Save the Bay News: Menhaden, the Perfect Classroom, and the Garden that Grew

This month’s newsletter features a range of stories from menhaden to environmental literacy to the flurry of environmental deregulations, layoffs, and funding freezes and what that means for the Bay. Read on.

Just over 50 days into the second Trump administration, there has been a flurry of deregulatory actions, layoffs, and funding freezes. CBF’s federal director gives a frank update on where Bay restoration efforts stand amid the chaos. This adds more urgency to our work , writes CBF President Hilary Harp Falk. As the Bay’s challenges get more serious, and leaders update the Chesapeake Bay Agreement this year, we need to focus on what people and nature need more than ever. That includes holistic restoration projects like the community garden and stormwater project at South Richmond’s Second Baptist Church that has sparked a movement for healthy living, eating, and environmental stewardship. It includes outdoor education and environmental literacy initiatives for the region’s students, which prepare them for “a world where environmental challenges are becoming increasingly urgent,” writes veteran teacher Tonya Humphrey. And it includes taking a hard look at things like the management of the Bay’s menhaden fishery, which continues to lack adequate science due to industry lobbying. Despite the federal setbacks , it’s important to keep pushing forward. “We must fight battles even when we lose because we never know when we might win,” U.S. Senator and Bay champion Tim Kaine said in a Q&A following a CBF lecture series on climate change in Norfolk. “Even a loss can position us to win the next battle.”  

Caroline Phillips

What People and Nature Need

Fifty-two percent of residents in the Chesapeake Bay watershed believe the challenges facing the Bay will become more serious over the next five years, according to a recent poll commissioned by CBF. We can only meet those challenges by taking a holistic approach to restoration, writes CBF President and CEO Hilary Harp Falk.

Andrew Overton

Federal Update: The First 50 Days

It’s been just over 50 days since the second Trump administration began. From federal funding freezes to a flurry of deregulation actions, CBF Federal Director Keisha Sedlacek gives a frank update on the current chaos in our nation’s capital, what it means for Bay restoration efforts, and where our work currently stands. 

Sue Mangan Photography

We Must Go On: A Q&A with Sen. Tim Kaine

After a CBF event in Norfolk, CBF President Hilary Harp Falk spoke with U.S. Senator Tim Kaine. Kaine has long championed efforts that improve the health of the Bay and address challenges like sea level rise and coastal flooding. They discussed climate change, the importance of bipartisanship, and finding hope in dark moments. 

Caroline Phillips

The Bay, A Perfect Classroom

“Our children are inheriting a world where environmental challenges are becoming increasingly urgent,” writes Tonya Humphrey, a thirty-year veteran of Virginia’s Prince George County Public Schools. Sharing experiences from her own classrooms, Humphrey argues that environmental education is key to empowering students to become problem solvers, advocates, and stewards of the natural world. 

Pastor Ralph Hodge

The Garden That Grew a Movement

A decade ago, the neighborhood surrounding Second Baptist Church in South Richmond had no reliable access to healthy food. But in 2016, the church partnered with CBF on a $150,000 grant project from EPA to plant a community garden and rain garden that have since grown into an oasis of healthy eating, exercise, and environmental stewardship. 

John Surrick/CBF Staff

Menhaden’s Big Miss

For the second year in a row, after pressure from Omega Protein lobbyists, Virginia refused to fund a critical scientific study about menhaden, a foundational forage fish that fuels much of the Bay ecosystem. The fact that basic scientific questions remain unaddressed—and efforts to answer them keep getting blocked—should  warrant new, precautionary management strategies. 

In the News

EPA deregulation bombshell a blow to the Chesapeake Bay: The agency unveiled its intent to unleash an unprecedented assault on dozens of science-based standards that safeguard the environment and the Bay. 

Residents believe challenges facing Chesapeake Bay are becoming more serious: A new poll reveals concerns and priorities of Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. residents as leaders update the federal-state Chesapeake Bay Agreement. 

Trump memo directing agencies to prepare for mass layoffs spells disaster: Along with a proposed 65 percent cut to the Environmental Protection Agency’s budget, the action threatens more than 40 years of collaborative efforts to restore the Bay. 

Five Maryland watersheds selected for Whole Watershed Act pilot program: The five-year program will restore targeted rivers and streams using innovative, science-based approaches. 

Virginia General Assembly hits finish line with environmental victories: They include wins for the state’s wetlands, outdoor learning for students, stronger safeguards against disastrous weather, and protections for trees. 

Menhaden study fails to advance in Virginia budget: Despite troubling signs about the health of the Bay’s menhaden population, lawmakers failed to approve three separate efforts to fund a study intended to answer long-standing questions.   

Keystone 10 Million Trees Partnership closing in on lofty goal: The partnership plans to add nearly 200,000 new trees to Pennsylvania this year. 

Shop the CBF Store

The days are getting warmer, flowers are budding, and we’re restocking the CBF Store with some of your favorites in all sizes. Shop the CBF Store and welcome spring in style!

What You Can Do

• The Trump administration has proposed major cuts to federal agencies, creating an extraordinary crisis for the decades-long Chesapeake Bay restoration effort. Rise up with us now. Contact your members of Congress today and urge them to do the right thing: Protect environmental funding! Protect agency staffing!
• From urban garden and living shoreline restoration and a Brock Climate Lecture Series in Virginia to oyster cage cleanings in Maryland, we’ve got a slew of upcoming opportunities to get involved with CBF and learn about the Bay. Check out our Events Calendar for the latest.

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