What formed was a system in which water first pools, then filters underground through the sand. The wet sand supports a variety of plants, including a growing carpet of moss and algae.
"This is really exciting here, believe it or not," Underwood said, walking through the area one recent day. He was pointing at algae growth that -- were it found in an aquarium or an ice machine -- might be called slime.
Keith Underwood demonstrates the health of the bog he recreated at Howard's Branch by pointing out new, wild growth. "That's the primeval bog right there," he said as he surveyed.
(Photos Rafael Crisostomo For The Washington Post)
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"That's the primeval bog right there," Underwood said.
Eventually, he said, the dead plant matter will form peat, which will also trap sediment and pollutants.
For now, Underwood said, the Howard's Branch system attracts seven species of frogs and the spotted salamander, plus sunfish, deer and other animals.
Barry, of the county school system, said visiting it is "like going to Shangri-La."
To once-skeptical authorities, the Howard's Branch project helped seal Underwood's reputation. Though many people across the country work to restore wetlands, experts said few of them restore this type of bog with such faithful attention to local detail.
"Over time, we kind of realized, 'Hey, Keith is right about this stuff,' " McMonigle said.
Underwood has worked on projects across the county, helping him to earn his nickname, the Bog Man. They include a bog in the Shipley's Choice neighborhood, and a system of terraced pools to filter storm water at nearby Shipley's Choice Elementary School.
There were also projects called "living shorelines," such as the one in Epping Forest. There, Underwood put out a series of rocks and planted grasses behind them. He believes that kind of man-made wetland will help stop erosion and filter water, an improvement over bulkheads or riprap.
Right now, he is working on a half-million-dollar project at the North Grays Bog, off the Magothy River near the town of Lake Shore. There, again with funding from the county, he is trying to restore a bog that was ruined when dredged-up mud was dumped there decades ago.
On one recent visit, the project looked like any construction site: There were backhoes and dump trucks, and big fields of mud.
But soon, Underwood hopes there will be a meandering series of pools, lined with magnolia trees, cranberries and sundew plants.
"You're going to look at this evergreen savannah out there," he said.
