Photo courtesy of Chesapeake Bay Program

Blog

Spring Means Snow

The snow goose (Anser caerulescens) migration is an annual event that many of us within the Chesapeake Bay region look forward to each year.

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For a Resilient Chesapeake Bay, We Need an Even More Resilient Effort

I think often of how we’re building resilience into our landscapes, our communities and our partnerships. Resilience is defined as the ability to bounce back from adverse conditions, a concept that is at the root of the restoration efforts in the Bay watershed. When we focus on building something resilient for the future, it forces us to concentrate on the steps between now and that future state.

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Bringing Sustainable Practices to Local Dairy Farms

As we continue to support farmers, the Agriculture Team is learning and researching more about sustainable practices that can support our local farming communities. Many of the practices have both water and climate change mitigation benefits. In particular, nature-based practices such as riparian forest buffers, vegetative environmental buffers, and silvopasture are among the most cost-effective practices.

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A person smiling while a monarch butterfly rests on their finger

More Milkweed for the Monarchs

I remember how excited I would get as a child before entering the local butterfly enclosure. My friends, family, and others there were always on the lookout for one of the most iconic pollinators in the Americas – the monarch butterfly. Decades later, while partnering with a monarch conservation group, I was thrilled to see the awe remain in the eyes of today’s children during their yearly monarch release. Crossing borders and biomes, monarch butterflies are still a source of wonder and an inspiring symbol of summer in the Chesapeake Bay.

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Chesapeake Tales: A Seven-part Fishing Adventure Series

In June of 2022, my brother and I teamed up with Fly Fishers International to create a seven-part video series highlighting the watershed’s different fisheries. Traveling in an old camper van, we spent seven days traveling over a thousand miles throughout the watershed. Our first stop led us to a familiar guest in the legendary waters of central Pennsylvania.

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The Alliance’s DEIJ Terminology Guide Continues to Evolve

The latest version of the Alliance’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice (DEIJ) Terminology Guide has been released! Since its debut in 2021, the DEIJ Terminology Guide has maintained the goal of providing communicative guidance on commonly used DEIJ expressions for organizations operating within the environmental field. With continued research and much feedback from our partners, …

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Our Forests and Climate Change

Our forests have always endured natural stresses and disturbances like fires, storms, drought, etc. The impacts of climate change in our region will certainly exacerbate these stresses and alter the composition of our forests in various ways.

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I river and riverbank with bright fall foliage

Thank You for an Impactful 2022

As we kick off 2023, we wanted to take a moment to reflect on all of the accomplishments you helped us achieve last year. By collaborating with like-minded individuals like you, our team worked around the watershed in 2022 to prevent pollution and accelerate clean water in our Chesapeake communities.

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Having a Dam Good Time at BeaverCon

In 2022, myself and about 200 others from across the United States, England, Wales, and the Netherlands gathered near Baltimore to attend BeaverCon, a two-day conference to learn and share about beavers. The attendees included restoration professionals, scientists, biologists, landowners, students, and representatives from state, local, and federal governments. So why a conference dedicated to …

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A large map of Richmond, Virginia with post-it notes describing what people like about certain locations

Making Space for Active Listening in Environmental Education

Surveys, listening sessions, interviews and focus groups, Oh my! What do all these tools have in common? They are all recognized as best practices for successful engagement by the North American Association of Environmental Education. Through discussions with, and active listening to Richmond families, friends, local stakeholders and leaders, the project team aims to answer the question, “What does environmental literacy mean for our community?”

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