The Chesapeake

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The Chesapeake Bay watershed spans more than 64,000 square miles, encompassing parts of six states—Delaware, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia—and the entire District of Columbia; has 11,684 miles of shoreline, including tidal wetlands and islands (that’s more shoreline than the entire West Coast of the United States); more than 18 million people live in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

The land-to-water ratio of the Chesapeake Bay is 14:1—the largest of any coastal water body in the world. This is why our actions on land have such a big impact on the Bay’s health.

The Susquehanna, Potomac, Rappahannock, York and James rivers are the five largest rivers in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

More than 100,000 streams, creeks and rivers—called tributaries—thread through this watershed. Each watershed resident lives within a few miles of one of these local waterways, which act like pipelines that connect our communities to the Bay.

Each of the streams, creeks and rivers in the Bay watershed has its own watershed, called sub-watersheds, small watersheds or local watersheds.

Bay Geography

  • The Chesapeake Bay is an estuary: a body of water where fresh and salt water mix. It is the largest of more than 100 estuaries in the United States and third largest in the world.
  • The Bay itself is about 200 miles long, stretching from Havre de Grace, Maryland, to Virginia Beach, Virginia.
  • The Bay’s width ranges from four miles near Aberdeen, Maryland, to 30 miles near cape Charles, Virginia.
  • The mouth of the Chesapeake Bay is about 12 miles wide between its northern point near Cape Charles, Virginia, and its southern point close to Cape Henry, Virginia.
  • The surface area of the Bay and its tidal tributaries is approximately 4,480 square miles.
  • Two of the United States’ five major North Atlantic ports—Baltimore and Hampton Roads—are on the Bay.
  • The Bay and its tidal tributaries have 11,684 miles of shoreline—more than the entire U.S. west coast.
  • The Chesapeake Bay was formed about 10,000 years ago when glaciers melted and flooded the Susquehanna River valley.
  • The Bay is surprisingly shallow. Its average depth, including all tidal tributaries, is about 21 feet. A person who is six feet tall could wade through more than 700,000 acres of the Bay and never get his or her hat wet.
  • A few deep troughs run along much of the Bay’s length and are believed to be remnants of the ancient Susquehanna River.
  • The deepest part of the Bay, located southeast of Annapolis near Bloody Point, is called “The Hole” and is 174 feet deep.
  • Major rivers emptying into the Bay include the James, York, Rappahannock, Potomac, Patuxent, Patapsco and Susquehanna from the west and the Pocomoke, Wicomico, Nanticoke, Choptank and Chester from the east.

Watershed

  • A watershed is an area of land that drains into a particular river, lake, bay or other body of water.
  • The Chesapeake Bay watershed stretches approximately 524 miles from Cooperstown, New York, to Norfolk, Virginia. It includes parts of six states—Delaware, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia—and the entire District of Columbia.
  • The area of the watershed is about 64,000 square miles.
  • The Chesapeake Bay’s land-to-water ratio is 14:1: the largest of any coastal water body in the world. This is why our actions on land have such a big impact on the Bay’s health.
  • The Chesapeake Bay watershed is home to more than 18 million people. Ten million of them live along or near the Bay’s shores. About 150,000 new people move into the Bay watershed each year.
  • There are nearly 1,800 local governments in the Bay watershed, including towns, cities, counties and townships.
  • The Chesapeake Bay watershed contains three distinct geologic regions: the Atlantic coastal plain, the Piedmont plateau and the Appalachian province.
  • Approximately eight million acres of land in the Bay watershed are permanently protected from development.
  • The Chesapeake Bay was the first estuary in the nation to be targeted for restoration as an integrated watershed and ecosystem.

Water

  • The Chesapeake Bay holds more than 18 trillion gallons of water.
  • Approximately 51 billion gallons of water flow into the Bay each day from its freshwater tributaries.
  • The Bay receives about half its water volume from the Atlantic Ocean in the form of saltwater. The other half (freshwater) drains into the Bay from the enormous 64,000-square-mile watershed.
  • The Susquehanna River is the Bay’s largest tributary, and contributes about half of the Bay’s freshwater (about 19 million gallons per minute).
  • Collectively, the Chesapeake’s three largest rivers—the Susquehanna, Potomac and James Rivers—provide more than 80 percent of the fresh water to the Bay.
  • The Chesapeake Bay watershed has 150 major rivers and streams, but contains more than 100,000 smaller tributaries.
  • There are more than 700 public access points on the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries.

