In August, the state of Maryland released information about its pollution reduction targets set under the 2014 Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement to improve water quality. Based on the most recent information from the Chesapeake Bay Program’s pollution model, Maryland achieved … Continued
Christmas 2025 bird counts at Dredged Material Management Program (DMMP) sites near Baltimore documented an array of birds. Following a successful pilot last year, 2025 marked the first official year of the Baltimore City Christmas Bird Count (CBC) with three … Continued
In December 2025, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Baltimore District issued its Section 404/10/408/103 permit decision for the Sparrows Point Container Terminal (SPCT) project, a joint venture between Tradepoint Atlantic and Terminal Investments Limited, to construct a new … Continued
An array of grants from the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (WVDEP) will go towards Chesapeake Bay cleanup, water quality improvement efforts, watershed restoration, and stream stewardship. More than $1.5 million in 2025 Chesapeake Bay Program grants are being … Continued
This fall, the largest female sturgeon in the Atlantic sturgeon gillnetting survey’s history was captured by Maryland DNR biologists. The fish was netted along Marshyhope Creek, a tributary of the Nanticoke River. Nicknamed Chessie, the large female measured just under … Continued
Recent surveys of juvenile striped bass in the Chesapeake Bay watershed found slightly improved numbers of fish for 2025. Conducted by biologists in Maryland and Virginia, the surveys included counts of juvenile striped bass and other species in waters of … Continued
Data collected by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and Old Dominion University (ODU) show an above average volume of hypoxia—waters with less than 2 mg/l of oxygen—in the Chesapeake Bay mainstem of Maryland and Virginia in early and … Continued
The Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is awarding $29 million from the Chesapeake and Atlantic Coastal Bays Trust Fund to 27 ecological restoration projects encompassing 160 sites throughout the state for Fiscal Year 2026. These projects were selected based … Continued
The 2025 Maryland benchmark assessment indicates that oyster populations have grown significantly in Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay waters over the past 20 years. The Maryland Department of Natural Resources and the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science released the summary … Continued
The Maryland Department of Natural Resources is encouraging anglers to do their part to help the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem by catching and removing blue catfish from the state’s waterways. Blue catfish are top predators that consume native species such as … Continued