Why Can't We Save the Bay?Conservationists know what's wrong with the bay and how to fix it. They also know why it

won't happen soon.By Tom Horton

It's a moonless February evening, heavy sleet and snow on the way, winds 15 knots and gusting, building a sharp chop on Chesapeake Bay. "Looks good to go," says my friend Don Baugh, meaning it's time to pull on fleece insulation and dry suits, and kayak for an hour to our roost for this long winter's night. We're headed for an uninhabited dab of marsh and dune, miles from the nearest mainland, with just enough lee from the oncoming blow to shelter a campfire. Waves slap a glaze of ice on our foredecks as we paddle through the splash and black.Soon, under a tarp staked in the wind shadow of a dune, we've got chunks of glowing oak, stashed in balmier times, throwing off luxurious heat, popping open fat, locally tonged oysters on a grate. The evening's musical entertainment features a nearby band of wintering tundra swans, flown in from Alaska's North Slope. Sleet rattles the tarp as the storm blots the lights of fishing villages that sparkle from the mainland.There are comfier ways to experience Chesapeake Bay, but no truer ones for us. In the nighttime, in wintertime, we find refuge and renewal in these shrinking vestiges of the wilder Chesapeake we knew many years ago. It was much easier then to lose oneself in the countless creeks and rivers that vein the tidal bay's more than 11,600 miles of coastline, to jump black ducks from the marshes, pluck soft crabs and oysters from the clear, grassy shallows, and float on waters not constantly churned by the wake of high-speed sport boats. So much has changed—oysters nearly gone, crabs near historic lows, waterman towns dying out, buildings and roads fracturing the countryside. Population in the estuary's watershed, which includes parts of six states and the District of Columbia, has doubled in our lifetime, from 8 million to 16 million, compromising solitude as well as water quality.

What are some serious problems influencing the quality and future of the bay?Oysters nearly goneCrabs near historic lowsWatermen towns dying outBuildings and roads fracturing countrysidePopulation in the watershed has doubled

Define the terms:• Estuary –

• Watershed –

• Ecosystem –

partly enclosed coastal body of water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it and with a free connection to the open sea.

area of land where all of the water that is under it drains off of it and goes into the same place.

a biological environment consisting of all the organisms living in a particular area as well as the non-living components.

Why is the Chesapeake Bay important to both the local communities on the bay and those in the Chesapeake Bay watershed?

Environmental Economic Cultural

• .

Introduction to the Chesapeake Bay Today

1. How have transportation changes on the waters of the Chesapeake affected the water quality of the bay?2. What are some of the key challenges faced by those trying to clean up the bay? What may happen if the goals of the clean-up effort are not reached by 2010?3. What is an industry that was historically central to the economy of the bay region, and remains so today?4. How has the decline in manufacturing along the bay's tributaries created new problems for the bay?5. How has the U.S. Navy contributed to the effort to improve the Chesapeake Bay area's conditions? What remains a criticism of the armed forces?6. What is the relationship between crabs, seagrass, and pollution?7. What role do oysters play in the health of the bay? What role might they play in its future?

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/chesapeake/Click on NOW map to explore Chesapeake Bay

Health Indicators of the Bay

Making the GradeState of the Bay Report 2010

http://www.cbf.org/Page.aspx?pid=2220http://www.cbf.org/Document.Doc?id=596