Photo: “New Dawn on the Chesapeake Bay” by S.C. Bridgman, submitted to the 2023 Maryland DNR Photo Contest.
It’s time to re-invigorate our strategy and build on significant work and progress we started more than 40 years ago to restore the Chesapeake Bay.
This movement will be focused on people. It will leave no watershed behind.
The task is daunting. More than 250 years of industrialization, deforestation, sprawl development, and outdated policies created a funnel of pollutants–nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment–that flow into the Bay and cause algal blooms that make the water murky and remove the dissolved oxygen needed for marine life.
For the past 40 years, we’ve made progress to shrink the funnel. Wastewater treatment plants were upgraded. Industrial pollution was regulated. Farmers began using cover crops, no-till, and streamside tree buffers to reduce runoff from fields. In urban areas, green infrastructure such as rain gardens and bioswales helps treat stormwater. New living shorelines are replacing rip rap and bulkheads.
But the Bay isn’t where we want it to be.
When the six Bay watershed states and the District of Columbia embarked on this great effort, scientists believed that if enough pollutants were reduced across the watershed, the Bay would be able to handle the nutrient imbalance itself and return to health. The dead zones would disappear. Wildlife would flourish. The Clean Water Act goals of swimmable and fishable waterways would be met.
Working from this premise, state and federal leaders established goals in 2014 to reduce pollution by 2025. During the past two years it became clear the collective states would miss those goals. Progress has been made, but not enough.
At the same time, we’re facing threats from a changing climate. The Chesapeake Bay in Maryland has increased by an average of 1 to 2 degrees Fahrenheit since the mid-1980s. Unpredictable and stronger storms are more frequent, and have already caused widespread flooding damage to places such as Ellicott City. The University of Maryland predicts sea levels in the state to rise a foot by 2050 and may exceed 3 feet by 2100, creating new threats for the state’s numerous coastal communities. Preventing and mitigating the worst effects of climate change requires swift action.
The good news is that the goals to reduce climate change and improve water quality in the Bay are aligned. Bay pollution reduction methods such as tree plantings, living shorelines, and marsh restorations are the same projects that can make Maryland’s shorelines more resilient, rivers less prone to flooding, and reduce carbon emissions.
What we need to do now for the Bay is focus on the hard stuff. We need to cut back on the pollution that is a direct reflection of the actions we take on land–nonpoint source pollution. This type of pollution doesn’t come from one pipe or a particular place. It comes from the fertilizer on lawns and fields, the debris and grease left behind on streets, and the loose sediment caused by tree clearing. All of it is washed into the Bay through the state’s network of streams, storm drains, and culverts during and after rain events.
Today, we’re approaching the challenge with a new strategy in Maryland. Last month at the Chesapeake Executive Council meeting in Annapolis, Gov. Wes Moore detailed the plan with leaders from other watershed states and the federal government at the table. At the Department of Natural Resources (DNR), we’re already implementing it.
The new strategy will focus the Bay cleanup in Maryland on improving shallow waterways such as creeks, streams, and rivers to benefit communities and wildlife. With the newly passed Whole Watershed Act, we’ll soon be testing this method in five different watersheds.
The projects will bring together governments, nonprofits, volunteers, and others to identify and install a suite of pollution reduction practices that will improve the health of these specific waterways while expanding public access, improving fishing opportunities, and restoring habitat. DNR is working closely with the Maryland Departments of Environment, Agriculture, and Planning to implement the different facets of the legislation and ensure the effort benefits from each agencies’ expertise.
At DNR, we’re continuing our work to help plant 5 million new trees in the state by 2030, with about 1 million already planted. Maryland’s Ayton Tree Nursery is capable of producing and mailing hundreds of thousands of trees per day when it’s operating during the spring planting season to supercharge tree plantings across the state.
Rather than hope that enough pollution reduction practices will save the Bay, we’ll develop this tributary-focused strategy to ensure we’re making progress river by river with the goal to leave no watershed behind.
The Chesapeake Bay is a treasure for natural resources. It’s a garden at Maryland’s doorstep. Like any garden, its ability to flourish takes patience and dedication. The seeds of Bay restoration were planted by the scientists, advocates, and communities that came before us. If we nurture their effort, adapt our work, and build stronger partnerships the garden will re-grow and our efforts to clean the Bay will be successful. At the Department of Natural Resources, we’re ready for the challenge.
Josh Kurtz is Secretary of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.
