Bernie Fowler has been using his unofficial “sneaker index” to gauge water clarity on the Patuxent River for the last 33 years. However, Sunday’s wade-in at Jefferson Patterson Park & Museum in St. Leonard still had a pair of firsts.
Fowler, a former state senator, and Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md., 5th) waded out into the river. Upon returning to shore, the two measured 43 inches of water clarity.
The length was shorter than last year’s 47 inches, but the second highest since 2015. Fowler’s sneaker index has reached the 40-inch plateau just seven times since 1998.
“I’m not totally disappointed, and this is repetitive, but we have a lot to go,” said Fowler, wearing his traditional overalls and straw cowboy hat topped by a miniature American flag. “I can’t emphasize enough how important it is for our [government] leadership — and they know who I’m speaking about — to take a serious look at what’s happening. This is too valuable what we have here. We need to put this right at the top rung of the ladder and make sure we tackle some of the things we need to do.”
Hoyer has taken part in 30 of the 33 annual wade-ins.
“We all know this isn’t a scientific approach because the water can be stirred up by a storm or the waves, but it is a very powerful way of saying this river is not as clean as it ought to be,” said Hoyer, wearing a Fowler Followers T-shirt. “And that’s why National Geographic covered it [in 1993], not so much for the scientific value, but it’s a way of saying to people that we have degraded this river. We have, nobody else has.”
Because of the coronavirus pandemic, this year marked the first time the wade-in was closed to the public and instead livestreamed on social media.
The event also saw Fowler, 96, and Hoyer, who turned 81 Sunday, get trapped in the mud and stumble, though neither man went completely underwater.
“I didn’t expect to go for a swim, but we used to do [this wade-in] at a different place where the bottom is a lot more stable,” Hoyer said. “Here the bottom is very soft mud, and we got I guess 25 feet out, and I said, ‘Bernie, this mud is deep,’ and less than a minute later, we both got stuck in the mud. I grabbed him, but of course, because I was stuck, I couldn’t stabilize, so I went down, but the good news was his back was against my chest, and we are both able to keep our heads above water. What I’m proudest about today is I didn’t let Bernie go underwater.”
“I stepped down, and I couldn’t get my feet out,” Fowler said, “but [Hoyer] always comes to my rescue.”
The two men were assisted by Fowler’s son, Bernie Jr., and his grandson, Steve Forrester.
“I felt like I was pulling dad’s arm out of his socket when I was pulling him back out,” Bernie Jr. said.
Fowler grew up in Broomes Island and regularly crabbed and fished on the river, which he said had acres and acres of seagrasses.
“I could go out in that water with my dip net and live box [crabbing], and I could wade out until I couldn’t wade any further, and I could still see the crabs on the bottom,” Fowler Sr. said.
The love affair with the Patuxent grew even stronger in 1929, during the Great Depression.
“I can still remember very, very vividly what that was like,” he said. “People were going hungry, but because of the goodness of people and this great body of water, we did pretty good around here and kept people going. We had our oysters, crabs, fish and clams. Because of the labor market, you either worked the water or farmed or did both.”
Fowler wore a 3-year-old pair of sneakers with the toes taped up. His original pair of sneakers, which he used for the first 30 wade-ins, is in an exhibit at the Calvert Marine Museum in Solomons.
“The Chesapeake Bay Foundation said we are making progress, but we want to be at a B+ or an A, and right now, we’re at a C-,” Hoyer said. “We’ve been at a D- so we are making some progress, but it’s not enough. The reason I never miss it because I think it’s a powerful thing to focus on the health of something we all need and love. Bernie is an extraordinary individual, and he’s kept this up for a third of his life.”
Fowler Sr. said he’ll never stop fighting for the health of the river, and Hoyer agrees.
“Bernie Fowler has kept the faith for nine decades,” Hoyer said. “This is a man who year after year calls us for a baptismal in the river.”
“I’m getting close to 100 years old, but I don’t intend to diminish my efforts,” he said. “The river is not good now. We have to get it like it was in the 1950s. I really will” continue fighting.
Twitter: @CalRecMICHAEL