This week, the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) is highlighting Chesapeake Bay Awareness Week. Home to over 18 million residents and tens of millions of plants and animals, the Chesapeake Bay watershed is a national treasure that spans six states and the entire District of Columbia. First designated in 2016, this annual event celebrates the cultures, history, and natural beauty of the nation’s largest estuary. This year’s theme, “Built by Nature, Protected Together” highlights the varied habitats, species, and elements that comprise the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
“The Bay is our legacy, and together, we are restoring it,” says MDE Secretary Serena McIlwain. “By partnering with local leaders and utilities to maximize the benefits of the Bay Restoration Fund, we’ve upgraded wastewater plants and septic systems while supporting farm cover crops. These efforts, alongside MDE’s stormwater initiatives, have played a critical role in meeting our 2025 targets for sediment and phosphorus and put us within inches of our nitrogen goal. This is progress: 1.5 million native trees and real results. We are building resilience, strengthening partnerships and moving with purpose.”
