Staff Blog

3 Watersheds, 24 Sites, and 80+ Amazing Volunteers

The summer of 2022 marked the fourth year of the DC Citizen Science Water Quality Monitoring program, funded by our partners at the Department of Energy and Environment (DOEE). From May to September, during the peak recreation season, volunteers braved DC traffic each week to collect valuable water quality data about their watershed.

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Spring Garden Care Tips

Depending on where you are in the watershed, this unseasonably warm spell may have your plants getting ready to break dormancy early. Right now is a perfect opportunity to prepare your garden and prevent it from blooming too early.

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When You’re Feeling Blue, Think Native Plants

Alliance staff, Jamie Alberti, loves to surround herself with blues, and that includes her outdoor space. If you’d like to add a little dash of blue to your gardens, consider her top five favorite blue native plants!

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Four Ways to Go Greener

Today officially kicks off National Green Week! The holiday, or days, can be observed from the first full week in February until April 30th. The beauty of the holiday is that you can choose any week during this timeframe to be your Green Week. All of us can observe this time and do what we can to ensure we are setting a green example for future generations.

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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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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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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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A Bald Eagle sitting on a tree branch.

Winter Birding – It’s for the Birds!

The coo of a Mourning Dove outside your window. The fluted sound of a Wood Thrush accompanying you on a hike. Birds add richness to our lives if we are simply open to it – and they are just beautiful to look at!

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