The Patuxent River Naval Air Station is located in Lexington
Park at the headwaters of the St. Mary's River watershed
where the majority of the streams that feed the St. Mary's
River are located (see Fig. 2). This combination of increased
development and numerous ravines and small streams
increases the potential for sediment to migrate through
these streams and into the river. Biologists monitoring the
St. Mary's River watershed warn of the dangers of development
and have stated, “In a high discharge year, the water
quality will deteriorate, degrading habitat and stressing
estuarine organisms of both the watershed and estuary”
(Paul and Tanner, 2002). However, the value of these negative
external costs has never been quantified.