Pick up any article about the health of the Chesapeake these days and you are sure to see the term “resilient.” It’s become the trendy way of saying that despite pollution continuing to run off into the Bay and extreme weather events, the Bay is thriving.Be careful you don't find it too good too fast, or they'll cut your funding.
From record acreage of underwater grasses to an unprecedented effort to restore oysters, experts are cautiously optimistic that the Chesapeake is bouncing back. The Bay Program’s 2017-18 Bay Barometer provides the science and data to back up this sentiment.
The Barometer is the Bay Program’s annual report on environmental health and restoration in the 64,000-square-mile watershed.
Containing the most up-to-date data and information from the program’s many partners, it is a science-based snapshot that presents the whole picture about the region’s health — from the blue crabs in tidal waters to the brook trout in freshwater streams to the progress being made in training the next generation in environmental literacy.
The Chesapeake Bay Program — the regional partnership that sets the policy and management decisions for restoring the Bay and is primarily funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — tracks 31 indicators to keep an eye on the progress of the Bay cleanup. This information is accessible at chesapeakeprogress.com.
Other organizations use the Barometer data and information in their own assessments of the Bay’s health, including the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s State of the Bay report and the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Studies’ Chesapeake Bay Report Card.
Yeah, but the fishing sucks. Ask me how I know.
You can find the actual text of the "Bay Barometer" here. It took moderate digging to actually find it.
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