Chesapeake News and Events

This weekly blog post highlights the top stories from around the watershed while informing you of upcoming volunteer events to help Save the Bay.

Photo by CBF Staff

This week in the Watershed:  the Farm Bill, No Child Left Inside, and a fish-blocking dam becomes an oyster-growing reef.

 

• With the new Farm Bill set to go through Congress and the deficit-reducing “Super Committee,” Bay advocates are concerned that conservation funding will be lost due to budget cuts.  (Public News Service – PA)
• EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson vigorously defended her agency’s work against claims that environmental regulations such as the Bay TMDL (also known as the ‘pollution diet’) kill jobs.  (Los Angeles Times – CA)
• The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions approved key parts of the No Child Left Inside Act, which is a reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act that includes environmental literacy standards for our nation’s youth.  (The Bay Net – MD)
• The oily menhaden continues to make the news as the debate over restricting their harvest continues.  (The Capital – MD)
• A Pennsylvania county received almost $100,000 in grants to implement pollution reductions as part of the Bay’s ‘pollution diet,’ or TMDL.  (Philadelphia Inquirer – PA)
• Concrete from a removed dam on the Patapsco River near Baltimore will soon become an oyster reef at the mouth of the Chester River.  (Associated Press – MD)
• Maryland may set back its target date of fully implementing its Bay pollution diet efforts.  While Governor O’Malley originally claimed to have all programs in place by 2020, the deadline may be pushed back to 2025, matching the 5 other states in the watershed.  (Baltimore Sun – MD)

Upcoming Volunteer Opportunities for the Bay

October 29

• At Lake Needlewood in Rockville MD, the Rock Creek Conservancy needs help building a trail from 9 am to 12 pm.  Sign up and lend a hand!
• If you live out in western Virginia, head to the Catawba Community Center from 9 am to 3 pm and learn about protecting stream banks with native plantings.  Lunch is provided, as well as a free shrub or tree for attending the event.  Contact Christy Gabbard (cgunnels@vt.edu, 540 767-6114) for more information. 
• Join the Anacostia Watershed Society as they work to clean out its Nash Run trash trap.  9 am to 12 pm. 

October 30

• Help remove invasive species at Magruder Park with the Anacostia Watershed Society from 10 am to 1 pm.  All tools will be provided.

November 1

• If you have waterfront property in Virginia and you’ve ever wondered how to stabilize erosion and protect your shoreline, attend this workshop to learn about Bay-friendly techniques to do just that. It will take place in Williamsburg, VA from 9 am to 12 pm.  Please register as space is limited. 

November 3

• Meet Bethesda Green’s Incubator companies while enjoying complimentary appetizers at the Parva Restaurant and Lounge in downtown Bethesda.  Learn about what Bethesda Green does to develop green businesses in the region.  

 

        —Adam Wickline

 

If you have an upcoming Bay-related restoration event and you need volunteers, please let us know: awickline@cbf.org. Do you enjoy working with fellow Bay Lovers to help save the Chesapeake? Become a CBF Volunteer to receive notifications about upcoming volunteer opportunities.  

Comments

[Honey]

My mom used to take my sisters and I to the Maryland Science Center in Baltimore's Inner Harbor each year. It was a trtdiaion of ours to eat lunch at the playground, on the very top of Federal Hill. When I was little, I took the steep staircase up the hill with my mom and then baby sister, and watched as my older sisters climbed the high stone wall and the steep slope of the hill. It was the sign of maturity and trust from my mother when, for the first time, I was allowed to climb the wall, and zig-zag up the hill. I have never forgotten my older sisters dragging me up the wall, helping me climb the almost vertical hill, and pushing me on the swing when we finally reached the top. I still think of that hill as the ultimate picnic location.