As a Maryland resident, lover of blue crabs, and of the Chesapeake Bay, I was thrilled to see this headline at the top of the fold of yesterday’s Washington Post.

For many years, the Chesapeake watermen have been fighting a losing battle as the yearly haul continued to decline. It is great to see an upswing in blue crabs.

Read the entire story here.

Darryl Walter Fishing Chesapeake Bay

Last night I had the pleasure of attending the Chesapeake Bay Extravaganza at Pyle Middle School in Bethesda, Maryland. Yes, I had a personal interest in this; my twin daughters are sixth grade students at Pyle and were part of the 440 sixth graders that worked at least 10 hours during the school year on a project promoting cleaning the Chesapeake Bay. I was also fortunate to attend the first Chesapeake Bay Extravaganza two years ago when my son participated in it.

The evening included speeches from students, representatives from the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, the Chesapeake Bay Program Office, and from Maryland Attorney General Douglas Gansler. We were told that this program is unique for a middle school program. The sixth grade science teachers do an amazing job in teaching the students about the Bay. As residents of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed it is vital that this information is taught to students (and it doesn’t hurt if the parents hear it as well).

The bulk of the evening was spent walking the halls of the school and listening to the students explain their projects. The projects ranged from teaching recycling techniques to building bird houses for endangered birds, to doing organized clean-up of the C&O Canal. Students worked individually or in small teams of 2 or 3. I was encouraged by the enthusiasm of the students.

For more information on this great program and a link to a teacher resource page, visit here.

Darryl Walter Uncategorized, endangered species Chesapeake Bay, conservation education, restoration project, student, volunteer