Chesapeake Conservancy facts for kids

The Chesapeake Conservancy is a special group that works to protect the Chesapeake Bay. This bay is a large body of water where fresh river water mixes with salty ocean water, found on the east coast of the United States. The Conservancy is a non-profit group, which means it uses its money to help its cause, not to make a profit.

Their main goal is to use new technology and speak up for conservation. They want to keep the Chesapeake Bay and its surrounding lands healthy. The group's main office is in Annapolis, Maryland.

Who Leads the Chesapeake Conservancy?

In December 2016, some new people joined the Conservancy's board of directors. These are like the leaders who help guide the organization. Robert Stanton, who used to lead the National Park Service, joined the board. Anne Scott, an expert in helping charities, also joined. They replaced other members who were leaving.

Meet the Board of Directors

The board of directors helps make important decisions for the Chesapeake Conservancy. Here are some of the people who are currently on the board:

What Projects Does the Conservancy Work On?

The Chesapeake Conservancy works on several important projects to protect the bay. They use advanced tools and partnerships to make a big difference.

Mapping the Land with High-Resolution Technology

The Chesapeake Conservancy created a very detailed map called the Chesapeake Bay High-Resolution Land Cover Project. This map shows natural and man-made things across the bay's huge 64,000-square-mile watershed. A watershed is an area of land where all the water drains into a specific river, lake, or bay.

They started with a small test project. They used topographical mapping, which shows the shape and features of the land, to update existing maps. Later, they teamed up with the University of Vermont and WorldView Solutions. Together, they mapped the entire bay area.

The new map is super clear, showing details down to one square meter. This is much better than older maps that only showed details for 30 square meters. The Conservancy then made this map available online for everyone to use. This helps people involved in conservation find the best places to plant trees or take other steps to reduce pollution in the bay. They call this "precision conservation" because it's so exact.

The Chesapeake Bay Program uses this map data to help improve land use and monitor water pollution. The Conservancy also made other online tools that combine this map data with different information, like reports on city stormwater.

In 2014, Microsoft gave the Conservancy a grant and access to their Azure cloud computing service. This made their online map much faster. The Conservancy and Microsoft also developed a smart computer program called a deep neural network. This program helps update the map data more often. This way, researchers can track changes like trees being cut down (deforestation), cities growing (urbanization), and the impact of climate change.

In 2018, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) gave the Chesapeake Conservancy $1.1 million. This money helps them continue their land cover project. It also helps them expand a new project that maps how water moves across the land. This water mapping uses lidar data. Lidar is a technology where a plane sends out lasers to measure the height of objects on the ground. By combining lidar data with the updated land cover map, they can find the exact spots where restoration projects will work best.

Helping Native Americans Get Their Land Back

In 2017, the Conservancy worked with former Virginia Senator John Warner. They helped return a piece of land next to the Rappahannock River to the Rappahannock Native Americans. This land was very important to the Rappahannock people, who had been forced to leave the area in the 1600s.

Champions of the Chesapeake Awards

Every year, the Chesapeake Conservancy gives out Champions of the Chesapeake awards. These awards honor people who have done great things to help protect the Chesapeake Bay, its environment, and its natural resources. In 2017, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan received the award. In 2018, the award went to Ecosystem Investment Partners, The Conservation Fund, and the Department of Defense's Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration (REPI) program.