Another 200-plus acres have been preserved as part of the growing footprint of a natural area near the bustling I-95 corridor of Northern Virginia. Read StoryMore acres added to Crow’s Nest Preserve in Virginia
News
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is warning states in the Chesapeake Bay watershed that they are “significantly off track” in meeting … Read StoryEPA may increase oversight of state stormwater programs in Chesapeake region
A new Chesapeake Bay passenger ferry service could attract tens of thousands of users in its first year, but it would run in the red while doi… Read StoryMaryland counties push Bay passenger ferry. Will funding follow?
From an archaeologist’s point of view, Maryland’s Eastern Shore holds many secrets. Read StoryDig yields clues into how Choptank tribe lived with water
Two major agricultural companies ramped up operations recently on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, and the environment paid a price, according to the… Read StoryMaryland levies fines on Perdue, Valley Proteins for environmental violations
The 71 acres of the Nansemond Indian Nation’s Mattanock Town near Suffolk, VA, can invoke something different for each visitor. Some people ad… Read StoryNansemond Indian Nation aims to heal land, water along their namesake river
For more than two years now, the Gunpowder River has turned orange or brown whenever there’s a hard or steady rain. It happened again in mid-J… Read StoryGunpowder Riverkeeper threatens to sue over muddy runoff from development
A Southern Maryland public utility has agreed to pay a $250,000 penalty and to repair and upgrade its wastewater collection system to prevent … Read StorySouthern Maryland utility agrees to fix chronic sewage overflows, pay fine
The National Aquarium’s newest exhibit is putting the “wet” in wetlands. Read StoryBaltimore harbor gains “floating wetlands” and a hint of its marshy past
Perched on a nest atop a green navigation marker in Maryland’s Harris Creek, the osprey glared, spread its wings and started hopping as a boat… Read StoryMore osprey reproduction problems found around the Chesapeake Bay
A legislature-ordered study recommends Pennsylvania move forward with building a network of wildlife corridors on the landscape, including roa… Read StoryReport recommends a network of wildlife corridors in Pennsylvania
Underwater grass beds in the Chesapeake Bay region expanded for the third consecutive year in 2023, reaching the seventh highest level observe… Read StoryChesapeake's underwater grasses rebound for third year
A planned warehouse development in Harford County, MD, that tested the strength of Maryland’s forest conservation law has been abandoned, endi… Read StoryDeveloper abandons plans to build warehouses in Abingdon Woods
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is awarding nearly $700 million to four states in the Chesapeake Bay region to reduce and trap greenh… Read StoryChesapeake region awarded $700 million in federal climate funding
A small town threatened by sea level rise on Maryland’s Eastern Shore is getting a big boost from the Federal Emergency Management Agency in i… Read StoryEastern Shore town launches counterattack on climate flooding
Pursuing its quest to become a carbon capture and storage center, Pennsylvania has adopted a new law that paves the way for global-warming car… Read StoryPennsylvania law seeks to make state a carbon storage center
The Virginia Institute of Marine Science released a new report in June on the unexplained massive die-offs at oyster farms. The report is from… Read StoryVirginia scientists investigate mass oyster die-offs
The Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, strained by the record use of its 124 state parks in recent years, is tryin… Read StoryActive or passive? Plans for Pennsylvania state park spark controversy
The Virginia Institute of Marine Science received a $100 million gift on July 24 to support research that will help coastal communities around… Read Story$100 million gift to Virginia Institute of Marine Science will elevate its global reach
Pennsylvania, long criticized for underinvesting in Chesapeake Bay cleanup efforts, plans to commit $50 million a year for programs primarily … Read StoryPennsylvania’s budget pledges ongoing support for Chesapeake Bay cleanup
It’s been 30 years since the largest landowner in Pennsylvania — the state itself — came up with a strategic plan to guide the use of its 2.2 … Read StoryA new plan for PA forests: new uses, more trails, continued logging
Tim Kaine has had many titles over more than a quarter-century in public office: U.S. senator, mayor, governor and vice-presidential running m… Read StoryU.S. Senator Kaine lays out the ‘Virginia Nature Triathlon’ challenge
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has decided to investigate a civil rights complaint against Baltimore alleging that Black and Hispani… Read StoryEPA to investigate civil-rights complaint over Baltimore’s trash incineration
The James River Association held a ribbon cutting ceremony on July 17 to celebrate the grand opening of its $9 million James A. Buzzard River … Read StoryJames River Association opens education center
Editor’s note: This interview is the seventh in a series highlighting young professionals at work in the Chesapeake Bay arena. Listen to the f… Read StoryLeader in environmental education says we can do better
