According to the Chesapeake Bay Program:

1. 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.
2. The area of the watershed is about 64,000 square miles and the surface area of the Bay and its tidal tributaries is approximately 4,480 square miles.
3. The Bay and its tidal tributaries have 11,684 miles of shoreline—more than the entire U.S. west coast.
4. 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.
5. Approximately 284,000 acres of tidal wetlands grow the Chesapeake Bay region. Wetlands provide critical habitat for fish, birds, crabs and many other species.
6. Forests and trees help filter and protect the drinking water of 75 percent of watershed residents.
7. 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.
8. The Chesapeake Bay was the first estuary in the nation to be targeted for restoration as an integrated watershed and ecosystem.
9. Approximately 51 billion gallons of water flow into the Bay each day from its freshwater tributaries.
10. The Chesapeake Bay watershed has 150 major rivers and streams, but contains more than 100,000 smaller tributaries.

*****BONUS FACT

11. Trout Headwaters knows how valuable the Chesapeake Bay watershed is and that is why we currently have an assortment of projects there including stream and wetland restoration, as well as mitigation, conservation, and nutrient bank projects. All of these projects will do exactly as the often-seen bumper sticker implores us: Save the Bay.

If you are a landowner, investor, government, or NGO interested in starting a project in the Chesapeake Bay or elsewhere, contact the Trout Headwaters team at 800-218-8107