News
O’Malley Piles On
(Posted by Tom Horton.)
Governor Martin O’Malley presumably thinks he’s helping Maryland poultry growers and processors by pressuring the University of Maryland’s environmental law clinic to drop out of a lawsuit aimed at stopping chicken farms from polluting.
But the pollution is real, it’s substantial and it’s not going to get better until the governor and agricultural interests acknowledge we have a problem with too much poultry manure.
Read MoreProtecting Forests and Increasing Buffers to Restore the Bay and Local Rivers
(Posted by Dawn Stoltzfus.)
With all the recent focus on the Chesapeake Bay TMDL and local WIPs, here’s something that may have flown under the radar of Marylanders following Bay restoration efforts: the Maryland Sustainable Forestry Council is developing a set of legislative proposals to achieve a “No Net Loss” of forests in Maryland, due by December 1, 2011. It seems like we could easily be losing sight of the forest for the trees!
Last week, former Maryland State Senator Gerald Winegrad testified before the Council. As Senator Winegrad notes in his testimony [link], “the Sustainable Forestry Council can greatly assist in efforts to restore the Bay by focusing on nonpoint source pollution as forests and wetlands are the greatest protectors of the Bay from pollutants.”
Read MoreFinally, some good news! Shrinking dead zones linked to nutrient reductions
(Posted by Bill Dennison.)
In a recent scientific publication by Rebecca Murphy and Bill Ball from Johns Hopkins University and Michael Kemp at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, an analysis of 40 years of Chesapeake Bay data reveals some important new insights.
Read MoreNew Leadership for Chesapeake Bay Action Plan
We are pleased to announce today the formation of the executive council of the Senior Bay Scientists and Policymakers, almost one year to the day after launch of the Chesapeake Bay Action Plan website.
Composed of leading scientists and policymakers, members of the executive council are all long-time champions of the Chesapeake Bay, and they will lend their substantial talents and expertise to help our group shape important policy decisions. They will also provide direction to help the Senior Bay Scientists and Policymakers strategically focus our collective efforts, and harness the power of the many organizations supporting this work, so we can be most effective.
Read MoreProtecting the “Most Important Fish in the Sea”
(Posted by Gerald Winegrad.)
Conservationists have been working for seven years to gain conservation measures for menhaden. This species plays an important role in the Chesapeake Bay’s ecosystem as a filter feeder, as a critical prey species for other fish and for piscivorous (fish-eating) birds. That’s why this keystone species has been called the most important fish in the sea.
After the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission 2010 stock assessment found that menhaden are at their lowest point on record, the group is on the brink of adopting historic coast-wide conservation measures for this over-fished species. Yesterday, a group of 30 Chesapeake Bay leaders sent this letter to ASMFC urging restrictions on fishing this critical species.
Read MoreNutrient Trading—Promise or Pitfall?
(Posted by Dawn Stoltzfus.)
With the watershed states (Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, W. Virginia and Delaware) and D.C. working to significantly reduce pollution to meet the Chesapeake Bay TMDL, nutrient trading is a hot topic. Some see trading as a way to reduce the challenging costs of Chesapeake Bay cleanup, and it looks good on paper—but there are serious scientific concerns about its practicality and water quality benefits, particularly with trades between nonpoint sources (like agriculture and stormwater runoff) and point sources (like wastewater treatment plants). Difficulty in accurately measuring trading’s effectiveness also seems like a big obstacle.
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