Secretary’s Message: We’re Making Progress on New Chesapeake Bay Restoration Strategy

DNR Sec. Josh Kurtz paddles a canoe at Tuckahoe State Park during a visit to the park in 2023.

It has been one year since Gov. Wes Moore announced that Maryland was shifting its Chesapeake Bay cleanup strategy to align with the latest science that recommends focusing water quality improvement efforts on increasing shallow water habitat and living resources, such as populations of fish and crabs.

At the Department of Natural Resources (DNR), we’ve made significant strides during the past 12 months to shift from a strategy that I’ve often referred to as “restoration by opportunity” to a more directed approach that also prioritizes environmental co-benefits such as habitat creation, shoreline resilience, and climate change mitigation. 

Previously, DNR was often investing in pollution reduction practices on public lands or where willing landowners permitted new streamside tree buffers, living shorelines, stormwater reduction projects, and tree plantings. This strategy helped get practices in the ground, but they weren’t enough to achieve the clean water goals we’re pursuing throughout the watershed.

Today, DNR is working to concentrate pollution reduction practices in areas where they can be most effective. Staff are now accounting for co-benefits that create shallow water habitat to increase fish, crab, and other wildlife populations as well as working to increase public access to the shorelines and waterways, particularly in areas that have historically been overburdened by pollution. I know that our colleagues in state government at agencies such as Maryland Department of the Environment and Maryland Department of Agriculture are also developing new ways to ensure our efforts to improve Bay water quality are a success.

Many of the actions we’re pursuing in the state were recommended by scientists in the Comprehensive Evaluation of System Response report, also known as the CESR report, which was composed by leading Chesapeake Bay scientists.

We are already seeing some positive signs for the Bay. The University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science released its annual Chesapeake Bay health report card in July, with the overall Chesapeake Bay earning a grade of C+ (55%), the highest grade since 2002. This latest review of the watershed’s health shows that the partnership of the Chesapeake Bay Agreement is strong as we assess how to best move forward together beyond 2025. Recently, we’ve also seen an increase in Bay underwater grasses acreage as well as continued success with oyster restoration efforts.

To better align with the new strategy, DNR has updated its Grants Gateway funding process to fund pollution reduction projects with co-benefits. The Chesapeake and Atlantic Coastal Bays Trust Fund is helping to fund work to add 330 acres of new forest and 22 acres of native meadow throughout 12 counties in Maryland. In Oxford, DNR is assisting efforts to convert 30 acres of agricultural land into meadows and forested land. And in Anne Arundel County, DNR is working with Anne Arundel County to  restore the Jabez Branch to reduce polluted runoff from nearby roadways and create new habitat in the Severn River watershed.

At the same time, the Maryland General Assembly is providing valuable legislative support for these efforts. The recently approved Whole Watershed Act represents an opportunity to shift the way we’ve approached ecological restoration and conservation in Maryland. Working with diverse project partnerships across five watersheds, we can realize local benefits ranging from better water quality and new habitats to community health improvements and new job opportunities. Taken together, these local benefits will also help Maryland reach its overall restoration goals for the Chesapeake and Atlantic coastal bays. Last month, DNR issued the initial criteria that state officials will be evaluating for Whole Watershed Act proposals from local businesses and community partnerships. The state is scheduled to issue a formal request for proposals for Whole Watershed Act restoration applications in October.

All of these ongoing efforts are only possible because of the strong partnerships that DNR has fostered during its long history of work to improve Maryland’s natural resources. A cleaner Bay provides for a healthy society and a robust economy. We’re proud to work with partner states, federal and local governments, and communities to continue making progress that will benefit everyone.

Josh Kurtz is Secretary of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.