Thanks to the effective advocacy of the Coalition's member organizations and the bipartisan support for clean water from the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Congressional Delegation, we had several victories at the federal level. Federal Fiscal Year 2023 got off to a great start with the President signing into law an omnibus funding bill. This bill set historic high funding levels for a number of Chesapeake-specific programs, including the EPA Chesapeake Bay Program ($92 million), U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Chesapeake WILD ($8 million), U.S. Geological Survey Chesapeake Science and Monitoring ($17.5 million), and the National Park Service Chesapeake Gateways ($3 million). The bill also included a few key community funding projects for the Chesapeake, including for Coalition members Upper Susquehanna Coalition and the Elizabeth River Project.

A highlight of our federal work was convening more than 100 members of the Coalition for our first in-person Chesapeake Bay Day on Capitol Hill (aka Lobby Day) since 2020. We met with 38 members of Congress and their staff, advocating for investments and policies critical to meeting our clean water goals.

We saw some of the fruit of our efforts in 2023, with a number of programs putting restoration dollars on the ground to improve water quality and wildlife habitat throughout the watershed. During the summer the Coalition partnered with Federal agencies and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to take members of Congress, including Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), and Congresswoman Jen Kiggans (R-VA), out to see some of the first Chesapeake WILD grants at work. The Coalition also worked with partners in the Anacostia River watershed to give the staff of Congressman Glenn Ivey (D-MD) a tour of multiple Chesapeake Small Watershed Grant stormwater improvement projects in Prince George's County.

There were also key new pieces of Chesapeake legislation introduced in the summer of 2023 that were several years in the making. The Chesapeake National Recreation Area was introduced by Senator Chris Van Hollen, Congressman John Sarbanes (D-MD), and others, to establish a unit of the National Park Service focused on the Chesapeake. On the agriculture front, Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD), Congressman Rob Wittman (R-VA), and others, introduced the Chesapeake Bay Conservation Acceleration Act–also known as the Chesapeake Farm Bill. With the Federal Farm Bill extended for another year, action has been delayed until 2024.

Looking to the Second Session of the 118th Congress in 2024, the Coalition will focus on pushing our priority bills across the finish line while maintaining or increasing the historic funding gains that are key to reaching our clean water goals.

Header photo: Coalition staff and Coalition staff and members joined Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) to tour conservation practices on a farm in Dorchester County, MD in August 2023. Photo courtesy of Caitlin Fisher, Eastern Shore Land Conservancy.