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Meaning of "Chesepiooc"

The word Chesepiooc is an Algonquian word referring to a village "at a big river." In 2005, Algonquian historian Blair Rudes helped dispel the widely-held belief that the name meant “great shellfish bay.”

4,480 square miles of surface area

The surface area of the Bay and its tidal tributaries is approximately 4,480 square miles.

10 U.S. presidents

There have been 10 U.S. presidents from the Chesapeake Bay watershed, including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, William Henry Harrison, John Tyler, Zachary Taylor, Woodrow Wilson, James Buchanan and Joe Biden.

6,282,718 acres of greenspace

There are 6,282,718 acres of accessible green space within the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

What is brackish water?

Most of the water in the Bay, including in the middle portion of the Bay and its tidal rivers, is brackish–a mixture of salty and fresh, with a salinity level of greater than 0.5 ppt but less than 25 ppt.

10,000 years old

The Chesapeake Bay was formed about 10,000 years ago when glaciers melted and flooded the Susquehanna River valley.

11,684 miles of shoreline

The Bay and its tidal tributaries have 11,684 miles of shoreline—more than the entire U.S. west coast.

9.6 million acres of land

Approximately 9.6 million acres of land in the Bay watershed have been permanently protected from development by Bay Program partners.

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3.4 miles wide

The narrowest point of the Chesapeake Bay measures 3.4 miles, and is located near Aberdeen, Maryland.

21 feet deep

The Bay is surprisingly shallow. Its average depth, including all tidal tributaries, is about 21 feet. A person who is six feet tall could wade through more than 700,000 acres of the Bay and never get his or her hat wet.

Bald eagle recovery in the Chesapeake

In the 1970’s, there were as few as 60 breeding pairs of bald eagles in the entire Bay region. Today, as much as 3,000 breeding pairs of bald eagles can be found.

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Formally recognized tribes in Maryland

The State of Maryland has formally recognized three tribes: the Piscataway Indian Nation, Piscataway Conoy Tribe and the Accohannock Indian Tribe.

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1,800 local governments

There are nearly 1,800 local governments in the Bay watershed, including towns, cities, counties and townships.

Getting oxygen underwater

Just like those on land, animals in the Chesapeake Bay need oxygen to survive. Oxygen is present underwater in dissolved form, and in order to thrive, animals like blue crabs need dissolved oxygen concentrations of three milligrams per liter.

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Chesapeake National Recreation Area

Legislation proposed by Maryland’s Senator Chris Van Hollen and Representative John Sarbanes to incorporate the bay into the nation’s park system.

The Chesapeake Bay's first inhabitants

The first inhabitants of the Chesapeake Bay region are referred to as Paleo-Indians. They came more than 10,000 years ago from other parts of North America, drawn in by the abundance of wildlife and waterways.

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100,000 smaller tributaries

The Chesapeake Bay watershed has 150 major rivers and streams, but contains more than 100,000 smaller tributaries.

Volunteering with environmental organizations

While one-third of watershed residents have volunteered their time or donated their money to a charitable organization, less than two in ten volunteers have done so for an environmental organization.

How we can fix water pollution

Eighty-six percent of watershed residents believe if people work together, water pollution can be fixed.

64,000 square miles

The area of the watershed is about 64,000 square miles.

Litter bugs

Nine in ten watershed residents never toss food wrappers, cups or cigarette butts on the ground. Almost eight in ten watershed residents pick up litter when they see it.

Six states and the District of Columbia

The Chesapeake Bay watershed stretches approximately 524 miles from Cooperstown, New York, to Norfolk, Virginia. It includes parts of six states—Delaware, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia—and the entire District of Columbia.

Where does the Bay get its water?

The Bay receives about half its water volume from the Atlantic Ocean in the form of saltwater. The other half (freshwater) drains into the Bay from the enormous 64,000-square-mile watershed.

18 trillion gallons

The Chesapeake Bay holds more than 18 trillion gallons of water.