The Chesapeake Bay watershed encompasses parts of six states — Delaware, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia — and the entire District of Columbia. The Chesapeake Bay watershed encompasses parts of six states — Delaware, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia — and the entire District of Columbia.
The Chesapeake Bay Watershed
The Chesapeake Bay — the largest estuary in the United States — is an incredibly complex ecosystem that includes important habitats and food webs. The Bay and its rivers, wetlands and forests provide homes, food and protection for diverse groups of animals and plants. Fish of all types and sizes either live in the Bay and its tributaries year-round or visit its waters as they migrate along the East Coast.
The Chesapeake Bay watershed stretches across more than 64,000 square miles, encompassing parts of six states — Delaware, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia — and the entire District of Columbia.
The Chesapeake's land-to-water ratio (14:1) is the largest of any coastal water body in the world. This is why our actions on the land have such a significant influence on the health of the Bay.
Threading through the Chesapeake watershed are more than 100,000 streams and rivers — called tributaries — that eventually flow into the Bay. Everyone in the Chesapeake Bay watershed lives within a few minutes of one of these streams and rivers, which are like pipelines from our communities to the Bay. Each of these tributaries has its own watershed, which are sometimes referred to as "sub-watersheds" or "small watersheds" within the larger Chesapeake watershed.
The leading threat to the health of the Chesapeake Bay is excess nitrogen and phosphorus pollution that destroys habitat and causes fish kills. Top sources of these pollutants include agriculture, sewage treatment plants, runoff from urban and suburban areas, and air pollution from automobiles, factories, and power plants. Other threats to the Bay's health include sprawl, toxic pollution, and poor fishery management.
Read more...The Chesapeake Bay Program
FACTS about The Chesapeake Bay...
Formed about 12,000 years ago as glaciers melted and flooded the Susquehanna River valley, the Chesapeake Bay is North America's largest estuary and the world's third largest. Since colonial times, the Bay has lost half of its forested shorelines, over half of its wetlands, nearly 80 percent of its underwater grasses, and more than 98 percent of its oysters. During the 350 years between 1600 and 1950, approximately 1.7 million acres of the Bay watershed were developed. During the 30 years between 1950 and 1980, the Bay watershed lost an additional 2.7 million acres to development.
Chesapeake Bay is approximately 200 miles long and runs north-south from the mouth of the Susquehanna River to the Atlantic Ocean. Chesapeake Bay's headwaters begin at Cooperstown, N.Y., home to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
The Chesapeake Bay watershed (the area of land that drains into the Bay) is 64,000 square miles and has 11,600 miles of tidal shoreline, including tidal wetlands and islands. The watershed encompasses parts of six states: Delaware, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia, as well as Washington D.C.
The average depth of the Bay, including tributaries, is about 21 feet, although the main channel of the Bay is deep enough to accommodate large cargo ships on their way to the port of Baltimore.
The deepest part of the Bay, "the Hole," is 174 feet deep and located off Bloody Point southeast of Annapolis, Md.
The narrowest part of the Bay, near Aberdeen, MD, is about 3.5 miles. The widest point - from Smith Point, VA, to Virginia's Eastern Shore - is 30 miles.
"Chesapeake" derives from the Native American "Tschiswapeki," which loosely translates into "great shellfish bay."
There are more than 100,000 streams, creeks, or rivers in the watershed, including 150 major rivers. One can reach a Bay tributary in less than 15 minutes from nearly everywhere in the watershed.
More than 500 million pounds of seafood is harvested from the Bay every year.
The Bay supports 3,600 species of plant and animal life, including more than 300 fish species and 2,700 plant types.
According to the CBF's 2008 State of the Bay Report the Bay's health rates a 28 out of 100 (a "pristine" Bay circa. 1600). At its worst in the early 1980s, the Bay would have scored a 23. A "saved Bay" would score a 70.