Flora and Fauna

  • The Bay supports more than 3,600 species of plants and animals, including 348 species of finfish, 173 species of shellfish, over 2,700 plant species and more than 16 species of underwater grasses.
  • The Chesapeake region is home to at least 29 species of waterfowl.
  • During the winter, the Bay supports 87 species of waterbirds. Of these wintering waterbirds, 14 species rely on the Bay to serve as habitat for more than ten percent of their continental populations.
  • Nearly one million waterfowl winter on the Bay–approximately one-third of the Atlantic coast’s migratory population. The birds stop to feed and rest on the Bay during their annual migration along the Atlantic Migratory Bird Flyway.
  • More than 500,000 Canada geese winter in and near the Bay.
  • The Bay produces about 500 million pounds of seafood per year.
  • Nearly 80,000 acres of underwater grasses grow in the shallows of the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries. Young and molting blue crabs rely on underwater grass beds for protection from predators.
  • Approximately 284,000 acres of tidal wetlands grow the Chesapeake Bay region. Wetlands provide critical habitat for fish, birds, crabs and many other species.
  • Forests and trees help filter and protect the drinking water of 75 percent of watershed residents.
  • Forests cover 55 percent of the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Between 1990 and 2005, the watershed lost an estimated 100 acres of forest land each day. While this rate fell in 2006 to an estimated 70 acres per day, this rate is still unsustainable.
  • Seventy to ninety percent of all striped bass, known locally as rockfish, were spawned in the Bay.
  • Sixty percent of Chesapeake forests have been divided into disconnected fragments by roads, homes and other gaps that are too wide or dangerous for wildlife to cross.
  • Since 1990, commercial watermen have harvested more than 1.6 billion pounds of blue crabs from the Bay. Data show commercial harvest has experienced a steady decline, and in 2014 hit the lowest level recorded in 25 years: 35 million pounds.
  • Just like those on land, animals in the Chesapeake Bay need oxygen to survive. Oxygen is present underwater in dissolved form, and in order to thrive, animals like blue crabs need dissolved oxygen concentrations of three milligrams per liter.

History

  • The word Chesepiooc is an Algonquian word referring to a village “at a big river.” In 2005, Algonquian historian Blair Rudes helped dispel the widely-held belief that the name meant “great shellfish bay.”
  • There were many different tribes in the region before Europeans arrived, but the dominant group were Algonquian speakers known collectively as the Powhatan tribes.
  • In 1524, Italian Captain Giovanni da Verrazano became the first recorded European to enter the Chesapeake Bay.
  • In 1608, Captain John Smith set off on the first of two voyages where he charted the land and waterways, and later drew an elaborate and remarkably accurate map of the Chesapeake Bay.

Native American Indian Tribes

Pre-European Settlement Tribes

Paleo-Indians

Paleo-Indians were the first inhabitants of the Chesapeake Bay region. Archeologists recognize the Paleo-Indian culture by a stone tool called the Clovis point: an elongated, fluted spear head.

When Paleo-Indians lived, the region’s climate was much colder than it is now. Paleo-Indians spent their days roaming the area’s coniferous forests. They probably hunted large animals such as mammoths and mastodons for food.

Archaic Indians

The Archaic Indians lived from 9,000 to 3,000 years ago. They had to adapt to a rapidly changing environment by learning to use warmer-climate plants and new foods brought in from rising waters.

Archaic Indians traded with other groups for soapstone, which they made into pipes, beads and cooking utensils. Although the Archaic Indians lived away from the Chesapeake Bay shores, they made seasonal visits to fish, hunt, gather roots and harvest oysters.

In the 1970s, archeologists discovered Archaic-period stone tools while digging a hole for the White House swimming pool.

Woodland Indians

Woodland Indians dominated the Chesapeake region until European settlers arrived. Woodland Indians used of ceramic pottery, horticulture and, later, the bow and arrow.

Woodland Indians were more sedentary than previous American Indians. They built small villages as farming progressively became more important. They still established small hunting camps to take advantage of the Bay’s bounty.

American Indian History

Recorded American Indian history in the Chesapeake region began around 1600, when newly arrived European settlers started keeping records. Captain John Smith, who explored the Bay in 1607, found primarily Algonquin-speaking American Indians living by its shores.

Many distinct tribes with their own chief lived around the Chesapeake Bay. In 1607, the region included three major chiefdoms: the Powhatan, the Piscataway and the Nanticoke. Many of the tribes in the Chesapeake Bay region belong to one of these three chiefdoms, although there were some who kept their independence.

