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Goal 1: "To restore, steward, and enhance the physical and spiritual health of our Chesapeake Watershed, in its multiple dimensions, as expressed by its diversity of air, land, water, plants, animals, and natural and managed ecosystems."
"We must protect the forests for our children, grandchildren and children yet to be born. We must protect the forests for those who can't speak for themselves such as the birds, animals, fish and trees." Qwatsinas [Hereditary Chief Edward Moody], Nuxalk Nation The Need: The Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) annual report for 2005 described the bay as a "system in crisis" and the summary stated "The Chesapeake and its rivers are dying..." Human activities in urban, suburban, and rural areas are dramatically impacting our watershed's physical and spiritual health, and the health of our people depends upon the health of our watershed. Several species have suffered significant reductions in habitat within our watershed. Pollution from both air and certain land uses has led to nitrogen deposition in our rivers and the Bay, reducing our water quality, and the quality of our aquatic life. Yet our Chesapeake Watershed retains diverse wild species of plants, animals, and humans, beautiful lakes and streams, multiple opportunities to enjoy our many rivers, lakes, our Bay, our mountains, hills, and shorelines. We have received these from our grandfathers and grandmothers, and we share a desire to preserve them for our children and grandchildren. We bequeath to them the monarch butterfly, the blue crab, the bog turtle, and all the Chesapeake's magnificent treasures. CHEARS Approach: CHEARS projects seek to include urban, suburban, and rural participants, working side by side to achieve project objectives, and to deepen our understanding of all dimensions of the watershed. We believe that working together on projects that improve our environment can move us beyond the simple-minded media-promoted vision of separate "red" and "blue" societal segments, to a unified, supportive society -- a cheerful and CHEARful society. Recognizing the need for urgency, we attempt to work from our assets in a positive manner. CHEARS Current Chesapeake Activities: We sponsor activities that monitor, maintain and improve the health of our Chesapeake Bay Watershed, and address needs that are clear and urgent. Examples include weekend watershed cleanup activities, weeklong canoe adventures to measure water quality on secondary and primary tributaries, photographic documentation of diverse flow calibration sites in the river and tributary network, and projects to monitor air quality and processes of nitrogen deposition at selected sites in the watershed. Connection with CHEARS' other goals: Realizing the complex connections that have evolved to maintain our bioregion and our planet Earth, and the sometimes unforseen consequences that can occur in one aspect of our web due to actions in another, we attempt to base our projects on the best available understanding of the processes that maintain our watershed. Upon encountering a gap in knowledge that impacts our activities, we investigate what is known, and what is being studied by others, identify questions for research, propose related research projects, seek to consider all recommended approaches, and follow the course of action most supportive of our watershed's natural processes. How Can You Get Involved?
Contact: Robert Cahalan
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