News
DECLINE OF UNDERWATER GRASSES IMPEDES BAY RESTORATION | COMMENTARY
Remarkably, Maryland DNR’s Brooke Landry, their SAV program chief and chair of the Bay Program’s SAV Workgroup, touted the SAV data with the greenwashing that pervades bay restoration: “Despite many environmental pressures on the Bay, we continue to see signs of resilience and recovery in our underwater grasses. The increases in SAV acres observed in three of the four salinity zones this year are truly a testament to the effectiveness of long-term nutrient reductions and collaborative restoration efforts.” Really?
Read MoreCOMMENTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ON THE DRAFT 2025 CHESAPEAKE BAY WATERSHED AGREEMENT
The Draft omits references to the most critical commitment of the Bay states and EPA in the 2014 Watershed Agreement—to meet the TMDL and fully implement each state’s WIP. This omission tarnishes the entire process as this TMDL has guided restoration for 15 years, and supposedly still does. Meeting the reductions in N,P,S is the most important commitment in the 2014 Agreement as well as its predecessor, the 2000 Bay Agreement.
Read MoreGERALD WINEGRAD: DON’T FEAR THE REMARKABLE ALLIGATOR | COMMENTARY
Alligators have thrived for thousands of years in the Everglades system, elsewhere in Florida and in other southeastern states, especially Louisiana. Their lineage goes back 200 million years. But they barely survived the wanton slaughter of perhaps 8 million and habitat destruction wrought by humans over the centuries. After being reduced to 200 animals, their listing as endangered species sparked a comeback where they now number 5 million, 1.3 million in Florida.
These predators are an ecologically important species that enthralls my sense of wonderment as I consider alligators and all crocodilians as among nature’s most perfect creatures. Let’s dispel the myths about gators and threats to humans.
Read MoreRESTORING THE CHESAPEAKE REQUIRES POLITICAL COURAGE | COMMENTARY
By Gerald Winegrad Last week’s column detailed the embarrassing shortcomings of a farcically weak draft Bay Agreement to guide future efforts to restore the Chesapeake Bay. This draft new plan from the EPA-led Bay Program would be the fourth over the last 42 years. EPA also imposed a mandated pollution reduction plan, called a TMDL, in 2010…
Read MoreCHESAPEAKE BAY CRUSHED BY A CRAB COLLAPSE | COMMENTARY
By Gerald Winegrad Oh no! Just when you think it can’t get any worse for the Chesapeake Bay, we are hit with the news of crashing numbers of our iconic blue crabs. The reality of the drastic decline in an already depleted population is devastating to me personally. Like the Godfather tending his tomato plants in…
Read MoreGERALD WINEGRAD: 2025 LEGISLATIVE SESSION WAS AN ENVIRONMENTAL BEATDOWN | COMMENTARY
Aquaculture regulations are tweaked but not the changes needed to advance oyster aquaculture. The bill allows publicly funded oyster restoration projects to generate water quality trading credits allowing pollution reductions from oysters to be traded for increased pollution elsewhere. In a separate bill, oyster poaching penalties are relaxed. The Legacy Act established a Water Quality Monitoring Program in the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) that simply formalizes the existing water quality monitoring syste
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