Lightning Updates
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...
US Court of Appeals Vacates Key Pipeline Approvals
The three hundred mile Mountain Valley Pipeline through West Virginia and Virginia has drawn a lot of attention from those concerned with the impacts of energy infrastructure on landscape values in our region. On Friday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit...
Diversity in the Outdoors
Like many organizations, corporations, and agencies in the conservation field, the Chesapeake Conservation Partnership wrestles with the compelling need to better reflect the diversity of America within our ranks. The U.S. is 38% minority today. The conservation field...
What’s Next in Conservation? Biodiversity, says E.O. Wilson
Last week was the annual Esri User Conference, bringing together geographers, GIS (geographic information system) experts, conservationists and others from around the world -- including a number of folks from the Chesapeake Conservation Partnership. In preparing for...
