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About the Chesapeake Bay (Source About the Chesapeake Bay (source: www.chesapeakebay.net) The Chesapeake Bay is about 200 miles long, stretching from Havre de Grace, Maryland, to Norfolk, Virginia. The Bay’s width varies from its narrowest point (3.4 miles across near Aberdeen, Maryland) to its widest point (35 miles across near the mouth of the Potomac River). Many natural geographic factors also influence the Bay’s health. The Bay watershed – the area of land that drains to the Bay stretches across more than 64,000 square miles. It encompasses parts of six states – Delaware, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia – and the entire District of Columbia. More than 17 million people live in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Combine this with the fact that the Bay’s average depth is just 21 feet, and that means a lot of water – and pollution – drains into a narrow, shallow estuary. The Chesapeake Bay’s land-to-water ratio (14:1) is the largest of any coastal water body in the world. This is why our actions on the land have such a big impact on the Bay’s health. There are a number of issues that threaten the Chesapeake Bay’s health. Some of the major issues facing the Chesapeake Bay are: • Nutrient and sediment pollution from agriculture, stormwater runoff, air pollution and wastewater treatment plants • Development and population growth • Low populations of many fish and shellfish species, including shad, oysters and menhaden Cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay is a difficult task. However, with a dedicated effort by government, businesses and the region’s 17 million residents, we can achieve a healthy, restored Bay for future generations to enjoy. V1_122013 What are the major rivers in the Chesapeake Bay watershed? The Susquehanna, Potomac, Rappahannock, York and James rivers are the five largest rivers in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Altogether, more than 100,000 streams, creeks and rivers (called tributaries) thread through the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Each one of us lives within a few miles of one of these local waterways, which are like pipelines from our communities to the Bay. Each of the streams, creeks and rivers in the Chesapeake Bay watershed has its own watershed. These are sometimes called “sub-watersheds,” “small watersheds” or “local watersheds.” Facts & Figures The following is a list of interesting facts and figures to learn all about the Chesapeake Bay's geography, watershed, and flora and fauna. Geography • The Chesapeake Bay is an estuary: a body of water where fresh and salt water mix. It is the largest of more than 100 estuaries in the United States. • The Bay is about 200 miles long, stretching from Havre de Grace, Maryland, to Virginia Beach, Virginia. • The Bay's width ranges from 4 miles near Aberdeen, Maryland, to30 miles near Cape Charles, Virginia. • The Bay is surprisingly shallow. Its average depth, including all tidal tributaries, is about 21 feet. A person who is 6 feet tall could wade through more than 700,000 acres of the Bay and never get his or her hat wet. • A few deep troughs run along much of the Bay's length. Some of these troughs are as much as 174 feet deep. The troughs are believed to be remnants of the ancient Susquehanna River. • The Bay and its tidal tributaries have 11,684 miles of shoreline – more than the entire U.S. west coast. • The surface area of the Bay and its tidal tributaries is approximately 4,480 square miles. • Two of the United States’ five major North Atlantic ports – Baltimore and Hampton Roads – are on the Bay. Water and Watershed • The Chesapeake Bay holds more than 18 trillion gallons of water. • The Bay receives about half its water volume from the Atlantic Ocean. The rest drains into the Bay from an enormous 64,000-square-mile watershed. V1_122013 • The Chesapeake Bay watershed includes parts of six states – Delaware, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia – and the entire District of Columbia. • About 150 streams, creeks and rivers drain to the Chesapeake Bay watershed. • Approximately 51 billion gallons of water flow into the Bay each day from its freshwater tributaries. • Collectively, the Chesapeake’s three largest rivers – the Susquehanna, Potomac and James rivers – provide more than 80 percent of the fresh water to the Bay. • The Susquehanna River is the Bay’s largest river. It provides nearly 50 percent of the fresh water coming into the Bay – an average of 19 million gallons of water per minute. • The Chesapeake Bay watershed is home to more than 17 million people. About 150,000 new people move into the Bay watershed each year. • More than 100,000 streams, creeks and rivers thread through the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Everyone in the watershed lives within a few miles of one of these tributaries, which are like pipelines from our communities to the Bay. • There are nearly 18,000 local governments in the Bay watershed, including towns, cities, counties and townships. • The Chesapeake Bay watershed contains three distinct geologic regions: the Atlantic coastal plain, the Piedmont plateau and the Appalachian