Facing the future
birds were seen. Today everything downwind still breathes the spray, the water quality is impacted, and the bobwhite call and field bird songs have not come back.
More recently, the nearby town dug yet one more deep well for a few more houses. Another marsh on the farm, now called a wetland, the one nearest the town, dried up. As the wells pumped, the marsh plants died, the birds disappeared and the only sign of life among the brittle dead plants were non-native invasive weeds moving in from the adjacent fields. Where white turtlehead blooms had for generations supported the beautiful Baltimore Checkerspot butterfly, the habitat was now wiped out.
The town government agreed their new well had dried up the wetland. But they explained that
wetland restoration would be a budgetary nightmare. In exchange they offered to dig a new farm well. So now the farm has a deep, all-season well. And the turtlehead has nowhere to grow and the checkerspot nowhere to leave her brood.
Facing the future
Protecting these systems starts with understanding them. Land use decisions, from development to agricultural practices, directly influence how much water can soak into the ground and replenish aquifers. Preserving forest cover, minimizing impervious surfaces, and supporting soil health all play a role in sustaining groundwater recharge, and in turn, the seeps and springs that depend on it. Property owners may consider various conservation easement programs, including native tree planting programs such as ReLeaf the Reserve and ReForest Montgomery to perpetually protect these special resources.
Groundwater is constantly moving, quietly shaping the health of our environment. Where it rises to meet the surface, life follows. Protecting these connections is essential to preserving biodiversity, strengthening climate resilience, and ensuring ecosystems thrive.
Abby Mann and Caroline Taylor work for Montgomery Countryside Alliance, a nonprofit organization that aims to protect the things that sustain us in Montgomery’ s Agricultural Reserve. Visit MocoAlliance. org
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