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The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the federal-state Chesapeake Bay Program partnership today announced more than $10 million in grants for projects that will protect and restore the Chesapeake Bay and its surrounding watershed. The 49 grants announced today will generate $12 million in matching contributions for a total conservation impact of more than $22 million.

“EPA is pleased to support projects that improve the quality of local waters and habitat and help restore the Chesapeake Bay,” said Diana Esher, EPA Mid-Atlantic acting regional administrator. “It is a priority for EPA to support local actions that move us closer to our restoration goals. We applaud the grantees for their commitment to cleaner water and healthier watersheds.”

These grants will support on-the-ground projects to improve waterways, restore habitat and strengthen iconic wildlife species. Collectively, the grants will implement water quality improvement practices on more than 45,000 acres, restore more than 45 miles of streamside forest habitat and prevent more than 6,300 tons of pollutants annually from entering the rivers and streams that feed the Chesapeake Bay.

“By focusing our resources on projects that provide multiple benefits, NFWF and its partners are demonstrating how watershed restoration projects strengthen the resilience of both communities and wildlife habitats, and how targeted investments can achieve multiple conservation goals,” said Jeff Trandahl, executive director and CEO of NFWF.

Examples of this year’s grant recipients include:

• American Forests ($49,900) will work with partners to improve tree canopy by building a tree equity tool for use across the greater Washington metropolitan region, which will focus urban forestry projects and resources on communities of highest need.
• Piedmont Environmental Council ($263,800) will pair riparian buffer restoration, livestock exclusion, and implementation of agricultural best management practices with land conservation measures to restore and sustain long-term water quality benefits.
• University of Maryland Environmental Finance Center ($50,000) will work with local governments in West Virginia to expand their capacity to address water quality improvements and mitigate hazards in a coordinated way that creates efficiencies and reduces implementation costs.
• Defensores de la Cuenca ($167,800) will pair workshops with hands-on experiences to train primarily Spanish-speaking participants in the Anacostia River watershed on watershed issues, culminating in the completion of locally led watershed restoration projects by program participants.

The grants were awarded through the Small Watershed Grants (SWG) program, a core program under NFWF’s Chesapeake Bay Stewardship Fund (CBSF). CBSF is a partnership between NFWF and the EPA to provide grant funding, technical assistance and networking and information sharing in support of local, on-the-ground conservation efforts to restore the bay and its tributary rivers and streams.

Additional support for the program comes from the Altria Group, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Since 1999, the SWG program has provided more than $83 million to 985 projects to promote on-the-ground community-based efforts, which result in measurable improvements to local stream health and habitat, and the water quality of the Chesapeake Bay. The SWG program includes two distinct funding opportunities: SWG Implementation (SWG-I) grants of $50,000-$500,000 awarded for projects that result in direct, on-the-ground actions to protect and restore water quality, species, and habitats in the Bay watershed; SWG Planning and Technical Assistance (SWG-PTA) grants up to $50,000 awarded for projects that enhance local capacity to more efficiently and effectively implement future on-the-ground actions through assessment, planning, design and other technical assistance-oriented activities.

A complete list of the 2021 Chesapeake Bay Small Watershed Grant recipients is available here. Click here for more information about the Chesapeake Bay Stewardship Fund.

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About the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation: works with the public and private sectors to sustain, restore and enhance the nation’s fish, wildlife, plants and habitats for current and future generations. Chartered by Congress in 1984, NFWF has grown to become the nation’s largest private conservation grant-maker, funding more than 19,700 projects and generating a total conservation impact of $6.8 billion. Learn more at www.nfwf.org.

About U.S. Environmental Protection Agency grants: Every year, EPA awards more than $4 billion in funding for grants and other assistance agreements. From small non-profit organizations to large state governments, EPA works to help many visionary organizations achieve their environmental goals. With countless success stories over the years, EPA grants remain a chief tool to protect human health and the environment. Learn more at www.epa.gov.

About the Chesapeake Bay Program: The Chesapeake Bay Program is a regional partnership consisting of federal, state and local governments, academic institutions and non-governmental organizations. Primarily funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Chesapeake Bay Program has set the guidance and policy for restoring the Chesapeake Bay since 1983. Learn more at www.chesapeakebay.net.

Representatives from the Chesapeake Bay watershed states, the District of Columbia, the Chesapeake Bay Commission and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) gathered today to discuss the impacts of climate change on the 64,000-square-mile Chesapeake Bay watershed—stretching from Cooperstown, New York to their meeting location at the Brock Environmental Center in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

At the meeting, Virginia Governor Ralph Northam, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan and Chesapeake Bay Commission Chair David Bulova joined their colleagues in signing a directive that commits the Chesapeake Bay Program to address the increasing threats of climate change in all aspects of the partnership’s work. In particular, Bay Program partners will utilize their world-class scientific, modeling, monitoring and planning capabilities to prioritize the communities, working lands and habitats that are most vulnerable to the risks that a changing climate is bringing to the region.

