Greenbook: A Local Guide to Chesapeake Living - Issue 8 | Page 22

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Chesapeake

Do ' s and Don ' ts

BAY FACTS
– Long and narrow , the Bay can be imagined as a pipe that drains more than 100,000 streams , creeks and rivers into the Atlantic . If the Bay itself is a drain , than the six states that form its watershed are an enormous sink .
– The Bay boasts 11,684 miles of shoreline , more than the entire West Coast of the United States .
– The Chesapeake Bay is immense . Stretching 200 miles from Havre de Grace , Maryland to Norfolk , Virginia , it is the largest estuary in the United States .
– The Bay holds more than 15 trillion gallons of water . It boasts a harvest of more than 500 million pounds of seafood every year .
– 17 million people live and play in Chesapeake Country . About 10 million live close to the shoreline of the Bay and its tributaries . Estimates show that 150,000 families move into the Chesapeake watershed every year .
WITH THESE KINDS OF NUMBERS IN MIND , IT CAN BE HARD TO IMAGINE THE SHEER SIZE OF CHESAPEAKE COUNTRY , MUCH LESS THE IMPACT THAT JUST ONE PERSON CAN HAVE ON IT .

Whether we talk about the value of the Bay in terms of waterfront residential property , tourism development , community space , recreation , environment or economic potential , it is only worth what we — the users who stamp it most significantly and who ultimately determine its fate — invest in its future . Here are 12 things YOU can do to Save the Bay !

Do ' s

1 . Install Bay-wise landscaping . If you admire a sprawling , perfectly green lawn , it ’ s time to consider the impact maintaining that yard can have on the Bay . Your lawn wants a hefty snack of phosphate and nitrogen , which are found in fertilizers . What it doesn ’ t use drains off your yard and into the Bay , and is the direct cause of harmful algae blooms . “ It ’ s a little bit like a kid with a candy bar , says Tom Zolper of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation . " A little bit is delicious , but too much is deadly ”. Think about how much grass you really need . Bay advocates sometimes refer to lawns as “ green concrete ” because shallow grass roots don ’ t ultimately absorb much water compared to trees and shrubs . ◗ Consider buffering your current lawn all around with mulched beds of plants or shrubs between the grass and pavement , to absorb your lawn runoff before it runs into the street . ◗ Read up to learn how to purchase and use fertilizers , herbicides and pesticides so that the inevitable runoff from your lawn is Bay safe . Importantly , require your landscape companies do the same . ◗ Contact the Chesapeake Conservation Landscaping Council for landscape advice . www . chesapeakelandscape . org
2 . Go Native . The Bay watershed loses 100 ACRES of forest every year . Property owners and developers like to replace foundation trees and native plants with lawn or flowering ornamentals . This decorative approach to landscaping is abetted by nurseries that promote the sale of pretty plants over functional , Bay-friendly varieties . From the ground down , trees filter nutrients through the
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GREENBOOK | SUMMER 2016