Chesapeake

The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States.

The Chesapeake watershed spans 64,000 squares miles, covering parts of six states—Delaware, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia. Over 17 million people live in this area.

More than 250 fish species use the Chesapeake Bay and tributaries for some portion of their life cycles, including American and hickory shad, river herring, striped bass, eel, weakfish, bluefish, flounder, oysters, and blue crabs. More than 300 migratory bird species can also be found in the watershed.

During the fall, the skies come alive as one million ducks, geese, and swans return to overwinter on the Chesapeake.

The Eastern Shore is a peninsula on the eastern side of Maryland's Chesapeake Bay.

To celebrate the June 5 World Environment Day, diplomats from more than a dozen foreign embassies and international organizations Monday joined the U.S. State Department to plant underwater seagrass in the Potomac River, a tributary of the Chesapeake Bay.

Eight boats set sail Sunday from Annapolis, Maryland, crossing under the massive Chesapeake Bay Bridge amid wet and dreary weather.

Some 400 years ago, English explorer Captain John Smith traveled around the Chesapeake Bay in the eastern United States, the country's largest estuary.

The Chesapeake Bay is a national, natural American treasure. It was formed 15,000 years ago when an immense glacier melted and flooded an ancient river valley. Today, the estuary marks where the Potomac and 150 other rivers, streams and creeks merge on their way to the Atlantic Ocean. The sprawling 166,000 square-kilometer watershed stretches through six states and the nation's capital, nourishing a multitude of land and marine species. It's also the source of fresh drinking water, food and recreation for 17 million people.

But restoring the Chesapeake also means considering how we build our homes, office buildings and factories. George Hawkins, director of the District Department of the Environment in Washington, says communities in the watershed are designing new buildings that conserve energy and water and pollute less. They are also upgrading older buildings to green standards and protecting land from development. Hawkins says individual actions can make a huge difference in the bay's restoration.