Pocomoke River Nature Exploration

The Pocomoke River State Park Quest Adventure is a self-guided hands-on exploration of three different ecosystems within the park using an assortment of tools provided to participants in a Quest Exploration Pack. The Quest involves some walking (roughly one mile) from one exploration site to the next and a series of activities that focus on the participants’ powers of observation. To complete this Quest, each team must visit three exploration areas within the park representing three different ecosystems: the pond, the forest, and the bald cypress swamp. At each area, the teams will complete a worksheet on which they will record general characteristics about the environment under study (for example, ground, air and/or water temperatures and diversity of plant/animal communities). The information recorded by the Park Quest teams will help park staff better understand and protect the natural resources within its boundaries. This Pocomoke Quest challenges families to slow down, smell the swamp, and focus their attention on the details of nature that make Pocomoke River State Park such a special place.

Quest Information

Park Quest teams may undertake their Pocomoke Quest during hours that the Nature Center is open, Wednesday through Sunday from 9 am until 4 pm. Quest teams will start their adventure by signing in at the Nature Center and receiving their Quest Packs. Using a map provided to them in the pack and following established trails in the park, the teams will then proceed to the three exploration areas where they will record their observations. When they have completed all three worksheets, they will return to the Nature Center by 4 pm where they will turn in their packs and worksheets and get their Park Quest Passport stamped.

Directions to Pocomoke River State Park

Pocomoke River State Park is located in Worcester County. The Shad Landing area of Pocomoke River State Park is located on Rt. 113 between Snow Hill to the north and Pocomoke City to the south.
• From points south: Take Rt. 13 north to Pocomoke City; turn right on to Rt. 113 (towards Berlin); nine miles on the left – watch for signs.
• From points north: from Salisbury, take Rt. 12 (Snow Hill Road) to Snow Hill; at stop light turn right on Business 113; take Business 113 to Rt. 113 south; one mile on the right – watch for signs.
• Make a reservation to stay at the park.

Before Europeans settled in this country, over 95% of the Chesapeake Bay watershed was forested. By the early 20th century most of the forest, including those in this park, had been cleared in order to harvest timber and create land for agriculture. As the cleared land in this park was allowed to return to forest, fast-growing softwood trees, predominantly loblolly pines, were the first trees to grow. Slower growing hardwoods such as oaks, maples, and sweet gum will later shade out these softwoods and replace them in a mature forest.

The forest environment in Pocomoke provides a rich habitat for a variety of animals, including birds, rodents, small and large mammals, and insects. In addition, the forest plays an important role in maintaining the health of the Chesapeake Bay by protecting the soil from washing into the waterways. Trees also absorb and evaporate large amounts of water during the growing season and so reduce flooding in times of heavy rainfall. Forests – especially those that grow along rivers and streams – also have the added benefit of acting as filters that absorb harmful nutrients and other materials before they enter the waterways.

The bald cypress swamp is an example of a "wetland." In non-technical terms, a wetland is an area that is saturated with or covered by water and supports plants that can grow in water or very saturated soil for a good part of the year. Scientists have their own precise system for classifying wetlands depending on factors such as whether or not they are tidal or associated with salt water or a lake or river and what kinds of plant communities they support. In common usage, there are less clear distinctions between such terms as swamp, bog, and marsh, but there are some general differences. A marsh is generally recognized to be a wetland that supports predominantly grasses, while swamps and bogs generally support woody plants (trees and shrubs). Bogs are distinguished from swamps by their build-up of decayed vegetation called peat, which lies beneath the water and vegetation. Swamps have little if any peat and are generallly underlain by saturated soil.

Wetlands used to be considered wastelands, and they were drained and filled indiscriminately for farming, building, and other development. Well over half of the wetlands that were present in the 1600s have been destroyed. Although the destruction of wetlands continues today, by the mid-twentieth century scientists recognized the value of these landscapes, and legislation was enacted for their protection.

Wetlands are valuable for a number of reasons:

• First, wetlands provide habitats for a number of plants and animals that cannot survive in drier environments. In addition, a great many species of animals depend on resources only available in wetlands. For example, one third of all North American bird species depend on wetland resources at some time in their lives. The loss of wetlands directly impacts the welfare of all of these plants and animals has caused a number of species to become threatened or endangered.
• Wetlands act as very effective water purification systems. The abundant oxygen produced by wetland plants promotes the growth of micro-organisms that decompose organic waste in much the same way a sewage treatment plant functions, but on a much larger scale. It is estimated that a 100 acre marsh pond ecosystem can effectively handle the domestic sewage from a community of 10,000 people.
• Because of their capacity to capture and hold great quantities of water, wetlands also play an important role in flood prevention during times of high precipitation and act as water reservoirs in times of drought.
• Wetlands are among the most productive environments on the planet equaled only by tropical rainforests. Productivity is measured by the amount of living matter or biomass produced by an ecosystem in a given length of time. Wetlands also contribute significant quantities of nitrogen, oxygen and water to the biosphere, substances that are essential of all living things.

In this time when the health of the Chesapeake Bay is of such great concern, the protection of forests and wetlands is particularly important. All of the forested lands and wetlands within the Bay’s watershed, including the forest and the bald cypress swamp in this park, play an important role in filtering and purifying the water that eventually drains into the Bay. Loss of forests and wetlands will further endanger the health of the Bay and make its recovery that much more difficult.