After several weeks of dry weather, rain can only be a good thing — unless you are planning an outdoor swim event in an urban waterway. Read StoryDespite progress, Anacostia River swim delayed again
Landscapes lined with solar panels don’t absorb rainwater the same way that a forest does — or shed it like a parking lot. But researchers are… Read StoryResearch to help solar farms reduce erosion and runoff
After years of acrimony between watermen and environmentalists in Maryland over restoring oysters in the Chesapeake Bay, the state is trying a… Read StoryMaryland strives for conflict-free oyster restoration in Eastern Bay
The Chesapeake Bay’s health, which has waffled between middling and poor for decades, ticked upward in 2023 to its best condition in more than… Read StoryReport card gives Chesapeake Bay a C+, its best grade in 21 years
Three dams have been dismantled on the main portion of the Patapsco River in Maryland since 2010. The fourth and final major barrier may soon … Read StoryLast major dam on Maryland’s Patapsco River targeted for removal
Researchers in Virginia hope a new technology can help in the battle against one of the oldest forms of life on the planet. Read StoryResearchers send in a drone to study bacteria and algae blooms in Shenandoah River
Cover photo: Poplar Island, in Maryland’s portion of the Chesapeake Bay, was nearly lost to erosion but has been restored using dredged materi… Read StoryAfter 60 years, gravestones return to a reborn island
You can learn a lot about dolphins by listening. Read StoryScientists listen in on dolphins that travel in and out of the Chesapeake Bay
As the paddlewheel churned water in the West Branch of the Susquehanna River, Matt Wilson of Susquehanna University stood on the open-air upp… Read StoryFloating Classroom on the Susquehanna combines river learning with paddlewheel charm
Alexandria Renew Enterprises, or AlexRenew, announced on June 6 the sale of $45.7 million in green bonds. It’s the first wastewater treatment … Read StoryVirginia wastewater treatment plant sells ‘green’ bonds to fund infrastructure work
After 30 years of stubbornly slow progress toward restoring the health of the Chesapeake Bay and its rivers, federal agencies and watershed st… Read StoryWhat’s next for the Chesapeake Bay? Draft goes out for public input
The Chesapeake Bay region has dramatically ramped up its pace of planting streamside trees, but recent data indicates that it may be losing th… Read StoryPlanting of streamside forests picked up in 2023 but loss might outpace gain
The James River Association and other project partners celebrated completing a living shoreline project at the privately owned Berkeley Planta… Read StoryLiving shoreline project is first to use Virginia’s ag cost share funds
Environmental advocates are calling on the Maryland Department of Transportation to make more effort cleaning up the polluted stormwater that … Read StoryAdvocates say Maryland needs better pollution controls on highways
Virginia’s fishery managers have lifted the longstanding ban on dredging for blue crabs during the winter in the Chesapeake Bay, a seismic pol… Read StoryVirginia moves to end 16-year ban on dredging for crabs during winter
With a dense forest, scenic trails and historic structures spread across more than 1,200 acres, Gwynns Falls/Leakin Park is a green oasis in t… Read StoryMaryland and Baltimore explore partnership for Gwynns Falls/Leakin Park
More than 150 people hopped into Baltimore’s Inner Harbor for a swim on a balmy Sunday morning in June. Aside from being refreshing, organizer… Read StorySwimmers jump in for the Baltimore Harbor Splash
Researchers are forecasting the Chesapeake Bay’s annual oxygen-starved “dead zones” to only be slightly larger than usual this year, despite h… Read StoryForecast calls for slightly larger-than-normal Bay ‘dead zone’
As Nature Conservancy marine scientist Brendan Runde motored into the Atlantic Ocean to study fish about 27 miles offshore from Virginia Beach… Read StoryVirginia offshore wind project underway as environmental studies continue
It’s an all-out effort to save habitat for Pennsylvania’s state fish, the eastern brook trout, the only native trout in the cold waters of the… Read StoryPush to save native trout in Pennsylvania hampered by stream study backlog
The growing presence of data centers in Northern and Central Virginia is causing an unprecedented spike in projected energy use for the region… Read StoryEnergy demands for Northern Virginia data centers almost too big to compute
Environmental justice and clean air and water advocates who have been fighting for years to clean up or shut down a polluting trash-burning in… Read StoryBaltimore incinerator draws fire for air pollution
Unlike humans, who usually experience heat waves only in the summer, marine life can find itself in hot water, or marine heat waves, throughou… Read StoryMarine heat waves create habitat squeeze in the Chesapeake, research shows
Tom Dunlap, wearing chest waders and carrying an orange mesh bag, sloshed through waist-high water with a purpose: to give nature a helping hand. Read StoryPlan puts muscle behind James River mussel restoration
Cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay is a lot like trying to sail into the wind. The heavy breeze keeps pushing back against efforts to make progress. Read StoryChesapeake Bay cleanup faces headwinds in reducing nutrient pollution