As reported by most area broadcast news stations, certain residents of the Chesapeake Ranch Estates live in fear that their houses will eventually fall into the Chesapeake Bay from their perch high above on crumbling cliffs.
There are some 91 homes in danger and as eager as homeowners are to take action to shore up the cliffs, they cannot. Apparently, due to the heavy rains of 2009 and the year-ending heavy snow fall, the fragile clay of the cliffs is deteriorating even faster than the normal two-foot-per-year erosion pace than at any time in recent memory.
The dilemma has occurred because these very same cliffs are home to a federally protected endangered species of beetle – the Puritan Tiger Beetle. The insect, initially counted with a population of 11,000 is now down to 300 according to some experts.
Residents worried about having their homes slide into the bay, are frustrated as yard by yard, the edge of the cliffs creeps closer to homes and a roadway that fronts most of the affected properties. Some have requested that the endangered bug be moved to a safer location, but to date, the federal authorities have taken no action.
The Puritan Tiger Beetle is found only in two regions of the country. In New England, the beetle resides at the edges of the Connecticut River. The second and only other known home to the beetle is on the western shore of Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay.
The decline in population of the beetle is due in direct proportion to the amount of work people have done to shore up sagging sandy and clay shorelines and embankments, leaving the Lusby homeowners basically up a cliff without a buttress.
To shore up the cliffs as required to keep homes in tact and not part of the shoreline would require extensive shoring of the cliffs. Doing that work would essentially doom the remaining population of the Puritan Tiger Beetle.
The Chesapeake Ranch Estates requested the services of an engineer to look over the problem. Essentially the engineer stated that the road was too dangerous for vehicular traffic and that it should not be used. However, if that section of road is closed, emergency workers would have a difficult time responding.
At this time, no government official or agency has offered solutions for these homeowners who are paying particularly close attention to the weather. Another large snow storm may be the straw that breaks the cliffs back and causes up to 91 homes to become part of the shoreline; and 91 homeless families.