"I strongly believe that by working together as a region in a bipartisan way, we can and we will continue to find real, commonsense solutions to address climate change and to protect the Chesapeake Bay,” said Maryland Governor Larry Hogan. "These challenges are too important to lose this opportunity to take action now."

Prior to the public meeting where the directive was signed, members of the Council, designees and guests joined Pamela Northam, First Lady of the Commonwealth of Virginia, and educators, including Imani Black, the founder of Minorities in Aquaculture, Melissa Deas, acting chief resiliency officer from the District of Columbia and Mark Luckenbach, associate dean of research and advisory service at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) on-board a VIMS vessel for their own Meaningful Watershed Educational Experience—a term that is unique to the Chesapeake Bay Program in describing student environmental education about and in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

While on-board, participants were able to see first-hand an area that is considered to be ground-zero for climate change. The Virginia Beach and Hampton Roads region are experiencing one of the highest rates of sea-level rise and coastal flooding on the East Coast. The Virginia Coastal Resilience Master Planning Framework notes that sea levels in the region have experienced more than 18 inches of relative sea level rise in the past 100 years and are anticipated to continue to increase at an even faster rate in the future due to heavier rainfall and other extreme weather. Members, designees and guests also viewed potential solutions to addressing climate impacts, including tree canopies, a living shoreline and an oyster restoration site.

Conversations also centered around climate inequity, reaffirming the Council’s actions from the previous year, when they signed a statement prioritizing diversity, equity, inclusion and justice in all of the Bay Program’s work. In the newly implemented, Directive No. 21-1 Collective Action for Climate Change, the Bay Program specifically commits to prioritizing marginalized communities in providing necessary resources, including a focus on wetlands, tree canopy and environmental literacy, to adapt to the impacts from a changing climate.

"The Climate Directive we are signing today is the latest example of why this partnership is so important,” said Chesapeake Bay Commission Chair David Bulova. “Collective action allows us to apply the best science possible so that we can understand and mitigate the impacts of a changing climate and prioritize resources toward our most vulnerable communities. We need to do to this if we want a more resilient landscape and watershed.”

In June 2014, the Executive Council signed the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement, with the vision of fostering an environmentally and economically sustainable watershed with clean water, abundant life, conserved lands and access to the water, a vibrant cultural heritage, and a diversity of engaged citizens and stakeholders.

Established over 37 years ago, the Chesapeake Executive Council is responsible for guiding the policy agenda and setting conservation and restoration goals for the regional, watershed partnership, the Chesapeake Bay Program. Members include the governors of Delaware, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia, the mayor of the District of Columbia, the chair of the Chesapeake Bay Commission and the administrator of the EPA on behalf of the federal government. Virginia Governor Ralph Northam currently chairs the Chesapeake Executive Council which will next meet in Richmond, Virginia in December 2021.

"A healthier Chesapeake Bay depends on a targeted, science-based approach that accounts for climate change,” said Virginia Governor Ralph Northam. “It will take bold, urgent actions to reach our goal of a Bay that is fully restored by 2025. Virginia commits to working diligently with our watershed partners to meet this commitment in a resilient, practical, cost effective manner that benefits our vast waterways, our environment, and our economy."

In 2020, the preliminary figure of 62,169 acres of underwater grasses was mapped in the Chesapeake Bay and its tidal tributaries, achieving 48% of the Chesapeake Bay Program’s 2025 restoration target of 130,000 acres and 34% of the ultimate restoration goal of 185,000 acres.

Although the 62,169 acres of underwater grasses observed in 2020 have increased from the 38,958 acres noted during the first survey in 1984, it is a 20% decrease from the current 10-year average of 78,168 acres. The preliminary acreage observed in 2020 is a 42% decline from 2018 when it was estimated that the Bay may have supported up to 108,078 acres of underwater grasses. While this is a staggering decrease, the loss from 2019 to 2020 was only 7%, suggesting that overall, underwater grass beds are beginning to stabilize after a difficult past few years.

In 2020, the largest decline in terms of total area—an estimated 5,684 acres—was again observed in moderately salty waters, particularly in the Tangier Sound, but also in the Eastern Bay, the mouth of the Choptank River and in the Little Choptank River. These losses are largely attributed to the continued decline in widgeon grass, which fluctuates from year-to-year as the species responds rapidly to impacts from extreme weather and changes in water quality.

Underwater grass abundance can vary from species to species and river to river. In 2020, local highlights included:

