Agricultural land use has major impacts on the Eastern Shore
For the 2023/2024 Report Card, we focus on the Eastern Shore of the watershed after they received some of the lowest scores for river and watershed health in the previous year. The Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay is made up of three tributaries: the Upper Eastern Shore, Choptank River, and Lower Eastern Shore. Two out of three bay regions improved their scores from the previous year, possibly due to less rainfall and decreased runoff of sediments and nutrients to the rivers. Despite these improvements, the Upper Eastern Shore is still exhibiting a slightly negative trend.
Similar to the previous year, the Upper Eastern Shore, Choptank, and Lower Eastern Shore sub-watersheds received the lowest scores in the ecological and societal categories. Although these three regions make up only 7% of the total watershed area, nearly 40% of that land is devoted to agriculture, second only to tree cover that will be susceptible to future sea level rise. Soybeans and chickens are the main plant and animal products, with chickens outnumbering humans almost 600 to 1. The effects of these industries are important to monitor and manage because they directly impact smaller tributaries that flow into the Chesapeake Bay. Managing the impacts of agricultural runoff is only possible by collaborating with agricultural communities. Balancing economic and social benefits of agriculture with ecological impacts is vital to having a healthy system that supports people and nature.
Developing a man-made debris indicator for a healthier Chesapeake Bay
Human activities can result in the introduction of debris into the natural environment. Man-made debris encompasses a variety of materials, from microplastics and cigarette butts to food wrappers and even abandoned boats. This debris can be found in the air, water, soil, and sediment around the Chesapeake Bay and its watershed, affecting the health of plants, animals, and humans living in this area. Currently, not all of this debris is monitored, and the data is not collected uniformly across the Chesapeake Bay and watershed. To help fill these knowledge gaps, UMCES researchers are building a man-made debris indicator to understand the different types of debris contamination across the region and the degree of contamination, and to determine hotspots of pollution. This information can be used by managers and policy makers to create targeted prevention and mitigation strategies.
