Letter from Leadership: A changing Chesapeake Bay

We know the environment is changing. There are visible signs all around us, and a substantial body of unambiguous data that confirms it. Sea levels are rising. Extreme storms are more frequent and destructive. Droughts and wildfires plague areas around the world. Wetlands are disappearing. Tree species are moving beyond their traditional range. Animal species are migrating at new times and to new places as average temperatures rise. Pests are showing up in places where they have never existed before. Environmental conditions are changing. It doesn’t really matter what you call it—it’s happening, and we must adapt.

One can argue about whether or not these changes have been caused by humans. I believe there is sufficient evidence to show that human activity is responsible for a good part of it. But the question remains: how can we minimize the negative impacts of these changing environmental conditions?

How do we respond? How do we address these changes within the context of Chesapeake Bay restoration? Chris Pyke, chair of the Chesapeake Bay Program’s Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee (STAC), suggests that we look ahead, anticipate these changes and adapt our approaches to them. We need to look at the pollution control measures and management strategies we are developing and determine if they will continue to be effective in light of our changing future. The Bay Program has incorporated an adaptive management decision-making framework that uses scientific data as the basis for responding to these changing conditions. If we don’t continue on this adaptive management track, the money we have spent to control pollution will have been wasted.

Call it climate change. Call it global warming. Call it sea level rise. It doesn’t really matter what you call it. We know environmental conditions are changing. We ignore it at our peril.