A crab trap, a red buoy and a blue bin containing silver fish
Fishing Boat on the Chesapeake Bay TNC works with fishermen and communities in the Chesapeake Bay. © Jason Houston

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Chesapeake Bay

Securing clean water and protecting critical habitats in our nation’s largest estuary.

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Your support will mean cleaner water, healthier habitat and more abundant life in the Chesapeake Bay.

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Aerial photograph of the wetlands in Maryland's Fishing Bay Wildlife Management Area.
Maryland's Fishing Bay Aerial photograph of the wetlands in Maryland's Fishing Bay Wildlife Management Area. © © Alan W. Eckert

The Chesapeake Bay's watershed—the area of land that feeds all the water draining into it—encompasses 64,000 square miles of streams and rivers, forests, farms and cities.  

The map and stories below highlight the variety of ways that TNC is working across six states—Delaware, Maryland/DC, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia—to protect and restore the Chesapeake Bay.

  • Promoting sustainable agriculture practices that keep nutrients on farm fields and out of waterways.
  • Reducing urban stormwater pollution through innovative partnerships and green infrastructure solutions.
  • Working with partners to deploy smart pond technology that anticipates rain events and adjusts water levels and storage volumes.
  • Bringing back the bay's keystone species, the oyster, through aggressive reef restoration efforts.
  • Restoring wetlands and the critical services they provide to help prevent flooding and absorb sediment and excess nutrients.
  • Tackling climate change through our policy work and government relations efforts.
  • Protecting 233,000 acres of land in the bay watershed.
Chesapeake Bay watershed map
Chesapeake Bay Watershed Securing clean water and protecting critical habitat across six states. © TNC

EXPLORE OUR WORK ACROSS THE BAY STATES

Promoting Clean Water

The sun sets behind grain silos near Cambridge MD.

Project Overview

Agriculture in Maryland

Engaging with Maryland's largest industry to keep nutrients on our farms and out of our waterways

The agriculture industry represents the backbone of Pennsylvania's heritage and economy.

Project Overview

Agriculture in Pennsylvania

Farms represent the backbone of Pennsylvania's heritage and economy.

Harvesting oysters from cages in the Chesapeake Bay.

Science

Aquaculture by Design

The Bay’s oyster aquaculture industry is the largest on the East Coast, providing sustainable seafood and green jobs.

By Randy Dell | Mar 19, 2020

Two men walking down a path

Video

Collaborating for Success

Working together, landowner Joe Hickman and farmer Trey Hill have implemented farm conservation practices to improve Chesapeake Bay health.

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Reducing Stormwater

A person with a red umbrella on a rainy night in DC

Magazine Feature

Planning for a Rainy Day

Washington, D.C., combines regulations with a new credit market to keep polluted stormwater out of its rivers.

By Jenny Rogers

Water exits a large pipe emerging from a streambank.

Feature

Natural Solutions To Stormwater

The Nature Conservancy, together with partners and the City of Philadelphia, is employing nature to soak up stormwater in Philadelphia.

A great blue heron hunts for fish on the Chesapeake Bay.

Partnerships

Green Infrastructure for Cities

NatureVest aims to help cities accelerate their use of green infrastructure to manage stormwater runoff.

A project to retrofit Chesapeake Bay watershed retention ponds with new technology will allow for water retention and release to be controlled remotely.

Partnerships

Making a Splash

Web-based Smart Pond technology is offering a new way to deal with stormwater, one of the leading sources of pollution in the Chesapeake Bay.

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Bringing Back an Icon

Oyster shells

Conservation Update

Oyster Restoration in Maryland

We're bringing back an icon to the Chesapeake Bay.

Women holding bags of seagrass

Photo Essay

Marine Eelgrass Collection

Go into the water and behind the scenes at the Volgenau Virginia Coast Reserve for the largest and most successful seagrass restoration project in the world!

Oyster shells

Project Overview

Oyster Restoration in Virginia

Aggressive oyster reef restoration efforts are bringing a vital natural and economic resource back to Virginia waters.

Restoring Wetlands

A leafy tree frames a calm river.

Feature

Susquehanna River

The Susquehanna, the 16th largest river in the United States, supplies drinking water to hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvanians along its reach.

Pocomoke River floodplain reconnection, Whiton Crossing, Maryland.

Feature

Chesapeake Jewel

Explore the Pocomoke River's history and our efforts to protect its swamp and wetland habitats for people and nature.

By John Page Williams | Chesapeake Bay magazine | Apr 30, 2020

Charlottesville's Meadow Creek is one of the largest urban stream restoration projects in Virginia to date. 9,000 linear feet were restored, preserving 12 acres of wetlands.

Program Overview

Virginia Aquatic Resources Trust Fund

The Trust Fund helps TNC make large-scale freshwater conservation in Virginia possible.

Aerial view of the Pocomoke River floodplain restoration site showing breaches cut into earthen berms to reconnect the river to its floodplain.

Freeing a Trapped River

Reversing a legacy of ditching and draining to reconnect Maryland's Pocomoke River to its floodplain wetlands.

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Tackling Climate Change

View of Ocean City and salt marshes

Alert

Conservation Legislative Priorities

Advocating for policies that can lead Maryland forward.

Sunset over a forested valley.

Feature

Climate Solutions

Advancing a comprehensive suite of innovative, science-based solutions that match the urgency of the climate crisis.

Views from this rocky outcrop look west onto the Shenandoah Valley and north to Shenandoah National Park.

Feature

Climate Change

Protecting and restoring healthy natural systems in Virginia to withstand a changing climate and rising seas.

