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The practice of environmental public health (EPH)--ensuring food, water, and sanitation protection--is the traditional cornerstone of public health. Demands on the EPH infrastructure have broadened, however, to involve issues such as chemical and physical hazards in the environment, the role of the built environment in health, and disaster preparedness. Maryland, with its varied geography and population densities, faces many of the EPH challenges that are present elsewhere throughout the nation. A strong and stable EPH workforce is an essential ingredient in addressing these challenges. Yet significant workforce obstacles exist, including recruitment shortfalls, inability to retain qualified staff, impending retirements, inadequate training opportunities, insufficient compensation, and the absence of a robust career advancement pathway. Recognizing the importance of EPH protection for Maryland's future, state and local agencies and academic institutions are working collaboratively to address EPH challenges. Much progress has been made: Communication and interaction between state and local agencies have been strengthened; practitioners and academic institutions have collaborated to improve EPH training opportunities; and workforce development efforts have been made to address recruitment and retention challenges. Although there have been significant accomplishments, much work remains. It is imperative that these efforts continue and that they be supported at all levels of government. Coordination and communication, as well as the training, recruitment, and retention of the workforce, are critical to a strong and responsive EPH infrastructure., Introduction According to Healthy People 2010, a strong public health infrastructure is necessary for fulfillment of the mission of public health, which includes preventing epidemics and the spread of disease, [...]

In July 1997, in response to health studies showing that cumulative exposure even to low levels of ozone can have adverse health effects, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency promulgated a more stringent National Ambient Air Quality Standard for ground-level ozone. One-hour average ozone concentrations ranging from 0.07 parts per million (ppm) to 0.09 ppm were considered as alternative health-protective standards during the regulatory process. To determine the extent to which resident and tourist populations on the Lower Eastern Shore of Maryland are exposed to potentially harmful concentrations of ozone, this study examines state and local monitoring site (SLAMS) data from 1985 to 1988, the only years in which monitoring was performed on the Lower Eastern Shore. The results show that hourly concentrations exceeded 0.07 ppm (which the Clean Air Science Advisory Committee has recommended be considered a health-significant level) in 1,132 instances. In 479 instances, concentrations were above 0.08 ppm, and in 193 instances, concentrations were above 0.09 ppm. The total number of days on which the hourly ozone maximum exceeded 0.07 ppm was 185. On 102 days, the maximum was above 0.08 ppm, and on 48 days it was above 0.09 ppm. Ozone levels exceeded an eight-hour average concentration of 0.08 ppm a total of 52 days during the study period. Nevertheless, under the new standard, the Lower Eastern Shore SLAMS would have achieved compliance. Comparisons with ozone levels in the Baltimore-Washington corridor show that extrapolation from monitoring results in these urban areas may not predict high ozone levels on the Eastern Shore. Consequently, local monitoring in rural areas is critical to the provision of accurate local public health information and the development of forecast models specific for the area., Introduction Ground level ozone, a powerful 'oxidant, is a main component of smog and the most toxic of the six "criteria air pollutants" regulated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency [...]

The distribution and abundance of amphibians and reptiles in forest stands subjected to salvage cutting and prescribed burning were compared with their unmanaged counterparts. The study was conducted on the Atlantic coastal plain at Chesapeake Farms near Chestertown, Maryland. Three herpetofaunal trapping arrays were systematically located in each of four forest stand types: hardwood (Hardwood), cut-over hardwood (Cut), mixed pine-hardwood (Pine) and prescribed burn pine (Burn). A total of 3931 individuals representing 29 species were captured in 30,540 trap nights during the spring and summer 1992 and 1993. Felling of hardwoods and prescribed burning of pine resulted in similar responses from the herpetofaunal communitites; Hardwood had the most distinctive herpetofaunal community of the four stands. Adults and young-of-the-year (YOY) of six amphibian species were significantly more abundant in Hardwood than Cut. Only one amphibian species, Pseudacris triseriata, was less abundant in Hardwood than Cut. Total ranid captures did not differ between Hardwood and Cut. Snake and total reptile captures, and Elaphe obsoleta and Eumeces faciatus abundances were significantly less in Hardwood than Cut. Hardwood also had fewer small mammals than Cut, particularly Microtus pennsylvanicus and Zapus hudsonius, that might serve as prey for large snakes. Adults of four amphibian species, YOY of five amphibian species, and three reptiles (Carphophis amoenus, Storeria dekayi and Thamnophis sirtalis) were significantly more abundant in Pine than Burn; two reptile species (Coluber constrictor and Lampropeltis getula) were significantly less abundant. Potential small mammal prey of the latter two snakes were not significantly different between Pine and Burn; however, Zapus hudsonius was less abundant in Pine than in Burn. More amphibians were captured in Hardwood and Pine stands than in their respective logged and burned counterparts. The trend for reptiles tended to depend on the mix of species present and their habitat preferences. Greater canopy cover and depth of leaf litter in Hardwood and Pine stands likely had a moderating effect on temperature and helped to maintain a moist microenvironment for mesophilic species. Disturbance of a small patch of forest could locally decrease herpetofaunal diversity, but diversity on a much larger scale would likely increase., INTRODUCTION Logging and prescribed burning are two commonly used forest management practices that modify forest habitat by changing vegetation composition and structure, and which have been shown to alter the [...]

The economic and conservation factors associated with low cost land acquisitions are discussed by focusing on Maryland.

The physical environment of the George's Creek Valley in western Maryland was altered dramatically during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, as coal mining and associated activities expanded and intensified. Although mineral extraction was the chief agent of change, forest and water resources were also affected by other industrial and commercial activities, as well as by the region's growing population. Examining the environmental alteration that took place in the valley, this work also considers attitudes and motivations that contributed to the transformation. Keywords: Appalachia, coal mining, deforestation, landownership, water pollution., In 1906 State Geologist William Bullock Clark and his staff at the Maryland Geological Survey produced a Report on the Physical Features of Maryland (Clark and Mathews 1906). Like other [...]