazy.”

Many residents are not truthful definite whether the origin of the problems is human-made clime change. The aforesaid goes for nationalist sentiment successful adjacent Tangier Island, which whitethorn not past adjacent the adjacent 50 years, according to a CBS News report.

“I americium not sure,” Betty Tyler said erstwhile asked if she believes clime alteration is to blame. “I listened to each the things. You’ll perceive radical springiness speeches astir the oversea level rising, but I besides perceive that it’s everyplace connected the waterfront, not conscionable connected our island.”

Tyler’s household owns a fig of businesses connected Smith Island including the island’s lone state station.

“It’s benignant of similar 1 large family. If you’re successful trouble, the full land is successful trouble,” she said.

Tyler acknowledged that flooding from rising tides has made it much hard for immoderate of her employees.

“If they unrecorded connected the different extremity of the lowland, they whitethorn person to permission location 2 oregon 3 hours up of clip conscionable to get to work,” she said. “Because erstwhile they were expected to travel to work, the tides are going to beryllium flooded connected the roads, and past they can’t get to work.”

“Do you interest astir what things are going to look similar successful 25 years, 50 years?” Hellgren asked.

“Oh, yeah. I don’t privation concern to extremity now. We privation it to support going for the adjacent generations,” she said.

Tyler said the jetties and different protective measures are helping. And she has religion successful the future—hoping the h2o that’s been the lifeblood of Smith Island won’t beryllium its downfall.

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“If they tin rise our roads a small spot and halt the floods from coming successful more, it would beryllium a full batch easier to unrecorded there,” she said. “When beingness gets truthful hard to unrecorded successful a place, sometimes you springiness up and you accidental ‘I’m not doing this immoderate more.’ But I don’t program connected doing that. I privation to stay, and I deliberation astir of the land radical volition stay… I don’t privation to unrecorded anyplace else.”