province. • Approximately 7.3 million acres of land in the Bay watershed portions of Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and the District of Columbia are permanently preserved from development. • There are more than 700 public access points on the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries. • The Chesapeake Bay was the first estuary in the nation to be targeted for restoration as an integrated watershed and ecosystem. Flora and Fauna • The Bay supports more than 2,700 speciesof plants and animals, including 348 species of finfish and 173 species of shellfish. • The Bay produces about 500 million pounds of seafood per year. • The Chesapeake region is home toat least 29 species of waterfowl. Nearly one million waterfowl winter on the Bay – approximately one-third of the Atlantic coast’s migratory population. The birds stop to feed and rest on the Bay during their annual migration along the Atlantic Flyway. • Nearly 80,000 acres of bay grasses grow in the shallows of the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries. Young and molting blue crabs rely on bay grass beds for protection from predators. • Approximately 284,000 acres of tidal wetlands grow the Chesapeake Bay region. Wetlands provide critical habitat for fish, birds, crabs and many other species. V1_122013 • Forests cover 58 percent of the Chesapeake Bay watershed. The region loses about 100 acres of forest each day to development. About the Chesapeake Bay Program The Chesapeake Bay Program is the regional partnership that directs and conducts the restoration of the Chesapeake Bay in the United States. As a partnership, the Chesapeake Bay Program brings together members of various state, federal, academic and local watershed organizations to build and adopt policies that support Chesapeake Bay restoration. By combining the resources and unique strengths of each individual organization, the Chesapeake Bay Program is able to follow a unified plan for restoration. The program office is located in Annapolis, Maryland. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Congress funded scientific and estuarine research of the Chesapeake Bay, which pinpointed three areas that required immediate attention: toxic pollution, nutrient over-enrichment, and dwindling underwater bay grasses. In 1983, the governors of Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania; the mayor of the District of Columbia; and the administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) signed The Chesapeake Bay Agreement of 1983.[1] From this act, the Chesapeake Bay Program Executive Council was formed. Since the signing of 1983 agreement, the Chesapeake Bay Program has adopted two additional agreements that provide overall guidance for Chesapeake Bay restoration: • The 1987 Chesapeake Bay Agreement established the Chesapeake Bay Program's goal to reduce the amount of nutrients--primarily nitrogen and phosphorus--that enter the Chesapeake Bay by 40 percent by 2000. In 1992, the Chesapeake Bay Program partners agreed to continue the 40 percent reduction goal beyond 2000 and to attack nutrients at their source: upstream, in the Chesapeake Bay's tributaries. • In June 2000, the Chesapeake Bay Program adopted Chesapeake 2000, an agreement intended to guide restoration activities throughout the Chesapeake Bay watershed through 2010. Chesapeake 2000 also provided the opportunity for the adjoining states of Delaware, New York and West Virginia to become more involved in the partnership. These headwater states now work with the Chesapeake Bay Program to reduce nutrients and sediment flowing into rivers from their jurisdictions. The renewed Bay agreement was designed to guide restoration activities throughout the Bay watershed through 2010. The members pledged to achieve over 100 specific actions all designed to V1_122013 restore the health of the bay. The agreement is organized into five categories, all dedicated to restoration and protection of different areas of the Bay's health: living resources, vital habitat, water quality, sound land use, and stewardship and community engagement. o The living resource section of the agreement states the goal of "restore, enhance and protect, the finfish, shellfish, and other living resources, their habitats and ecological relationship to sustain all fisheries and provide for a balanced ecosystem." Some of the specific goals are 1) to help the blue crab population by establishing harvest targets and begin implementing state fisheries management strategies and to manage the blue crab fishery to restore a healthy, size, age structure and biomass, 2) a tenfold increase in the native oyster population, and 3) protect and restore 114,000 acres (460 km2) of submerged aquatic vegetation by 2010. It also touched on wetlands, watershed, and forest preservation. o The water quality restoration and protection section states that the program plans involving stormwater management, upgrading wastewater treatment plants to biological nutrient removal, and developing tributary strategies for each basinwill, by 2010, correct the nutrient-relation problems associated with the bay and remove it from the list of impaired waters under the Clean Water Act.
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