Wanted: Young People to Save the Chesapeake Bay

The Environmental Protection Agency is offering more than $173,000 to support initiatives by students in Maryland to protect and restore the Chesapeake Bay, the largest estuary in the United States. The bay is suffering from polluted water, low populations of fish and shellfish, and degraded wildlife habitats.

The Chesapeake Bay, the largest estuary in the United States and a national treasure, is in poor health, and the U.S. government is enlisting the ingenuity and energy of young people to restore the natural vibrancy of the bay's 165,760-square-kilometer watershed, with thousands of streams, creeks and rivers.

At a summit called “Get Out, Get Green, Get Paid” in Ocean City, Maryland, Environmental Protection Agency Regional Administrator Shawn M. Garvin announced $173,400 to fund student initiatives in Maryland on behalf of the bay and its environment. Teenagers and young adults between the ages of 14 and 25 attended the summit.

“This initiative creates new opportunities for students to pursue environmental careers that make the world a better place,” Garvin said.

The funding will support educational, research and career-related activities focused on the Chesapeake environment, including marine and science programs.

The bay is suffering from polluted water, low populations of fish and shellfish, degraded wildlife habitats, and landscapes lost to development, the Environmental Protection Agency reports. In 2009, President Obama designated the bay a national treasure in recognition of its “tremendous ecological, cultural, economic, historic and recreational value,” the agency said.