DEADLINE: IJNR Chesapeake Bay Institute

The largest estuary in the United States and the end-point for more than 150 streams and rivers flowing through six states, the Chesapeake Bay is a complicated and storied body of water. Known for its fisheries, the area is also host to industry, agriculture, and a booming tourism economy. Today, threats to the region include nonpoint source pollution, depleted fisheries, and a population that grows by 100,000 residents each year. And in terms of climate change and sea level rise, the Chesapeake Bay coastline is one of the most threatened in the country.

At the same time, those who call the Bay home are hoping to turn the tide - making strides to reduce pollution, improve water quality and create a more sustainable resource-based economy.

Journalists on the Chesapeake Bay Institute, Sep 15-20, 2015, will:
 

• Meet scientists, farmers and resource managers to discuss the federally mandated "Total Maximum Daily Load," and the latest attempts of the six Chesapeake Bay watershed states to meet the U.S. EPA's clean water requirements.

• Get out on Baltimore's Inner Harbor and discuss plans to restore an ecosystem where trash, industrial waste and nutrient pollution have so compromised water quality that some areas are literally uninhabitable for aquatic organisms.

• Visit poultry farms on Maryland's Eastern shore and talk with local residents, chicken producers and lawmakers as they grapple with a growing industry and the resulting water quality concerns generated by the waste of hundreds of millions of chickens. 

• Travel to Crisfield, Maryland, self-proclaimed "crab capitol of the world," and meet with area watermen to discuss the storied history and present-day importance of managing a robust, yet sustainable, catch of the Chesapeake's iconic crustacean.

• Explore climate change as both an ecological and an environmental justice issue -  hearing the story of the struggle of unincorporated and, often, underrepresented communities after "Superstorm" Sandy, sloshing around the quickly disappearing Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge, and taking the ferry to Virginia's Tangiers Island to witness real-time impacts of rising seas. 

Apply by Aug 12. 

Supporters of this program include the Keith Campbell Foundation for the Environment, The Brown Advisory Group, and other foundations, contributors and individual donors. IJNR maintains editorial independence and control in all of its programming and decision-making.