Main Features and History

The tidal portion of Forked Creek is fairly short. Cool Spring Cove is north of the mouth of the creek. The mouth of the rest of the creek is protected by a sand spit. There is a created oyster bar in the mouth of the creek, off a bulkhead in front of some of the waterfront homes in the Ulmstead neighborhood.

The two highest points on the south shore of the Magothy are near this creek. Both are shown as 146 feet high on the USGS quad map, 11 feet shorter than Eagle Hill on the north shore. They are southwest of the tidal portion of the creek, and form part of the edge of its watershed in that direction. College Parkway passes between them near Jones Station Road and the Gloria Dei church.

Going downriver from Ulmstead Point at the mouth of Forked Creek towards Deep Creek, you will pass two small enclosed coves, with entrances that are barely visible from the river. The first, Scheide’s Cove, is reached through a narrow channel just upriver from Ulmstead Point. The channel is V-shaped, so you must be right in the center if
your boat has a deep draft. Pass the next broad cove as you move downriver, which has a large marina for the Stonington neighborhood in the middle of it. After the land makes a broad point, look for another narrow entrance, for Lake Placid. This entrance is also quite shallow.

Water Quality

MRA has sampled one station in the mouth of this creek since 1992. It was sampled by boat from a point near the marker, called MR8. In 1997 the station was moved to the end on the long Ulmstead Community pier nearby, as MR8B. MR8A is sampled occasionally over the oyster bar that was created nearby.One or two MRA stations have been sampled in this creek since 1993. The first (MR6A) was sampled by boat from near the middle of the first broad area after you enter the creek. The second (MR6B) was near the shore of the sand spit on the left side of the creek. Later (in 1997), a pier on the right side of the creek (MR6D) was used. Water quality in this creek is usually among the best of the stations sampled in the Magothy, or near the best.

Living Resources

SAV: The mouth of Forked Creek, and Wilson’s Wharf nearby, have had fairly extensive beds of widgeongrass since 1997, with small amounts of redhead grass, sago pondweed, and horned pondweed. Beds were located in similar places in 1979 SAV surveys (see maps). There is relatively little SAV in the upper tidal portion of the creek except for horned pondweed in the spring.

Moving downriver from the creek along the south shore, there are large SAV beds on the east side of Ulmstead point and around the Stonington marina, containing widgeongrass and redhead grass, with some sago pondweed and horned pondweed. Scheide’s Cove contains sparse beds of coontail, redhead grass, horned pondweed, and Eurasian watermilfoil. Lake Placid is one of the few places on the Magothy to find large beds of coontail, which has no true roots and is usually found in sheltered sites. Horned pondweed and Eurasian watermilfoil have also been found there. This area was last ground truthed in 1996 and 1997. SAV beds in both coves are usually too small to be seen in the aerial survey; however, the 1998 aerial survey had mapped beds in Scheide’s Cove (bed J4, map 24) and Lake Placid (bed M4, map 24).SAV: There are scattered horned pondweed beds here in the spring. The submerged spit at the mouth of the creek has a bed of sago pondweed on it, which may be exposed at unusually low tides. The left (northwest) corner of the first broad area as you enter has had small beds of widgeongrass with some redhead grass since about 1998. Some SAV was planted to the right of these natural beds in June 1998, but most or all of it appeared to be eaten by the resident Canada geese in the creek. The wave action may also have been to high there; at high tide the first part of the creek gets more wave action than it does at low tide, because at high tide waves from the river are not slowed by the submerged sand spit.

Waterfowl

Resident Canada geese nest on the island, and their numbers are increasing. In 1999, up to 40 were seen in the creek. They pose a threat to the SAV populations that are starting to get established in this creek.

Non-Tidal

The non-tidal portion is fairly short; it extends south, almost to College Parkway.