LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT
Fellow members, FOJB congratulates Jug Bay Wetlands Sanctuary and staff for having a wonderful Music by the Marsh 40th Anniversary Celebration with so many people in attendance. FOJB board members, including me, found it a great opportunity to meet with Anne Arundel County’s Department of Recreation and Parks Director Jessica Lays and know that she is thankful for FOJB’s support of JBWS. Autumn passed quickly this year. In early October, it seemed to me that the leaf color was dull, but maybe I was just seeing yellowish tulip popular trees. But later the colors were gorgeous, and my wife and I spent several days in a row going to Jug Bay to be in the sunshine and enjoy looking at the red and orange tree color and then trying to identify the trees from the color and shape of fallen leaves.
During my visits to the Sanctuary in October, I noticed the parking lots quite full of vehicles at both the Sanctuary and Glendening Nature Preserve . Jug Bay staff confirmed that there was an uptick in visitation and it was likely due to the federal government shutdown. But I should have known because many federal properties were closed to the public during the shutdown, such as Patuxent Research Refuge in Laurel, Maryland, and the U.S. National Arboretum in Washington, D.C. It is nice to know that the Sanctuary is thought of as an inspiring and quiet nature destination. I enjoyed several adventures this autumn at Jug Bay. The first was a mental adventure. The Sanctuary held its annual Critter Crawl on October 24, to celebrate Halloween. As part of the decorations, there was a row of jack-o’-lanterns leading from the parking lot to the Visitor Center door. The day after Critter Crawl, my wife and I noticed that behind the row of pumpkins were tombstones planted in the lawn. The stones had names such as Heath Hen 1932, Eastern Elk 1877, Passenger
Pigeon 1914, Eastern Cougar 1938, Carolina Parakeet 1939, and Maryland Darter 1988. I talked with a visitor and remarked about the tombstones, noting that the names of the wildlife listed on the tombstones were species made extinct by human actions, mainly killing the species. He was surprised, and then registered how human actions are not always great. My point here is that most people do not know the natural history of the world. How do we teach how precious nature is and what it means to humans? My other adventure was with Jug Bay Wetlands Sanctuary Superintendent Pati Delgado and a small group of FOJB Board members. She took us to the Sanctuary’s Emory Waters section and we viewed the upper part of a couple of streams. These streams form where water runs under the entry road. The erosion is so bad that the bed of these streams is easily 10 to 25 feet below the surrounding terrain. One looked like a canyon with straight walls. Hopefully these will be remedied with the future stream restoration grant contracts. Thinking ahead to spring, I want to mention the needs of the amazing Butterfly Garden at Glendening Nature Preserve , which is a major attraction for visitors. Parents bring their children there to experience nature close up, and families bring their aging parents to see the garden. The Butterfly Garden needs volunteer help! The garden is tended by three volunteers (last year there were five volunteers). The volunteers work in the garden April–September. They do weeding, trimming, planting, and watering the garden (sometimes rain does not show up). Spring is coming, and if you have time to help the garden volunteers that would be great! For the most part, the garden is made up of native plants. Other non-native plants are big attractors for butterflies. The Butterfly Garden attracts many butterfly and bee species throughout the year. Jug Bay also has the Pollinator Garden in Emory Waters that is also tended to by volunteers. We don’t want these gardens to lapse this coming year! Look for FOJB’s popular Soup & Science lectures on Sundays in January, February, and March 2026. January will feature the topic of insects and March will feature birds around the Jug Bay environs. I hope to see you there! Happy Holidays!
President, Friends of Jug Bay dennisfravel@friendsofjugbay.org Dennis Fravel
VOLUNTEER AT JUG BAY Discover opportunities at jugbay.org/volunteer. For more information, contact Volunteer & Program Coordinator Debra Gage at rpgage00@aacounty.org or call 410-222-8006.
DONATIONS If you are interested in making a donation, please contact Debra Gage.
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WINTER 2025-26
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