A Chorus of Clean Water Voices
The effort to protect and restore the Chesapeake Bay and the rivers and streams that feed it is facing a critical juncture. For several months, the Coalition has closely followed discussions on the future of the Bay restoration effort as it approaches an important deadline.
For those out of the loop, here’s a quick recap:
In 2014, the six states in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, the District of Columbia, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Chesapeake Bay Commission signed the 2014 Chesapeake Watershed Agreement. With ten goals and 31 outcomes, it focuses on priorities facing every community in the watershed, from water quality and wildlife habitat to fisheries and public access. Its goals were ambitious, included milestones and progress reports, and set the target of having all conservation practices in place for Bay water quality goals by 2025. While we have made great progress, out of the 31 outcomes, 13 are off track or have an unknown status.
The Chesapeake Bay Program partnership convened a Beyond 2025 Steering Committee to discuss and created the Beyond 2025 recommendations to be presented to the Program’s Executive Council at their December 2024 meeting. There are 29 members of the steering committee filled by federal and state agency representatives and two non-voting seats for public members filled by the Coalition and the Chesapeake Bay Trust. The committee issues a draft report with recommendations and it is currently open to a 60-day public feedback period, ending August 30.
The Coalition gathered 131 signatures from its member organizations to our recommendations letter. But many groups are taking it a step further, submitting their own letters and making their voices heard in the opinion pages of their local newspapers. We’re thrilled our members and external partners are taking a stand for clean water and applaud them for their advocacy. A small sampling of these pieces showcases the wide array of perspectives with compelling narratives on the need to recommit to the Chesapeake Bay restoration effort and refresh its goals.
Daily News-Record
On June 6, the Alliance for the Shenandoah Valley published an op-ed highlighting the importance of land conservation in the Shenandoah Valley and the need to set new land conservation targets as part of the Bay restoration effort.
It’s Chesapeake Bay Awareness Week. A week set aside to celebrate the culture, history and natural beauty of the nation’s largest estuary.
And as we near the 2025 deadline to reach the targets set by the 2014 Chesapeake Watershed Agreement, the Chesapeake Bay Program Partnership, made up of state legislators, federal agencies, universities, and nonprofit organizations, is re-evaluating the decades-long effort to clean up and revive the Chesapeake Bay and the streams and rivers that fill it.
As with any ambitious program, progress has been varied. In some sectors, we’ve fallen short of the targets set for 2025, and going forward we’ll need more innovation and investment. And in other sectors, we’ve met or exceeded targets–but our work is far from finished. Now is the time for Virginia decision makers to commit to new targets that reflect today’s opportunities and challenges, including a continued commitment to land conservation.
Bay Journal
On June 25, Ann Mills and Nancy Stoner, friends of the Coalition, published an op-ed in the Bay Journal, discussing the critical nature of this moment for the Bay and the need for improved coordination amongst the federal agencies working on the Bay restoration effort.
Right now is a pivotal moment for the unifying environmental issue in our region: the restoration of the Chesapeake Bay and its rivers and streams.
For more than a decade, federal agencies, the six states in the Bay watershed, the District of Columbia and hundreds of nonprofit organizations have worked collaboratively toward a 2025 deadline to meet goals for a healthier Chesapeake Bay. While we will not fully meet most of those goals by next year, we have made notable progress in reducing pollution to the Bay.
And we can point to some major successes, such as reestablishing the Chesapeake’s historic oyster reefs and upgrading sewage treatment plants throughout the watershed.
But the remaining challenges are daunting, and there’s no clear roadmap yet for the next phase of Chesapeake Bay restoration. Still, there is plenty of reason for hope.
Richmond Times-Dispatch
On June 30, Virginia Conservation Network published an op-ed celebrating the improved health of the James River but calling for a recommitment to the Bay restoration effort.
Our James River connects us: socially, historically and geographically. We each have our own relationship with the James. Maybe you whitewater raft through the heart of the city, sunbathe on the boulders of Belle Isle, traverse the Potterfield Bridge on your way to Brown’s Island, or motor about from Rocketts Landing.