Protecting Land to Protect the Bay

Canoeing past a cypress tree on Nassawango Creek.
Nassawango Creek Preserve Maryland's Nassawango Creek flows southward into the Pocomoke River, a major tributary to the Chesapeake Bay. © Alan Eckert Photography
New Point Comfort Light is the third-oldest surviving light in the Chesapeake Bay and the tenth-oldest in the United States.
New Point Comfort Strategically located on a peninsula jutting into the Chesapeake Bay, Virginia's New Point Comfort is a key stopover point on the Atlantic Flyway. © Dana Blackmer Photography
Nanticoke River, Delaware
Middleford North Preserve This Delaware preserve hugs a portion of Gravelly Branch, a last undisturbed portion of the Nanticoke River watershed, one of the bay’s most productive tributaries. © Harold Malde
Nature Conservancy in New York team goes for a hike
Frenchman's Bluff Preserve At the northern extent of the bay watershed, this New York preserve overlooks the Chemung River, a tributary of the Susquehanna River. © Mathew Levine/The Nature Conservancy
Artist Nancy Tankersley works on a plein air oil study of the landscape at King's Creek/Choptank Wetlands preserve.
Choptank Wetlands A survey of natural areas conducted by the Smithsonian Institution ranked this Maryland marsh system as one of the most important Chesapeake Bay natural areas. © Mark Godfrey / TNC
At Great Falls, the Potomac River builds up speed and force as it falls over a series of steep, jagged rocks and flows through the narrow Mather Gorge.
Great Falls Park At Virginia's Great Falls, the Potomac River builds up speed and force as it falls over a series of steep, jagged rocks and flows through the narrow Mather Gorge. © Devan King / TNC
A misty Susquehanna River viewed from Cove Mountain.
Cove Mountain Preserve The 353-acre preserve on Pennsylvania's Kittatinny Ridge is part of the Susquehanna River watershed. © Eric Krukowski
Kayakers enjoy a fall day on Nanjemoy Creek.
Nanjemoy Creek The "green thumb" of the Potomac River and one of Maryland's most pristine watersheds. © Alan Eckert Photography
A kayak offers the best way to enjoy the sights and sounds of this watery wilderness.
Dragon Flats Widely considered Virginia's most pristine blackwater stream, Dragon Run widens to form the Piankatank River, a key site for our oyster reef restoration efforts. © Andy Lacatell / TNC
(ALL INTERNAL, LIMTED EXTERNAL USES) Fall color at The Nature Conservancy's Bear Rocks Preserve in West Virginia. High above Canaan Valley, in Dolly Sods, where a flat, windswept expanse of subalpine heath barrens opens up to the sky. Stunted red spruce, ancient bogs and forlorn boulders define this haunting landscape, where creatures typically found in more northern environs roam oblivious to their geologic isolation. The Nature ConservancyÕs 477-acre Bear Rocks Preserve is a cornerstone of this wonderfully diverse and complex ecosystem, which lies on a ridge crest that forms part of the Eastern Continental Divide. PHOTO CREDIT: © Kent Mason
Bear Rocks Preserve Situated high above the Canaan Valley of West Virginia, this preserve is located in an area that acts as part of the headwaters of the Chesapeake Bay. © Kent Mason
The Prothonotary Warbler got its name from the bright yellow robes worn by papal clerks, known as prothonotaries, in the Roman Catholic church.
Robinson Neck Preserve Upland forests provide an important buffer in the protection of these Maryland marshes and the entire Chesapeake Bay. © Matthew Wroblewski / flickr Creative Commons CC by 2.0
Canoeing along Cumberland Marsh
Cumberland Marsh The preserve protects a pristine marsh habitat on Virginia's Pamunkey River, a major tributary of the Chesapeake Bay. © Daniel White / TNC
Secluded amid North Fork Mountain lies TNC’s Pike Knob.
Pike Knob Preserve This preserve in West Virginia's Central Appalachians is located in an area that acts as part of the headwaters of the Chesapeake Bay. © Kent Mason
× Canoeing past a cypress tree on Nassawango Creek.
× New Point Comfort Light is the third-oldest surviving light in the Chesapeake Bay and the tenth-oldest in the United States.
× Nanticoke River, Delaware
× Nature Conservancy in New York team goes for a hike
× Artist Nancy Tankersley works on a plein air oil study of the landscape at King's Creek/Choptank Wetlands preserve.
× At Great Falls, the Potomac River builds up speed and force as it falls over a series of steep, jagged rocks and flows through the narrow Mather Gorge.
× A misty Susquehanna River viewed from Cove Mountain.
× Kayakers enjoy a fall day on Nanjemoy Creek.
× A kayak offers the best way to enjoy the sights and sounds of this watery wilderness.
× (ALL INTERNAL, LIMTED EXTERNAL USES) Fall color at The Nature Conservancy's Bear Rocks Preserve in West Virginia. High above Canaan Valley, in Dolly Sods, where a flat, windswept expanse of subalpine heath barrens opens up to the sky. Stunted red spruce, ancient bogs and forlorn boulders define this haunting landscape, where creatures typically found in more northern environs roam oblivious to their geologic isolation. The Nature ConservancyÕs 477-acre Bear Rocks Preserve is a cornerstone of this wonderfully diverse and complex ecosystem, which lies on a ridge crest that forms part of the Eastern Continental Divide. PHOTO CREDIT: © Kent Mason
× The Prothonotary Warbler got its name from the bright yellow robes worn by papal clerks, known as prothonotaries, in the Roman Catholic church.
× Canoeing along Cumberland Marsh
× Secluded amid North Fork Mountain lies TNC’s Pike Knob.
As the world’s largest conservation organization, TNC’s work in the Bay watershed helps shape conservation programs around the world.

Chesapeake Bay

Bringing a global network of experience and knowledge-sharing to bear on Chesapeake Bay conservation strategies.

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Explore the Bay States

Learn more about our conservation efforts across the Chesapeake Bay watershed.