Chesapeake Bay Program

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

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What Guides Us:  The Chesapeake Watershed Agreement

5 themes guide the agreement:

  • Abundant Life
  • Clean Water
  • Conserved Lands
  • Engaged Communities
  • Climate Change

Our partnership is guided by the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement, which includes goals and outcomes for restoring the Bay, its tributaries and the lands that surround them.

Learn more about the latest agreement‍

Learn More About the Chesapeake Bay

The Issues

An array of complex problems threaten the health of the Bay and its wildlife.

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A farm field with lighting striking in the background, just before a rain storm.

What is a Watershed?

Over 100,000 streams, creeks and rivers drain to the Bay, making up a 64,000 square mile watershed.

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A stream with trees and shrubs on the sides.

Food Web

Understand the delicate predator-prey relationships within the Bay’s food web.

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A snowy egret scoops a fish out of the water.

Bay Facts

The Bay is full of interesting facts and trivia related to its history, wildlife, geography and more.

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A Chesapeake Bay blue crab sits on the wooden base 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.

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Critter of the month

Black Skimmer

Rynchops niger

The black skimmer is an elegant forager that flies low over the surface of the water feeling for fish.

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Black skimmer dips its lower bill into the water to catch a fish.