Bay Journal News

For months, federal officials have been saying that the Bay will be going on a pollution diet.

The setting of draft Bay cleanup goals July 1 triggers a new, challenging task: Figuring out how to meet them.

A small army advances on the grounds of Little Paint Branch Park in Beltsville, MD, armed with gloves and gardening tools. They have come to defend the woods.

The federal government has told the District of Columbia water and sewer authority and the city's environment department that it will not pay new fees assessed on all residents-a move that could shift the burden of paying for federally required upgrades to the sewage system to city residents who can least afford it.

The Chesapeake Bay Trust has released a first-of-its-kind app, Field Guide to the Chesapeake Bay, that can be used to access data about the full range of plants and animals-not just a sampling-in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

A 26-member panel of Virginia legislators, environmentalists and watermen will study fishing pressures on menhaden, a small fish in big demand for use in health supplements and a critical food source for other Chesapeake Bay fish.

The United States has a great outdoor legacy inherited from past generations that includes national parks, forests, rivers and wild lands.

Two Bay region nonprofit organizations recently merged under the name Chesapeake Conservancy to further their common goals of promoting public access, land conservation, education and stewardship of the Bay and its rivers.

This year's American shad run was more of the same for most rivers around the Chesapeake region: frustration and disappointment about the inability to rebuild large populations of the migratory fish.

Herring were so common in the Potomac River in the spring of 1832 that a single seine net captured a few more than 950,000 "accurately counted," according to a report at the time. A few decades later, Spencer Baird, head of the U.S. Fish Commission, estimated that during the 1830s, the herring in the river must have numbered 3 billion fish.

Millennia ago, long-range migrations provided benefits for many species of fish. By spawning in freshwater areas, species such as shad and river herring lessened predation on their young. And, by migrating into the ocean as adults, they were able to take advantage of the greater food resources of the marine environment.

Decades ago, an exotic menace with spores eliminated the region's most common tree, the American chestnut. Gypsy moths, a foreign species with wings, have hammered the watershed's oaks. More recently, the nonnative woolly adelgid, a tiny insect with a voracious appetite for hemlock sap, has killed huge numbers of these majestic evergreens and threatens their entire range.

Senate negotiators reached a compromise over landmark Chesapeake Bay legislation in June to win enough Republican support in the Environment and Public Works Committee to allow the bill to be sent to the Senate floor.

Shortly after 1 p.m. June 24, the red "On Air" light flashed on in the WYPR studio and our latest media endeavor became a reality.

A fundamental goal of the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay has been to unite various groups in the effort to protect and restore the Chesapeake Bay and its waterways. This collaborative approach is evident in its programs and projects such as the RiverSmart Homes Program, which has shown great promise in its ability to reduce stormwater runoff from residential properties and could serve as a model for many jurisdictions.

Maryland Gov. William Donald Schaefer stood morosely on the deck of the Chesapeake Biological Laboratory's research vessel Aquarius one hot morning in June 1988 as he was ferried up St. Leonard Creek, a tributary to Maryland's Patuxent River.

Treasure hunters are swarming the Chesapeake watershed.

Eelgrass, redhead grass, widgeon grass and wild celery are four of the Chesapeake Bay's most significant underwater grasses. Can you match the 15 facts here with the correct species? There are four facts for each grass-one fact is true for two species.

Did you know that the Bay has underwater grass meadows? The plants found in the Chesapeake's shallow waters are called submerged aquatic vegetation, or SAV for short. Bay Naturalist, on the back page, explains why these grasses are an important resource. It also tells why they are in trouble. Here is a quiz to test what you know about SAV. If you read Bay Naturalist, you will know all of the answers.

A bald eagle soared along the spine of the river. Ospreys in the tree overhead watched warily, but didn't move from their nest. On the dock, we looked on as well, delighted to be returning to the peaceful rhythms of this wide tidal river. Virtually lost against this majestic backdrop, a handful of much smaller birds coursed about, seemingly oblivious to both the predators and their human observers.