EPA Bay Program Pretty Happy With Itself

Federal agencies outline progress toward Chesapeake Bay cleanup

The federal agencies leading the watershed-wide effort to restore the Chesapeake Bay have released a progress report highlighting the work that was completed last year.

Federal agencies and state and local partners have added 20 new monitoring stations to the Bay and its tributaries, expanding their ability to track changes in water quality and pollution. They have established conservation practices across Bay farms and forests, installing streamside fencing to keep livestock out of waterways and planting cover crops to reduce the need for nutrient-laden fertilizers. And they have planted close to 100 acres of oyster reefs in a Maryland tributary and opened more than 30 miles of Virginia and Pennsylvania streams to eels, shad and other diadromous fish, restoring habitat for some of the watershed’s most critical critters.

100 acres of oysters!  Why that's as far as the eye can see a drop in the bucket in the Bay's 4,479 square miles.  And 30 miles of streams opened isn't that much when you consider removing a single dam or obstacle, and the Bay has approximately 100,000 streams.