The term “Powhatan Indians” is used by some to describe the tribes who were thought to have paid tribute to Powhatan, the most influential leader in the area now known as eastern Virginia. Although as many as 30 separate Algonquian-speaking tribes were in Eastern Virginia when the English arrived, it is unknown exactly how many paid tribute to Powhatan.

Despite its deep history, strength and culture, the region’s American Indian population fell catastrophically after European settlers arrived. Experts estimate that the Powhatan chiefdom included about 12,000 people in 1607; only 1,000 were left by 1700. The Piscataway chiefdom had about 8,500 members at the time of English settlement; only 300 remained by 1700.

Many were killed or died of disease, while others migrated away from the region. Wars, loss of land and epidemics devastated indigenous communities. Oral tradition was a critical part of preserving cultural knowledge, meaning the stories of some tribes are known only through the artifacts and archaeological sites they left behind. But other tribes remain to tell their stories today.

Chesapeake Bay Tribes

Today, the indigenous cultures of the Chesapeake Bay region are vibrant and thriving, testimony to their continued determination. Tens of thousands of people across the watershed identify as American Indian.

  • The Commonwealth of Virginia has formally recognized 11 tribes: the Chickahominy Tribe, Eastern Chickahominy Tribe, Mattaponi Tribe, Monacan Indian Nation, Nansemond Tribe, Pamunkey Tribe, Rappahannock Tribe, Upper Mattaponi Tribe, Cheroenhaka (Nottoway), Nottoway of Virginia and Patawomeck. The Pamunkey tribe is the first Virginia tribe to be recognized by the federal government.
  • The State of Maryland has formally recognized two tribes: the Piscataway Indian Nation and Piscataway Conoy Tribe. The Maryland Commission on Indian Affairs serves eight indigenous tribes in the state.
  • The State of Delaware has formally recognized the Nanticoke Indian Association.

Geological History

Eocene Epoch

  • Thirty-five million years ago, a rare bolide (a comet- or asteroid-like object) hits what is now the lower tip of the Delmarva Peninsula, creating a 55-mile-wide crater. This crater influences the shape of the region’s rivers and determines the eventual location of the Chesapeake Bay. As sea levels fluctuate over the next several million years, the area that is now the Bay alternates between dry land and shallow coastal sea.

Neogene Period

  • Ten to 2 million years ago, a series of ice ages locks ocean water in massive glaciers. The mid-Atlantic coastline extends 180 miles farther than its current location.
  • In warmer periods, a glacier melts into the headwaters of the Susquehanna River, carving a valley through Pennsylvania and pushing sediment into the Coastal Plain. In colder periods, conifer forests attract deer, bears and birds to the region.

16,000 BCE

  • Glacial sheets from the most recent Ice Age begin to retreat. The region’s climate begins to warm.

13,000 BCE

  • As the climate continues to warm, a landscape that was once dominated by conifers begins to change. Oak, maple, hickory and other hardwood species appear.

9500 BCE

  • Paleo-Indian people arrive in the region. Over the next thousand years, the climate becomes increasingly humid and the landscape gives way to hardwood forests and coastal wetlands. Paleo-Indians modify their hunting technology accordingly, replacing Clovis points with spear-throwing devices that can be launched over expansive terrain. 

8000 – 5000 BCE

  • Ice sheets and glaciers continue to melt, flooding the Susquehanna, Potomac, James and York rivers. Water pours into the Atlantic Ocean and sea levels rise. The Chesapeake Bay’s outline begins to form. 
  • Mammoths, giant beavers and other Ice Age creatures are now extinct.

3000 BCE

  • Temperatures continue to rise. A mixed deciduous forest dominates the landscape. Acorns and other nuts become a key food source. 
  • Diverse fish and shellfish populations are abundant in the region’s rivers. The first oysters colonize the Bay.

Common Era

  • The Chesapeake Bay’s outline now resembles its current form.
  • Native American populations continue to develop more sophisticated hunting methods, including the bow and arrow.
  • The Bay’s waters are dominated by oysters, clams and fish, like bass and shad. Shellfish becomes an increasingly important food source. 

1000s

  • The Chesapeake Bay region is home to a few thousand humans and many plants and animals, including 200 species of fish, 300 species of birds and 120 species of mammals

1100s

  • Native Americans clear forests to create farmland. A reliance on agricultural crops like corn, squash, beans and tobacco leads to the creation of more permanent town villages. 

1500

  • The Native American population reaches 24,000.

1524

Italian Captain Giovanni da Verrazano is the first recorded European to enter the Chesapeake Bay. 

