If you’re from Maryland, “Save the Bay” is a turn of phrase you hear a lot and don’t have to think twice to know it’s about the Chesapeake. What you may not realize, though,  is that an independent organization is behind the motto: the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF).

It was founded in 1970, and is dedicated (as its slogan suggests) to saving the bay through social and political means.  The foundation filed a lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency in January 2008, demanding that the federal government comply with the Clean Water Act and play a greater role in restoring the Chesapeake Bay.

Each year, in an effort to draw attention to the Chesapeake’s problems, the CBF releases a “State of the Bay Report” that monitors positive and negative changes in the Chesapeake.  The report grades the condition of aquatic wildlife and levels of pollution on a scale of 0-100. A score of 70 and above is equivalent to an A+, 60-69 an A, 50-59 a B, 45-49 a B+, 40-44 a C+, 35-39 a C, 30-34 a D+, 25-29, a D, 20-25 a D- and anything below 20 is an F.  The three official categories rated in the report are: habitat, pollution and fisheries.  It is essentially a Chesapeake Bay report card.

The grades assigned to specific sub-categories of the report indicate that many areas show little improvement or further decline between 2000 and 2008.

The CBF reports demonstrate that the overall state of the Chesapeake Bay has come to a standstill, with grades hovering in the C-F zones (with a few exceptions).  One thing’s for sure, there are not many A+’s on this report card.

Allison Frick