Clean Water Nonprofits Unite on Future of Chesapeake Bay Restoration

(ANNAPOLIS, MD)—As the effort to restore the Chesapeake Bay faces a critical juncture, nonprofit organizations throughout the region are presenting a united front. The Choose Clean Water Coalition gathered 131 signatures from nonprofits across the entire Chesapeake Bay watershed urging regional leaders to recommit to the Bay restoration effort and update its goals.

In 2014, the Chesapeake Bay Program Executive Council, comprised of the governors of the six states in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, the mayor of the District of Columbia, the Environmental Protection Agency Administrator, and the chair of 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 are ambitious, includes milestones and progress reports, and sets the target of having all conservation practices in place for Bay water quality goals by 2025.

While we have seen progress, we are off track on meeting many of the goals and outcomes. In response, the Chesapeake Bay Program partnership convened a Beyond 2025 Steering Committee to discuss and create recommendations for the future of Bay restoration. The committee issued its draft recommendations and is currently receiving public feedback through August 30. The Chesapeake Bay Program Executive Council will review the recommendations at their December 2024 meeting.

From across the Chesapeake Bay watershed, 131 member organizations of the Coalition signed a letter in support of the findings of the Beyond 2025 Steering Committee to recommit to the Chesapeake Bay Program restoration effort and to sign a directive to revise the 10 goals and 31 outcomes within the current Bay Agreement. The undersigned members of the Coalition specifically ask that the Executive Council demonstrate their commitment to the partnership by signing a recommitment at their meeting in December and directing that recommended changes to the Bay Agreement are ready for review by the Executive Council's 2025 meeting.

In response, Choose Clean Water Coalition Director Kristin Reilly issued the following statement:

"Throughout the Bay region, people are watching to see what is next for the Chesapeake Bay cleanup. One-hundred and thirty-one nonprofit organizations, representing every state in the Bay watershed and DC, are urging our state leaders to recommit to the Chesapeake Bay restoration effort. As the organizations working in local communities across the watershed, they see the benefits and successes of this coordinated effort first-hand. With this experience, they expect this critical partnership to continue so we can achieve our goals for clean water and healthy communities.

"The Chesapeake Bay and the rivers and streams that feed it are critical to local economies, drinking water supplies, and cultural heritage. But our communities and waterways are facing new threats that are creating new challenges for us to overcome. We must recognize these obstacles and revise the goals and outcomes for this effort so we can adapt and ensure future success.

"The Coalition will continue to closely follow the developments on the next steps for the Bay cleanup. We hope our state leaders will capitalize on this transformational moment and take the necessary steps to safeguard this national treasure for future generations."

The organizations that signed the Coalition's recommendation letter include:

Action Together Northeastern Pennsylvania
Alliance for the Shenandoah Valley
American Canoe Association
American Chestnut Land Trust
American Rivers
Anacostia Parks & Community Collaborative
Anacostia Watershed Society
Audubon Mid-Atlantic
Audubon Society of Northern Virginia
Baltimore Green Space
Baltimore Tree Trust
Beaverdam Creek Watershed Watch Group
Blue Ridge Watershed Coalition
Blue Water Baltimore
Butternut Valley Alliance
Cacapon and Lost Rivers Land Trust
Cacapon Institute
Capital Region Land Conservancy
Casey Trees
Catoctin Land Trust
Centro de Apoyo Familiar
Chapman Forest Foundation
Chesapeake Bay Foundation
Chesapeake Conservancy
Chesapeake Conservation Landscaping Council
Chesapeake Legal Alliance
Chestnut Hill United Church
Citizens to Conserve and Restore Indian Creek
Clean Fairfax Council
Clean Water Action
Coalition for Smarter Growth
Conservation Foundation of Lancaster County
Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania
DC Environmental Network
Defensores de la Cuenca
Delaware Center for Horticulture
Delaware Nature Society
Delaware-Otsego Audubon Society
Earth Force
Eastern Pennsylvania Coalition for Abandoned Mine Reclamation
Eastern Shore Land Conservancy
Environmental Defense Fund
Environmental Integrity Project
Environmental Policy Innovation Center
Envision Frederick County
Forever Maryland
Friends of Accotink Creek
Friends of Dyke Marsh
Friends of Lower Beaverdam Creek
Friends of Quincy Run
Friends of Sligo Creek
Friends of the Cacapon River
Friends of the Chemung River Watershed
Friends of the Nanticoke River
Friends of the North Fork of the Shenandoah River
Friends of the Rappahannock
Friends of the Rivers of Virginia
Interfaith Partners for the Chesapeake
Interfaith Power & Light (MD. DC. NoVA)
Izaak Walton League of America
James River Association
Lancaster Clean Water Partners
Lancaster Farmland Trust
Land Trust Alliance
Latino Outdoors
Lower Shore Land Trust
Lower Susquehanna Riverkeeper Association
Lynnhaven River NOW
Maryland Academy of Science at Maryland Science Center
Maryland Conservation Council
Maryland League of Conservation Voters
Maryland Nonprofits
Maryland Pesticide Education Network
Mattawoman Watershed Society
Montgomery Countryside Alliance
Muddy Branch Alliance
National Aquarium
National Parks Conservation Association
National Wildlife Federation
Nature Forward
Neighbors of the Northwest Branch
New York League of Conservation Voters
Otsego County Conservation Association
Otsego Land Trust
Parks and People Foundation
Patuxent Tidewater Land Trust
PennFuture
Penns Valley Conservation Association
Pennsylvania Council of Trout Unlimited
Pennsylvania Interfaith Power & Light
Phillips Wharf Environmental Center
Piedmont Environmental Council
Potomac Conservancy
Potomac Riverkeeper Network
Potomac Valley Audubon Society
Preservation Maryland
Protect Hanover
Rachel Carson Council
Restore America's Estuaries
Rivanna Conservation Alliance
River Network
Rock Creek Conservancy
Save Our Soils
Scenic Rivers Land Trust
ShoreRivers
Sidney Center Improvement Group
Sierra Club
Sleepy Creek Watershed Association
Southeast Rural Community Assistance Project
Southern Maryland Audubon Society
SouthWings
St. Mary's River Watershed Association
Sussex Preservation Coalition
Sweet Springs Resort Park Foundation Inc.
Sweet Springs Watershed Association
The 6th Branch
The Downstream Project
Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership
Town Run Watershed
Transition Howard County
Trout Unlimited
Virginia Conservation Network
Virginia League of Conservation Voters
Virginia Organizing
Ward 8 Woods Conservancy
Waterkeepers Chesapeake
West Virginia Citizens Action Group
West Virginia Land Trust
West Virginia Rivers Coalition
Wetlands Watch
Wild Virginia

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Media Contact:
Drew Robinson
Choose Clean Water Coalition
443-927-8049
RobinsonAQ@nwf.org