When Restoration Bears Fruit: Food Forests in the Bay Watershed As the Chesapeake Bay restoration effort increasingly emphasizes green infrastructure and community engagement, the creation of local foraging opportunities benefits both the environment and communities. Food forests go beyond basic gardening; they are thoughtfully designed, low-maintenance, perennial-based agroforestry systems designed to mimic a natural [...]
Greener Workforce, Greener Chesapeake Bay Watershed A healthy and thriving Chesapeake Bay watershed requires people power; increasing workforce development for green career pathways drives restoration as well as economically secure, strong communities. Organizations across the watershed are working to support students and professionals at all levels to grow a workforce with the skills and [...]
A Creative Spark: How Artists in Residence Ignite Bright Ideas Artist residencies offer a chance to work in a new environment surrounded by fresh perspectives. Within residencies hosted at research institutions, this kindling of new ideas goes both ways; artistic perspectives can illuminate complex technical challenges and inspire new approaches to research and engagement. [...]
Sowing Seeds, Growing Relationships: Chesapeake Bay Restoration and Agriculture Agriculture is vital to the Chesapeake Bay watershed’s economy and communities, feeding millions and giving many small towns their signature charming, rural character. However, farmland is often viewed only as a source of pollution, with farmers asked to voluntarily change practices that affect their livelihoods [...]
A Tale of Two Species: The Connection Between Menhaden and Osprey Osprey and menhaden are two iconic species of the Chesapeake Bay watershed, and their populations are intertwined. Osprey rely on menhaden as a primary food source, and some experts contend that lower menhaden populations have had a direct impact on the success of [...]
Shared Learning and Informed Decisions: CRC’s Convening Capacity How can the Chesapeake Bay community learn together to support more informed decision-making? For CRC, the answer is convening. This September, we celebrated five years since the first CRC Roundtable. Launched during pandemic lockdowns to provide space for conversation, the platform has only grown in reach [...]
A Foundation for Restoration: K-12 Environmental Literacy Environmental change in the Chesapeake Bay relies on the active support of the people living in the watershed. Environmental literacy is the ability and disposition to apply knowledge and skills to make environmentally beneficial decisions. With the future of the Bay resting in the hands of the [...]
Pavement and Paddleboards: Swimmable Urban Waterways Urban areas are gathering places, making them vibrant centers of culture and innovation. However, gathering so many people in one place also leads to challenges with impervious surfaces, waste, and toxic contaminants. Recreation on our urban waterways has not been historically feasible. Today, many groups are working towards [...]
A River Runs Orange: Acid Mine Drainage in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed If your local waterway looks more “rusty” than usual, acid mine drainage may be to blame. Acid mine drainage (AMD) occurs when groundwater carries toxic metals from abandoned mine sites into streams and rivers, often turning them an alarming shade of orange. [...]
Investing in Clean Water: "Pay-for-Performance" Based Approaches to Watershed Restoration For years, states, localities and stakeholders have focused on implementing Best Management Practices (BMPs) to reduce nutrient inputs to Chesapeake Bay. While this strategy has yielded some successes, it has prioritized process over outcomes, leading to inconsistent results across the watershed. Now, new programs [...]
