Chesapeake Bay Program — Press Release — October 31, 2024

(The Center Square) — After decades of conservation work and multiple pieces of state and federal legislation passed on its behalf, 2023 proved a banner year for the Chesapeake Bay, according to data gathered by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources and Virginia’s Old Dominion University.

TOWNSEND, Del. (September 7, 2022) – Volunteers are needed to plant 2,000 hardwood seedlings along the Cypress Branch at Blackbird State Forest on Saturday, September 17 to provide scenic beauty, enhance wildlife habitat, fight invasive species, and improve water quality in the critical Chesapeake Bay Watershed. State Forester Michael Valenti said, “Planting trees is a […]

Already under siege from overfishing, disease and poor water quality, the oyster population in the Chesapeake Bay today stands at 2 percent of what it was in colonial times. Now, new data show that rising acidity in the Bay will have a negative impact on oyster shells.

The post Rising acidification of estuary waters spells trouble for Chesapeake Bay oysters appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

A recent survey of the bottom-dwelling animals of the Chesapeake has revealed that communities of even these relatively hardy organisms are under stress. Many regions of the bay are becoming inhospitable to bottom-dwelling animals because of a lack of oxygen—a condition known as “hypoxia.”

The post Bottom-dwelling creatures in the Chesapeake Bay need more oxygen, study finds. appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

It is one of the largest and most productive estuaries in the world, yet dramatic changes are in store for the Chesapeake Bay in coming […]

The post Climate change may drastically alter Chesapeake Bay, scientists say appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

More than 25 years ago, researchers at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center's Fish and Invertebrate Ecology Lab began taking weekley surveys of the species that make their way in and out of Muddy Creek.

The post Net survey: For quarter century, scientists have been counting creatures traveling Chesapeake Bay tributary appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Breitburg and her team want to determine just how much stress they cause. Over the next five years they will conduct a series of lab and field experiments that examine how diel-cycling hypoxia and the associated acidification affects the growth and disease rates in striped bass, the eastern oyster and other ecologically and economically important Chesapeake Bay species. They will also study the animals’ behavioral responses to these changes.

The post Smithsonian ecologists to examine “dead zones” in Chesapeake Bay with $1.4 million NOAA grant appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

A research team from The Smithsonian Environmental Research Center and Virginia's Old Dominion University will be awarded $110,999 to develop a tool to help seagrass restorers predict which places will be the best for planting seagrasses, the Virginia Sea Grant has announced.

The post Environmental Research Center to help with Chesapeake Bay seagrass restoration appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Twenty years ago scientists at the Marine Invasions Lab of the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center in Edgewater, Md., began studying the interactions between native grass […]

The post Invasive oriental shrimp found in Chesapeake Bay by Smithsonian scientists appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

When many people think of the Chesapeake Bay, one of the first creatures that comes to mind is the iconic blue crab. But parts of […]

The post Smithsonian scientists become shark detectives to track species in the Chesapeake Bay appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Current plans to protect the Chesapeake Bay include planting trees along hundreds of miles of streams that empty into the Bay. This study provides realistic limits for how much these buffers might further reduce nitrate pollution, and it helps identify where buffer restoration can offer the greatest additional nitrate removal.

The post Study backs restoring green buffers along streams to reduce Chesapeake Bay pollution appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Smithsonian plant physiologist Bert Drake has studied one wetland's response to climate change for more than two decades. He gives a tour of the field experiment and explains some of the findings.

The post On the Chesapeake Bay, Smithsonian plant physiologist Bert Drake has been studying one wetland’s response to climate change for more than two decades. appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The unique ecosystem found in Chesapeake Bay has been under strain due to water pollution, but with partners like Siemens, the community is making strides to im

The long-term battle to restore the Chesapeake Bay is quietly being waged on the Deep Creek Tract of Redden State Forest in Georgetown.

The Governor released a statement on USDA Report Showing Positive Impact of Farming Practices in Chesapeake Bay Region.

The Delaware Forest Service's Urban and Community Forestry (U&CF) Program is offering a new "Partnership Tree Planting Grant" to nonprofit groups who own property within the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. The U&CF Program will award eight (8) $1000 matching grants on a first-come, first-served basis to qualifying nonprofit groups who apply by February 27, 2015.

Volunteers of all ages are needed this month to help plant 8,800 hardwood seedlings along the Cypress Branch at Blackbird State Forest to enhance the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. The planting will take place on Saturday, March 17, and Sunday, March 18, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day at Blackbird State Forest’s Naudain Tract, 2076 Harvey Straughn Road, Townsend, Delaware 19734. The weekend tree planting is a “rain or shine” event. Equipment, including shovels, will be provided. Volunteers are encouraged to dress appropriately for the weather and wear boots or other work shoes. Snacks will be provided and commemorative T-shirts and patches will be given to both youth and adult volunteers on a first-come, first-served basis. The project is a cooperative partnership between the Delaware Forest Service, the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) Division of Watershed Stewardship, and the Girl Scouts of the USA.

Hampton Roads Sanitation District (HRSD), based in Virginia Beach, Va., has agreed to pay a $900,000 civil penalty and to take corrective actions to reduce alleged sanitary sewer overflows from its collection system and nine sewage treatment plants that have polluted the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries.

Four commercial fishermen and one company were indicted yesterday by a federal grand jury in Baltimore for a criminal conspiracy involving the illegal harvesting and interstate sale of striped bass on the Chesapeake Bay.

Back in 2009, the EPA was sued for "abdicating leadership" on protecting Chesapeake Bay. Part of clean water advocates' anger was directed at a lack of geographical targeting for agricultural conservation funding. But

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