1561

  • While exploring Tidewater, Virginia, spanish conquistadors capture a young Native American. They name him Don Luis and bring back to Spain, where he receives a formal education.

1570

  • Don Luis returns to the Chesapeake region as a guide and interpreter with the St. Mary’s Mission, a small group of Spanish Jesuits seeking to establish a religious camp. Don Luis quickly abandons the group and returns to his people. Months later, he leads a massacre against the St. Mary’s Mission, killing all but a young servant boy.

1607

  • An expedition funded by The Virginia Company of London arrives in the Chesapeake Bay. They establish the first permanent English settlement in North America in Jamestown, Virginia.

1608

  • Captain John Smith sets off on the first of his two voyages around the Chesapeake Bay. In his journal, he records detailed descriptions of his surroundings. In the years to follow, he draws an elaborate and remarkably accurate map of the Bay and its rivers.

1650s

  • The tobacco industry is booming in the lower Chesapeake colonies.
  • Colonists clear land for agriculture and use hook-and-line to catch fish in the Bay’s shallow waters.
  • War and disease take their toll on Native Americans, whose population shrinks to 2,400—just 10 percent of the size it was when Europeans first arrived in the region.

1680s

  • Virginia lawmakers pass legislation to prevent wasteful fishing practices on the Rappahannock River.  
  • Colonists begin using hand tongs to harvest oysters.

1700s

  • English settlements grow rapidly as agriculture expands. The first signs of environmental degradation occur.
  • A patchwork of rural farming and fishing communities develops on the western and eastern shores of the Chesapeake Bay. 

1750s

  • Colonists strip 20 to 30 percent of the region’s forests for settlements. As a result, shipping ports begin to fill with eroded sediment, becoming too shallow for boats to navigate. 
  • Commercial fishing for species like shad and herring begins.

1770s

  • The colonial population exceeds 700,000.
  • Farmers begin to use plows extensively, starting a cycle of permanent tillage that prevents reforestation and leads to massive soil erosion.

1781

  • After eight years of fighting, the Revolutionary War ends when British Lord Charles Cornwallis surrenders at Yorktown, Virginia.
  • The former British colonies are on the verge of forming a new, unified nation. The Chesapeake Bay region will come to serve as a key economic and political center.

1785

  • Virginia and Maryland sign the Mount Vernon Compact, also known as the Compact of 1785. Virginia agrees to give vessels bound for Maryland free passage at the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay. In return, Maryland gives citizens of both states the right to fish in the Potomac River.

1800s

  • Oyster harvests increase dramatically.
  • New England fishermen travel to the Chesapeake Bay with a device that scoops hundreds of thousands of oysters from their beds. Virginia and Maryland eventually ban this equipment.
  • Maryland legislation states that only Maryland citizens can transport oysters in the state’s waters.

1820s

  • Railroads, canals and steamboats offer new transportation options, benefiting the coal, steel and oyster industries. 

1829

  • The 14-mile Chesapeake and Delaware Canal is built, linking the Chesapeake Bay with Delaware Bay and opening undeveloped land to agriculture and the harvest of timber. 

1840s

  • Half of the region’s forests have been cleared for agriculture, timber and fuel.
  • The first imported fertilizers are used after ships bring bird guano from Caribbean rookeries and nitrate deposits from the Chilean coast.

1850s

  • Railroads, canals and steamboats have allowed the oyster market to reach consumers outside of the Chesapeake region.
  • The number of oysters harvested from the Bay has doubled in the last 10 years, from 700,000 bushels in 1839 to more than 1.5 million in the 1850s.

1880s

  • Wooden skipjacks—or vessels that are adapted to sail on Chesapeake Bay waters—are built in response to increased demand for oysters.
  • Twenty million bushels of oysters are harvested from the Bay each year. 

1900s

  • The replacement of railroad ties removes an estimated 15 to 20 million acres of eastern forests.
  • A dramatic drop in oyster populations starts to affect Chesapeake Bay health, and state and federal laws move to control the industry.
  • Scientists begin question the impact of human behavior on the Bay.

1920s

  • Swamps and marshes are drained to create room for waste dumps and new development.  
  • The Conowingo Hydroelectric Generating Station, also known as the Conowingo Dam, is built at the mouth of the Susquehanna River. Upon its completion, it is the second largest hydroelectric power plant in the United States.

1930s

  • The Great Depression spurs public works projects that repair and expand the region’s roads, bridges, parks and electrical services into rural areas, encouraging population growth. 
  • An interstate conference on the Chesapeake Bay recommends treating the Bay as a single resource unit rather than separate bodies of water. 