• Upper Eastern Shore (Maryland): In 2020, the Sassafras River lost most of the new grasses that it had gained in 2019, decreasing from 406 acres to 169 acres. Similarly, the Chester River lost nearly 900 acres of grasses from 2019 to 2020, dropping from 1,616 acres to 734 acres.
• Middle Chesapeake Bay: Although underwater grass acreage in Virginia’s portion of Tangier Sound decreased substantially from the previous year, the abundance of grass beds in Maryland’s portion of Tangier Sound actually increased from 4,315 acres in 2019 to 4,725 acres in 2020. In the nearby Manokin River, underwater grass acreage increased from 583 acres in 2019 to 696 acres in 2020. The Little Choptank River, also in the middle of the Bay, decreased from 1,503 acres in 2019 to 550 acres in 2020 due to the loss of most of its widgeon grass.
• Northern Maryland: Underwater grass abundance in and around the Susquehanna Flats region increased from 8,497 acres in 2019 to 9,194 acres in 2020. Additionally, the Northeast River increased from 87 acres in 2019 to 109 acres in 2020.
• Washington, D.C.: Underwater grass abundance in the Anacostia River continued its resurgence and increased from 48 acres in 2019 to 53 acres in 2020.
• Mid-to-Lower Chesapeake Bay: In the Virginia portion of the mid-to-lower Bay, underwater grass abundance did particularly well in the Potomac and Rappahannock rivers, as well as in Mobjack Bay. The Potomac River increased from 6,631 acres in 2019 to 7,534 in 2020, while the Rappahannock, including the Corrotoman River, increased from 1,789 acres in 2019 to 2,204 acres in 2020. In Mobjack Bay, underwater grass acreage increased from 5,027 acres in 2019 to 7,080 in 2020

To learn more about our progress toward achieving and sustaining 185,000 acres of underwater grasses Bay-wide, visit ChesapeakeProgress.

The Chesapeake Bay Program is pleased to release the 2021 Blue Crab Advisory Report, which finds that the overall Chesapeake Bay blue crab population is not being overfished and is not depleted. Experts from the Chesapeake Bay Stock Assessment Committee reviewed the results from the annual Bay-wide Winter Dredge Survey (released in May 2021 by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources and the Virginia Institute of Marine Science) and harvest figures from the previous seasons to provide an in-depth picture of the Chesapeake’s blue crab population and to make suggestions for any needed changes to regulations.

The Winter Dredge Survey found that the blue crab population (males and females alike of all ages) in the Bay—which varies naturally from year to year—decreased from 405 million in 2020 to 282 million in 2021.  Experts attribute this decline to be in large part due to the juvenile blue crab population—crabs that will grow to harvestable size next year—which is estimated to be 86 million, down from 185 million in 2020. Managers will monitor the status of these populations over the summer, adjusting regulations if needed.

The stock of male adult blue crabs (ages 1+) was estimated to be 39 million in 2021, a decline from the approximately 79 million in 2020. In 2021, the population estimate of adult females increased to 158 million from 141 million in 2020. This number is above 72.5 million, which is the minimum acceptable level for female blue crabs in the Bay, but lower than the target of 196 million. In the 2020 blue crab fishing season, 19% of all female crabs were harvested—safely below the science-based target (28%) and threshold (37%) levels for the 13th consecutive year. Resource managers focus on maintaining a healthy stock of female crabs to ensure continued resiliency of the population in this and future years. 

The 2021 Advisory Report recommends:

• Researchers should explore the environmental factors that may contribute to the highly variable nature of the blue crab population.
• The Maryland Department of Natural Resources, Potomac River Fisheries Commission and Virginia Marine Resources Commission should implement programs to track commercial and recreational harvest more accurately, including the use of electronic reporting systems.

The Blue Crab Advisory Report is developed by the Chesapeake Bay Stock Assessment Committee, a group of experts from state and federal agencies and academic institutions. The blue crab fishery in the Chesapeake Bay is managed by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, Virginia Marine Resources Commission and Potomac River Fisheries Commission.

Researchers from the Chesapeake Bay Program, the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, University of Michigan and U.S. Geological Survey announced today that they are forecasting, for the second year in a row, a smaller than average “dead zone” due to reduced river flows entering the Chesapeake Bay, as well as less nutrient and sediment pollution thanks to the management actions taken across the watershed to improve water quality.

Hypoxic and anoxic regions, which are areas of low and no oxygen, respectively, are caused by excess nutrient pollution flowing into the Bay. Compared to the last 35 years, this year’s Chesapeake Bay hypoxic volume, or “dead zone”, is predicted to be 14% lower than average, while the volume of water with no oxygen is predicted to be 18% lower than average. In 2020, the Virginia Institute of Marine Science reported the dead zone to be smaller than 80% of those monitored since 1985.  

The levels of pollution reaching the Chesapeake Bay each year varies due to the amount of spring rainfall that impacts river flows. Additionally, the many efforts of Chesapeake Bay Program partners—Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, academic institutions, local governments, federal agencies and non-governmental organizations—are making a difference in gradually reducing the amount of nutrient and sediment pollutants that are entering the Bay. 

Though different types of nutrients contribute to the annual dead zone, the amount of nitrogen that enters the Bay from January-May is a key driver in how hypoxic conditions can vary from year-to-year. In spring 2021, river flows entering the Bay were 13% below average, but still fell within the normal range. Nine river input monitoring stations located on major Bay tributaries showed that the Chesapeake received 19% less nitrogen pollution when compared to the long-term average. Overall, nitrogen loads entering the Bay included an estimated 98 million pounds recorded at the nine river input monitoring stations, as well as an additional 6.6 million pounds from treated wastewater discharge and non-point sources (e.g., agricultural, stormwater and urban runoff) located downstream of these stations.

A Bay-wide assessment of the 2021 dead zone will be available this fall.