Chesapeake Bay Action Plan
After decades of effort, the voluntary, collaborative approach to restoring the health and vitality of the Chesapeake Bay— the largest estuary in the United States—has not worked and, in fact, is failing.
A diverse group of 57 senior scientists and policymakers have joined forces to save the Bay. This is our plan.
Don’t Confuse Agri-Business With Family Farms
(Posted by Fred Tutman.)
I am deeply upset about what appears to be an unavoidable collision course brewing between Chesapeake Bay advocates and a relatively small segment of the agricultural community that has a big footprint in Maryland and in the Chesapeake Bay. It is a confrontation that is causing huge rifts between champions for water quality and advocates for the future of “true” agriculture in the state. It is a fight that is fast making enemies of those who really should be allies.
Video: Oyster and Crab Populations in the Chesapeake Bay
(Posted by Gerald Winegrad.)
Gerald Winegrad discusses the effects of pollution on oyster and crab populations in the Chesapeake Bay:
Industrial Agriculture Is Killing the Bay
(Posted by Tommy Landers.)
Agriculture is not a monolith. It’s important to make a distinction between farmers who work the land and agribusiness interests who work the political system.
Big Poultry Needs to Clean Up After Itself
(Posted by Scott Edwards.)
As of 2008, despite the trumpeting of significant progress made in agricultural discharges of nutrients into the Bay, the industry was still pumping 100 million pounds of nitrogen and over 8 million pounds of phosphorus per year into the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
Chesapeake Bay: An Open Toilet
(Posted by Scott Edwards.)
The old grey mare just ain’t what she used to be. And for that matter, neither are those chickens. Or the cows. And you just wouldn’t recognize the pigs. Even if you could see them. But you can’t. Because they spend their entire, short life in darkened, crowded, filthy sheds. Nope, farms just aren’t what they used to be. In fact, they aren’t really even farms anymore. They’re factories. Every bit as much a factory as a papermill. Or a chemical processing plant. Put away your pastoral picture book – there’s nothing quaint or country about them.
Making Conservation Pay
(Posted by Bob Parks)
Many on the Western Shore of Maryland assume that the Eastern Shore is all chicken houses, but of course that’s not the case. The Upper Eastern Shore is, in fact, primarily grain farming. The Clean Water Act, however, does not regulate grain farming. Simply put, grain farming is the ultimate nonpoint source of nitrogen and phosphorus. You cannot identify (or regulate) the farmer whose field is sending nitrogen into the ground water that ends up in the rivers and the Bay.
Agriculture & the Decline of Smallmouth Bass
(Posted by Robert A. Bachman.)
In a resolution passed unanimously at its winter quarterly meeting on January 10, 2010, the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission made the following declaration:
…The Board of Commissioners of the Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission hereby expresses deep concern for the health of the Susquehanna River’s smallmouth bass fishery and asserts there is evidence showing that the water quality of the Susquehanna River has become increasingly impaired to the level that it is seriously impacting important elements of the Susquehanna River fishery, especially its nationally-reputed smallmouth bass fishery.”
Video: Are Farmers the Bad Guys?
When it comes to who’s responsible for polluting the Chesapeake Bay, farmers can feel singled out. Gerald Winegrad sets the record straight.
We are senior Chesapeake Bay scientists and policymakers from Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania who have concluded that after decades of effort, the voluntary, collaborative approach to restoring the health and vitality of the largest estuary in the United States has not worked and, in fact, is failing. Our group unanimously recommends that all states draining into the Chesapeake Bay adopt our 25 action items in their Watershed Implementation Plans (WIP) and implement them to improve the Bay’s water quality and to meet the requirements of the Clean Water Act.
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