voc 2004 episode 14: Bernie Fowler

Dave Harp’s iconic photo of Bernie Fowler on the Voices book.

Calvert County Commissioner (1970-1982), Maryland Senator (1983-1994), and clear water advocate.

Clyde Bernard Fowler (born March 30, 1924 in Baltimore, Maryland ) is an American politician from Maryland. He was a Calvert County Commissioner from 1970 to 1982, and served on the Maryland Senate between 1983 and 1994. Fowler is best known for his advocacy for the cleanup of the Patuxent River, the largest river to be found entirely within the State of Maryland.

Prior to being elected to public office, Fowler was an avid fisherman who would wade into the Patuxent River and make note of the clarity of the water. After noticing the clarity of the water slowly diminishing, Fowler chose to run for Calvert County Commissioner in 1970 and make the health of the Patuxent River a key issue. After serving over a decade as county commissioner, Fowler was elected to the Maryland Senate, where he remained in until his retirement from public office in the mid 1990s.

Fowler, as an early-1970s Calvert County Commissioner, led the way in a lawsuit filed by downriver Charles, Calvert and St. Mary's counties against upriver counties. The lawsuit forced the state, the upriver counties, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to enact pollution control measures. The 1985 total of 200,000 tons of sediment reaching the Chesapeake Bay annually was reduced to 130,000 by 2004. The Patuxent River is a rarity among Chesapeake watersheds in that most of its harmful phosphorus and nitrogen nutrient overloads come from its ever-increasing areas of urban runoff, and less from its other two largest contributors, point sources (industrial, sewage, etc.) and the declining agricultural areas. Wiki