Lightning Updates
Proposed IRS Rule Change Threatens Land Conservation
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is proposing a new rule that would have a significant negative impact on land conservation, especially in Virginia. The proposal would change past IRS guidance and treat all state tax credits issued for a donation as quid pro quo...
2018 Photo Contests Illustrate Conservation Values
Every year Chesapeake organizations and public agencies sponsor photo contests challenging the public to capture the most compelling images of public lands, wildlife and special places. The results are pretty spectacular. Here's a sampling of a few of this year's...
Maryland Expands Rural Legacy Program
The Maryland Department of Natural Resources recently announced $25 million in Rural Legacy Program grants and the creation of new and expanded Rural Legacy Areas. Maryland's Rural Legacy Program "provides funding to preserve large, contiguous tracts of land and to...
New Report Issued on Landscape Scale Conservation
The Network for Landscape Conservation just issued a new report -- Pathways Forward: Progress and Priorities in Landscape Conservation. It's well worth reading. Here in the Chesapeake watershed, we have working at landscape scales for years -- the Chesapeake Bay...
New Land Protection to Provide Habitat & Recreation
The Maryland Department of Natural Resources announced last week it will acquire a new wildlife management area in Queen Anne's County on the upper Eastern Shore. The 1,172 acre property will support habitat conservation and outdoor recreation. “This acquisition is an...
Popularity of State Parks Continues to Grow
State parks in Chesapeake states are attracting more and more visitors. A number of parks actually fill up early on many summer days and have to turn people away. Virginia state parks reported a record level of over ten million visitors in 2016. Pennsylvania state...
Revisions to National Environmental Policy Act?
The Council on Environmental Quality has announced that procedures for carrying out theNational Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) will be updated. Public comments are invited on the proposed review through Monday, August 20. Since 1970, this Act has been the cornerstone...
Ways for Visualizing How We Use Land
It's often difficult to grasp broader patterns of land use on a landscape. And yet we need to understand -- and communicate -- how much land is being used for what general function. It's perhaps even harder to do this when looking at the lower 48 states as a whole --...
Communicating Landscape Values
Some of you may have seen this compelling video Piedmont Environmental Council (PEC) produced in collaboration with Academy Award winning actor Robert Duvall. But we're guessing not all of you. Plus, it's always worth a re-watch. Take the thirty seconds....
Costing Out Lost Real Estate Value Due to Sea Level Rise
Coastal inundation from sea level rise is a serious issue in many locations along the Chesapeake Bay and its tidal tributaries. A recent article profiles how Hampton Virginia is dealing with being at the front lines of the issue. New studies are beginning to assess...
