Chesapeake Bay Boss Leaves

 At the Bay Journal, Shimkin stepping down as Bay Program director

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Chesapeake Bay Program Office, which coordinates regional efforts to restore the nation’s largest estuary, will be under new leadership in 2025 as it crafts another cleanup plan for the Bay.

Martha Shimkin, who has directed the office since December 2023, announced this week that she will retire at the end of the year.

“It has been such an honor and privilege to lead this office and partnership,” Shimkin said. But, she said, it is time to “enjoy the ‘life’ part of the work-life balance.”

Lee McDonnell, who heads the office’s Science, Analysis and Implementation Branch, will serve as its interim director.

Shimkin has been with the office for four years, serving the first three as its deputy director before stepping up to the top position.

The past year has been a challenging one for the Bay Program partnership as state and federal agencies, nonprofit organizations and others have worked to decide what should happen with Chesapeake restoration efforts after 2025.

That is the deadline for many restoration goals established in the 2014 Chesapeake Bay Agreement. It sets goals for a range of restoration activities, such as restoring oyster habitat, promoting environmental education and improving passages for migratory fish.

But many critical goals are far off track, including those for restoring wetlands, planting streamside forest buffers and expanding urban tree canopies. Next year will also mark the third time the Bay Program set and missed goals for reducing nutrient pollution, which has been a cornerstone of work to improve Bay water quality.

This year, Shimkin was co-leader of a “Beyond 2025” effort that conducted dozens of meetings and extensive outreach to determine what should come next. That resulted in a recommendation that the 2014 agreement be reviewed and updated next year, with all of its goals re-examined to determine whether they should be kept, dropped or updated with new objectives and timeframes.

Left unsaid is whether or not she is leaving because of the change of administration. I don't think the Bay Program Director is appointed by the President, I think it's done by the agency director, who is. But regardless, I'm quite sure her viewpoint at goals are significantly different than Lee Zeldin, Trump's pick for EPA Director. It will be interesting to watch the trajectory of the Bay Program in the next four years. I wonder if it will get scrutiny from DOGE. Goodness knows that on a basis of gain per dollar spent, the Bay Program hasn't exactly been a shining star.