A group of high school students in New York is getting real-life experience monitoring environmental conditions on the upper Susquehanna River as part of a regional program for schools in the Chesapeake Bay watershed’s northernmost reaches. Students in the Upper Susquehanna Watershed Project analyze water samples and monitor stream flows at seven satellite reporting stations along the Susquehanna River and its tributaries. (Learn more)
Related links: Bay Education | Bay Backpack
Manassas Park Elementary School in Northern Virginia has taken the lead in sustainable, eco-friendly design. Naturally lit classrooms, a rainwater harvesting system and other green features are helping students at the elementary school become stewards of the environment and the Chesapeake Bay. (Learn more)
The Bay Program has launched BayBackpack.com, an online resource for teachers and environmental educators to engage students in hands-on learning about the Chesapeake Bay and its local waterways. teachers can use Bay Backpack to search for lesson plans, curriculum guides, field studies, training opportunities and grant program to help them integrate Chesapeake Bay studies into their classroom. (Learn more)
Related links: Bay Education | Teachers and Students
Homegrown energy could reduce millions of pounds of nutrients from entering the Chesapeake Bay’s streams, creeks and rivers and create more than 18,000 jobs in the region, according to a new report released by the Chesapeake Bay Commission and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. (Learn more)
Related links: Agriculture
(Image courtesy Peggy Greb/USDA ARS)
Virginia has permanently preserved more than 424,000 acres of land since 2006, surpassing Virginia Gov. Timothy Kaine’s goal of 400,000 acres conserved during his term. (Learn more)
Related links: Land Preservation
(Image courtesy Ben Fertig/IAN Image Library.)
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is initiating new federal rulemaking to help control polluted runoff from cities, suburbs and farmland to the Chesapeake Bay and its network of streams and rivers. (Learn more)
Related links: Chesapeake Bay TMDL
The head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Lisa P. Jackson, has been named chair of the Chesapeake Executive Council, assuming responsibility for the Chesapeake Bay Program’s policy-setting committee from outgoing Virginia Governor Timothy Kaine. (Learn more)
Related links: Chesapeake Executive Council | News Release | Environmental Accomplishments by the Kaine Administration | Photos from the Executive Council meeting | Video from the Executive Council meeting
Each autumn, millions of waterfowl migrate along the Atlantic Flyway and stop to rest on the Bay's waters. Learn about these beautiful ducks, geese and swans that call the Chesapeake their winter home.
February's critter, a winter visitor to the Chesapeake Bay, uses its unique serrated bill to capture and feed on fish and crustaceans that live in the Bay's shallows. Do you know what it is?
Watch for soaring bald eagles as you paddle through the marsh at Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge, a 26,000-acre haven for migratory waterfowl on Maryland's Eastern Shore.
