2022
Annual Report
Protecting the Land and Water that Matter to You
Our mission is to conserve and restore the natural and cultural resources of the Chesapeake Bay watershed for the enjoyment, education and inspiration of this and future generations.
We are committed to diversity, equity, inclusion and justice
Protecting and restoring the Chesapeake Bay requires diversity in perspective and practice.
Our Vision
Our Vision
Our Vision
We believe the Chesapeake is a national treasure that should be healthy, accessible to everyone and its watershed a place where people and wildlife thrive.
Our Mission
Our Mission
Our Mission
To conserve and restore the natural and cultural resources of the Chesapeake Bay watershed for the enjoyment, education and inspiration of this and future generations.
We serve as a catalyst for change, advancing strong public and private partnerships, developing and using new technology and empowering environmental stewardship.
Our objective is to accelerate progress to conserve 30% of the Chesapeake watershed by 2030 by equitably connecting people to the Chesapeake while conserving and restoring priority lands and waters.
Our DEIJ Statement
DEIJ Statement
Our DEIJ Statement
Protecting and restoring the Chesapeake Bay requires diversity in perspective and practice.
Chesapeake Conservancy understands that protecting and restoring the natural and cultural resources of the Chesapeake Bay watershed require intentional commitment to inclusive practices and narratives within the conservation movement. Through our work we celebrate and elevate the people, places and cultures of the region, especially by engaging underrepresented communities. Committing to the values of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Justice is critical to achieve our vision of a Chesapeake that is healthy, accessible to everyone and a place where people and wildlife thrive. To that end, we commit ourselves to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Justice both in our programmatic priorities and our internal organizational development through inclusive recruitment of staff and board members and fostering a diverse and inclusive culture.
What we do
We use technology to enhance the pace and quality of conservation, and we help build parks, trails and public access sites.
Connect
Connect people to the natural, cultural and recreational opportunities of the Chesapeake watershed – including its rivers, tributaries, landscapes and historic places.
Conserve
Work with partners and leverage data-driven strategies to conserve 30% of the Chesapeake watershed’s lands by 2030 and the special places that are important to diverse communities, indigenous tribes and visitors and that preserve the Chesapeake watershed for this and future generations.
Restore
Expedite the Chesapeake watershed restoration effort by leveraging data-driven strategies and partnerships to meet regional habitat and water quality standards and provide their associated community benefits.
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Diversify
Infuse diversity-based policies and practices in our culture that are essential for the success of Chesapeake Conservancy’s mission.
Excel
Ensure adequate funding, staff, controls and proficiencies to remain the key partner for connecting, conserving and restoring land and water in the Chesapeake watershed.
2022 Stands Out as One of Chesapeake Conservancy’s Banner Years
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Please join us in celebrating what was truly a remarkable year for Chesapeake Conservancy and our partners: 2022. In our work to protect and provide access to the land and water that matter to you, we helped return 465 acres of ancestral homeland to the Rappahannock Tribe. We partnered to save the last remnants of a historically Black beach and created a new public park.
We advocated for the Chesapeake National Recreation Area as momentum continued to build for what has been a decades-long dream. We ensured that one of the Chesapeake’s most visited parks sets an example that is inclusive and welcoming for everyone.
We generated the first high-resolution change data that is available for the Chesapeake as open data, available to anyone, providing an unparalleled window into what is happening on the landscape over time. And, we saw on-the-ground results using technology to inform stream restoration in Pennsylvania and elsewhere.
We accomplished these goals and many others with our incredible partners and through the support of donors like you. It was a year that Chesapeake Conservancy will not soon forget and that will inspire our climate crisis efforts to conserve 30% of the Chesapeake by 2030.
As you read this report highlighting our achievements and partners, we hope you will share this sentiment: “Land is more than dirt and acres. Land anchors life. See the beauty and wonders of the natural world, from the soil and creatures beneath our toes to the tree canopy and the birds above.”
Thank you for supporting and inspiring our work. You are helping to empower the Chesapeake conservation movement by using technology to achieve precision conservation.
Please note that in 2022, Chesapeake Conservancy changed its fiscal year. Previously reported as a calendar year, our new fiscal year is now October 1 through September 30. This annual report reflects a transitional year and reports finances and accomplishments for a nine-month period, from January 1, 2022, through September 30, 2022.
2023 Board of Directors
2023 Chesapeake Council
2023 Chesapeake Conservancy Staff
Moulton Park
From left to right: Mark Moulton, David Moulton, Brucie Moulton, Christopher Huvos, Emma Huvos, Greg Faxon, Barbara Moulton and Tom Helm -- Photo by Virginia Johnston
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Organizational Achievements Since Our Founding
Secured more than $42 million in federal funds (FY15-22) to protect more than 7,500 acres of land at national parks, wildlife refuges and forests in the Chesapeake watershed along with partners through the Land and Water Conservation Fund program
Chesapeake Conservancy is committed to conserving 30% of the Chesapeake by 2030. Today, 22% of the watershed is conserved. Together, with your support, we can reach the 30% goal.
