GRASS IS GREENER
According to a new study published in the premier Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Chesapeake Bay cleanup efforts have contributed to a major influx in important underwater grasses. Between 1984 and 2014, nitrogen levels fell 23 percent while acres of submerged vegetation, long considered a key indicator of bay heath, more than tripled to nearly 100 square miles. Researchers directly correlated this resurgence with recent cleanup initiatives, such as the pollution reduction efforts that were established in 2010. High-nutrient pollution can cause algae blooms that block sunlight from or smother the grasses, which remove carbon dioxide from the water and act as habitat for other aquatic creatures. That being said, the Trump administration’s 2019 budget is currently considering cuts to regional water cleanup efforts like those on the Chesapeake Bay.

HOORAY FOR THE BAY
At the beginning of the month, the Environmental Protection Agency reversed its decision to cut federal funding for the 27-year-old Chesapeake Bay Journal. Last year, the EPA abruptly announced its $325,000 cut half-way through its six-year grant with the environmental publication, inciting public outcry over the potential detriment that the Trump administration’s budget could cause the restoration efforts of the Chesapeake Bay. The Bay Journal, which receives another two-thirds of its funding from other sources, sued the agency in hopes that it would disclose an explanation. Under pressure from Senator Democrats, the EPA restored the grant just shy of four months later on March 1.

GUIDING LIGHT
In early March, the Baltimore City Department of Recreation and Parks announced that a portion of the Wyman Park Dell would be rededicated the Harriet Tubman Grove in honor of the iconic, Maryland-born abolitionist and Underground Railroad conductor. The wooded area formerly included the contest the Lee Jackson Monument, which was removed by Mayor Catherine Pugh in August 2017. The Harriet Tubman Tree Fund was also announced, with a goal of planting young trees to help sustain the native canopy.

BIRD WATCHER
With spring officially sprung, Great Blue Herons are back in action, and the Chesapeake Conservancy makes it easy to watch their ways. Installed last year, the non-profit’s webcam takes viewers behind the scenes of one of the water birds’ Eastern Shore rookeries. The same organization that brought us peregrine falcons Boh and Barb of downtown Baltimore now brings you a treetop view of these majestic creatures, including one couple named Eddie and Rell. Any time of day, they can be found feeding, nesting, or tending to their young. Watch the live-stream via their website, and also tune into the conservancy’s other cameras, including one for ospreys Tom and Audrey on Kent Island.

HIT THE GAS
In mid-March, state regulators approved a new natural gas pipeline beneath the Potomoc River. Helmed by Canadian energy company, Columbia Gas, this controversial project led to five arrests during a sit-in protest just two days earlier. While opponents vehemently oppose the pipeline, the Department of Energy claims that the project will meet a slew of precautionary environmental requirements so as to not threaten the river, or that of ground or drinking water.

APPLES TO APPLES
In late March, Civic Works’ Baltimore Orchard Project announced the upcoming launch of Moveable Orchards, a new initiative that brings portable fruit trees to the city’s vacant lots and community gardens in underserved neighborhoods like Sandtown-Winchester. The program hopes to provide a sustainable source of nourishment for local residents, as some 23.5% of the Baltimore’s population lives in food deserts, according to a recent study by the city’s planning department and Johns Hopkins University, the majority of whom are African-American. They plan to officially launch on Arbor Day on April 27, having currently raised nearly $7,000 of their raising $15,000 crowdfunding goal.

BOOK WORMS
As a veteran journalist and environmental radio host on WYPR, Tom Pelton has become a go-to source when it comes to conversations surrounding the Chesapeake Bay. His new book, The Chesapeake In Focus: Transforming The Natural World, brings together those years of experience in a rumination on ways to save our state estuary. He also celebrates other great local conservationists, like Bonnie Bick and Michael Beer. Catch a reading and book signing at the George Peabody Library on April 18.

It was a stark headline for anyone who has cherished a hot pile of Maryland crabs, or championed the boom of our state’s oyster aquaculture industry, or admired the summer osprey flitting over the brackish waters of the Chesapeake Bay. 

On Wednesday, the Bay Journal was not pushing a post about sea-level rise, farmland run-off, or the Conowingo Dam. Instead, it read “Bay Journal to lose EPA funding,” meaning that the future of the 27-year-old nonprofit news outlet, known for its award-winning environmental coverage of the Chesapeake Bay watershed, was now up in the air.

“It’s always awkward to become the news rather than simply report it,” wrote managing editor Timothy Wheeler in a blog post. “Needless to say, we’re baffled by the EPA’s decision.” 

Citing a shift in priorities, the Environmental Protection Agency abruptly canceled its six-year grant with the Bay Journal, which makes up about a third of the paper’s budget, effective February 1. In its second year of the grant, which is dispersed in annual installments, the Journal was slated to receive $325,000 this upcoming February. The paper currently has enough funding to continue publishing into early 2018. 

“We believe very strongly in independent journalism and we have very much appreciated the EPA funding, but it has not influenced the way we cover our stories,” says staff writer Rona Kobell, who was been with the Journal for eight years and was our Best of Baltimore “Bay Watcher” winner in 2015. “This cut is a very big disappointment, but it is not the end of the Bay Journal. We continue to be a strong newspaper, and we’re all committed to carrying on.”

In a statement published shortly after the Journal‘s announcement, Chesapeake Bay Foundation President William C. Baker called the EPA’s decision “a transparent attempt to shut down the free exchange of scientifically validated bay information.” He accused EPA administrator Scott Pruitt of showing “his true anti-environmental colors” and called on Governor Hogan to demand that the administration keep “this valuable resource available to the scientists, citizens, and politicians who depend on it.”

When the Bay Journal launched in 1991, the then-newsletter was fully funded by the EPA, but over time, editor Karl Blankenship and the dedicated staff converted the publication into an independent newspaper and diversified its sources of funding via grants and donations. The free, monthly paper now employs 11 journalists and boasts nearly 100,000 monthly readers in print and online.

Covering North America’s largest estuary has meant reporting on all sides of myriad issues that touch the Chesapeake Bay and its six surrounding states. Over the years, the Bay Journal has become an important source for not only news about pollution, restoration, and legislation, but also long-form features on the history and culture of the region. In the last year alone, the Journal broke such important stories as the controversial firing of veteran crab fisheries manager Brenda Davis and followed the ongoing disputes surrounding the opening of oyster sanctuaries to commercial harvest.

“On a personal note, I’m very proud of what we do for such a small staff,” says Kobell. “This is our commitment. We don’t have to cover fires or accidents or the tearing down of Confederate monuments. We just have this one mission. A lot of us have become experts about the things we cover. There is an authority to those stories that speaks to our deep sourcing and knowledge. As a result, we’ve really been able to offer something to people. I’m very proud of that.”