1950s

  • The 4.2-mile Chesapeake Bay Bridge is built, opening Maryland’s Eastern Shore to development.
  • Across the region, developers drain and fill wetlands to build new houses, stores and office buildings.
  • MSX, a disease that kills oysters, is found in the lower Chesapeake Bay.

1960s

  • The 17.4-mile Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel opens, connecting Virginia Beach with Virginia’s Eastern Shore.
  • Interstates 66, 70, 83, 95, 270, 495 and 695 are completed. The personal car has become the choice mode of transportation for Americans.

1967

1970s

1973

  • U.S. Senator Charles Mathias tours the Chesapeake Bay shoreline and sponsors legislation that prompts the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to conduct a study on the Bay’s health. This marks the first time that the Bay’s degrading health is brought to the public’s attention.
  • The Endangered Species Act is passed, protecting endangered species and the ecosystems on which they depend. 

1980s

  • The Chesapeake Bay Commission, a tri-state legislative body that represents Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania, is established to coordinate policy across state lines. 
  • The Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay begins a first-of-its-kind program that teaches citizen volunteers how to monitor water quality.

1983

  • The first Chesapeake Bay Agreement is signed by Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania; the District of Columbia; the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; and the Chesapeake Bay Commission. The Chesapeake Bay Program is established and the Chesapeake Executive Council is named the chief policy-making authority in the watershed.

1984

1988

  • Virginia passes the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act, guiding local governments to address the environmental impacts of development and pushing communities to better manage urban and suburban growth. 
  • Maryland State Senator Bernie Fowler’s Patuxent River Wade-In establishes the “sneaker index” as a measure of Bay health, boosting public interest in water quality. 

2000

  • Maryland records its lowest blue crab harvest: 20.2 million pounds.
  • Chesapeake 2000 is signed, establishing more than 100 goals to reduce pollution and restore habitats, protect living resources and promote sound land use, and engage the public in restoration.
  • The National Park Service and its partners launch the Chesapeake Bay Gateways and Water Trails Network to connect people with the Bay’s places and stories. 

2002

  • More than 2,800 miles of forest buffers have been restored in the watershed, meeting the Bay Program’s goal for forest buffer restoration eight years ahead of schedule.
  • The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration establishes the Bay Watershed Education and Training program to fund the delivery of Meaningful Watershed Educational Experiences and advance environmental education in the region

2003

  • The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issues water quality criteria for the Chesapeake Bay and its tidal tributaries. 
  • Representatives from the Bay’s headwater states join the Chesapeake Executive Council. 
  • The Chesapeake Bay Watershed Blue Ribbon Panel is created to find new financing opportunities for restoration work, and the Chesapeake Bay Funders Network is established to bring grantmakers together. 

2015

  • The Chesapeake Executive Council releases twenty-five management strategies outlining the Chesapeake Bay Program’s plans to meet the goals of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement, advancing the restoration, conservation and protection of the Bay, its tributaries and the lands that surround them.

Environmental Stewardship

  • Fourteen percent of watershed residents use rain barrels to collect rainwater from their downspouts and keep runoff out of rivers and streams. While water collected in rain barrels is not safe to drink, it can be used to water plants or wash cars.
  • Twenty-six percent of watershed residents have replaced an area of their grass lawn with native plants. Native plants provide food and habitat to bees, birds and butterflies, and often don’t need to be watered or fertilized.
  • Forty-six percent of watershed residents never use toxic pesticides in or around their homes. You can evaluate a pesticide’s toxicity to judge the risk in using it, or make your own non-toxic pesticide with garlic, vinegar, cooking oil and other common household items.
  • Nine in ten watershed residents never toss food wrappers, cups or cigarette butts on the ground. Almost eight in ten watershed residents pick up litter when they see it.
  • Half of pet owners always pick up after their pet, but one-third of pet owners seldom or never do so. Pet waste contains bacteria that can harm human health and contaminate the water we use for drinking, swimming and fishing.
  • While one-third of watershed residents have volunteered their time or donated their money to a charitable organization, less than two in ten volunteers have done so for an environmental organization.
  • Seventy percent of watershed residents want to do more to help make their local creeks, rivers and lakes healthier.
  • Eighty-six percent of watershed residents believe if people work together, water pollution can be fixed.

The stewardship information above was collected through the 2017 Citizen Stewardship Index: the first comprehensive survey of stewardship actions and attitudes in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. You can learn more about the index on ChesapeakeProgress or access fact sheets for Delaware, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia.