Chesapeake Bay Program

Our regional partnership guides the restoration and protection of the nation’s largest estuary.

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Featured Stories

Old chemicals and new concerns

February 9, 2026

Toxic contaminants persist in the Bay, but so do the efforts of the Bay Program to understand and reduce them

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Smokestacks are seen from across a river, where people play along a beach in the foreground.

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Goals & Strategy:  The Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement

  • Thriving Habitat, Fisheries & Wildlife
  • Clean Water
  • Healthy Landscapes
  • Engaged Communities

Our partnership is guided by the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement: a collaborative commitment to restore, conserve and protect the Bay, its tributaries and the lands that surround them.

Learn more about the latest agreement‍‍

Learn More About the Chesapeake Bay

The Watershed

Thousands of creeks, streams and rivers deliver fresh water to the Bay from a region that spans 64,000 square miles.

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Viewed from a scenic overlook, the rural meeting place of the North and West branches of the Susquehanna River features multiple road and rail bridges.

Food Web

A balanced food web supports a productive ecosystem, as energy flows from the Bay's plants to its predators.

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A snowy egret wading in the water tosses a small silver fish into its bill.

The Issues

Complex problems face the Bay, its watershed and the plants, animals and people that live here.

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Corn grows in a farm field as dark clouds roll in and lightning strikes low mountains in the distance.

Bay Facts

From trivia about its geography to facts about its flora and fauna, the Bay has a lot to teach us.

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A blue crab rests in a shallow puddle on the wooden deck of a boat.

Field Guide to the Chesapeake

Explore the Field Guide to learn about more than 300 species of birds, fish, insects, invertebrates, mammals, plants, reptiles and amphibians that live in the Chesapeake Bay region.

Visit the field guide‍

Critter of the month

Sand Dollar

Abertalla aberti

The sand dollar is commonly known for its skeleton’s beautiful appearance that can be found along shorelines, but living sand dollars travel along the ocean floor. 

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A reddish-brown sand dollar close up.