For me, it’s wetting a hook in the James River Park System, Richmond’s crown jewel. Regardless of how you appreciate and utilize the James, we can all agree that a natural treasure flows through our own backyard.
The “mighty James” connects us in this region, too, and from farther away than some might know. Coldwater creeks stemming from the Alleghenies ply their way through the Blue Ridge, across the Piedmont and fall line, through Tidewater and into the Chesapeake Bay. And while we the Falls of the James are situated over 100 river miles upriver, the Chesapeake is a direct reflection of both our river’s health and our own.
Hampshire Review
On July 10, the Cacapon & Lost Rivers Land Trust published an op-ed on the importance of land conservation and the support West Virginia has received from the Chesapeake Bay restoration effort.
GunBarrel Valley Wild Life Preserve, a hunt club in West Virginia, recently took stock of its storied past and decided to take steps to preserve that legacy for the future.
Since its founding in 1972, hunt club members have forged bonds in a beautiful stretch of forested land in the Cacapon and Lost Rivers Watershed.
“Our hunting club has a rich history spanning over five decades,” says president George Sempeles. “It has been a place where generations of hunters have bonded with the land, cultivated camaraderie, and developed a profound respect for the outdoors.”
However, the hunt club recognized the threat that sprawling development poses to the land, to rural culture and ultimately to its own future, and struck a partnership to do something about it.
For 34 years, Cacapon and Lost Rivers Land Trust has worked closely with local landowners and hunt clubs to conserve high quality forest and farmland, preserve clean streams and rivers, and protect wildlife.
Critical to our success is funding to help landowners protect their lands. Landowners in the Cacapon watershed have benefited from millions of federal dollars over the past ten years to implement conservation projects and protect land in the headwaters of the Chesapeake Bay.
The Baltimore Sun
On July 15, Chesapeake Bay Foundation published a letter to the editor commenting on the recent high health grade the Bay received and the need to recommit to the Chesapeake Bay restoration effort.
Think of Chesapeake Bay clean-up like a long-term, extremely large group project involving seven jurisdictions, several federal agencies and numerous local partners. Like any group project, it can be hard to navigate at times and only works when everyone pulls their weight. Although our assignment to clean up the Bay may be turned in late, progress must continue aggressively and collaboratively if we’re to meet our goals.
As recently reported in The Baltimore Sun, Maryland and Pennsylvania leaders gathered in Harrisburg on Tuesday to celebrate the latest Bay restoration progress (Chesapeake Bay receives C+, highest score in decades, at critical juncture for the cleanup effort, July 9). But the real focus was on the future.
We are at a pivotal moment in Bay cleanup, inching towards the Agreement’s 2025 deadline for pollution reduction goals, which states are unlikely to meet. Far too much pollution, especially runoff from developed areas and farms, is still entering the Bay, choking out oxygen and degrading habitats.
Montgomery County Media
On July 17, Muddy Branch Alliance published an op-ed on the need to embrace a holistic approach to the Bay restoration effort and the impact conservation projects have made to improve local habitats and communities.
In 2014, Maryland committed to protect and restore the Chesapeake Bay. As we near the 2025 deadline to implement this commitment to the Bay, we celebrate our progress and recommit to protecting and restoring all the rivers and streams that feed the Chesapeake.
As we dedicate ourselves anew to being good stewards of our region’s remarkable natural resources, we cannot simply extend the deadlines for existing goals in the 2014 Chesapeake Bay Agreement. Instead, we must reimagine our approach to restoration and conservation work; we must focus on outcomes that benefit both people and wildlife. With the warming climate and increased awareness of environmental injustices throughout the Bay region, it is imperative that we update our goals and strategies to provide clean water for all.
The Coalition will continue to closely follow events related to the future of the Bay restoration effort. With the support of our member organizations, we will continue to advocate for the policies and practices that will allow us to leave a legacy of clean water to future generations.