Established the Conservation Innovation Center to empower the conservation community with access to the latest data and technology
Our team of geospatial analysts worked with partners to produce 1-meter-resolution land cover data for approximately 100,000 square miles of land in and surrounding the Chesapeake Bay watershed for the Chesapeake Bay Program. This data is open for all land conservation entities, large or small, to use to implement precision conservation. We continue to create tools for our partners to command the data and drive impressive change on the ground.
Through land conservation, restoration and empowering the conservation community with the latest data and technology, we are working every day to slow climate change and help communities become more resilient.
Together with our partners, Chesapeake Conservancy's achievements include:
- Chesapeake Bay Gateways and Watertrails Network for 206 new access sites
- Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail (Chesapeake Trail)
- Mallows Bay–Potomac River National Marine Sanctuary
- Werowocomoco
- Antietam National Battlefield
- Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge
- Cedar Creek and Belle Grove National Historical Park
- Elktonia/Carr’s Beach
- Fort Monroe National Monument
- George Washington and Jefferson National Forests
- Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historical Park
- James River National Wildlife Refuge
- Pissacoack
- Rappahannock River Valley National Wildlife Refuge
- Creation and expansion of state and local parks
For more information, review this comprehensive list of our organization's achievements since our founding.
Your gift today
Supporting our work directly supports the Chesapeake you love
More than 18 million people call the Chesapeake home and have fallen in love with its awesome landscapes and rivers. So much so that thousands of acres of open space disappear each year. We are in a race against time to conserve, protect and restore what makes the Chesapeake so special before it is too late. Thank you for supporting our work. No amount is too small or too large to help us achieve great things together.
“When we are gone, what is going to do the most good? We have made a home with nature, we’ve enjoyed it. Now it is incumbent upon us to pass those treasures on to future generations.”
– Charles and Mary Dankmeyer, members of our Seven Generations Society who have left a planned gift for Chesapeake Conservancy in their will.
To find out how to make a planned gift, visit our website.
Your tax-deductible contribution of any amount is truly appreciated. Our tax ID number is 26-2271377.
2023 Highlights
October 1, 2022 – September 30, 2023
Chesapeake Conservation Partnership
Along with the National Park Service Chesapeake Bay and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Chesapeake Conservancy serves as the co-convener of the Chesapeake Conservation Partnership (CCP), a coalition of over 100 organizations and agencies collaborating around the mission and vision of conserving valuable lands to benefit people, economies and nature throughout the six-state watershed. Together the numerous CCP partners have permanently protected more than 9 million acres and seek to extend the conservation of large landscapes throughout the region. The CCP serves as a means to achieve the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement Land Protection Goal and the Protected Lands Outcome and strives to protect 30% of the watershed's forests, farms and treasured landscapes by 2030. In addition, CCP's work includes mapping projects, such as the 30x30 dashboard, Conservation Atlas and the Green Space Equity Mapper, as well as advancements in diversity, equity, inclusion and justice.
Chesapeake WILD
Chesapeake Conservation Partnership works closely with the Chesapeake Watershed Investments for Landscape Defense (WILD) program initiative to help coordinate action towards habitat conservation. Signed into law in 2020, America’s Conservation Enhancement Act directed the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to establish Chesapeake WILD. This partnership-driven conservation investment program focuses on restoring, conserving and connecting habitats for fish and wildlife and improving recreational access. The USFWS and CCP have been collaborating since 2021 to implement various organizational structures and policies necessary to operationalize the program, to consult with a variety of stakeholders throughout the watershed and to solicit recommendations on program priorities. Chesapeake WILD implements a competitive grant program and provides grantee technical assistance and application support. It also coordinates a network of diverse partners called the Chesapeake WILD Roundtable to foster innovative grant proposals, ensure equitable access to conservation funding and implement on-the-ground conservation.
Virtual Connections
Virtual Tours
While nothing beats the experience of seeing the beauty of the Chesapeake firsthand, we’ve created 14 virtual river tours along the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail (Chesapeake Trail). Similar to Google Street View, the virtual tours can help you plan your next adventure. Take a virtual tour, scope out the access site you plan to use or just soak in the beauty from your screen with the perspective of a paddler.
Webcams
We are grateful for our partnerships with explore.org, the Crazy Osprey Family, Corporate Office Properties Trust and the owner of the great blue heron rookery for the generosity that makes these webcams possible. Millions of viewers from all over the world watched the cams in 2023.
Chesapeake Conversations Podcast
Tune in to Chesapeake Conservancy’s podcast, Chesapeake Conversations, hosted by Joel Dunn. Cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay is one of the largest and longest-running ecosystem restoration efforts in the world. Over the last 50 years, billions of dollars have been invested to restore the Bay, and the world is watching to see how the Chesapeake responds. Chesapeake Conversations takes an in-depth look at what’s working for the Chesapeake and what’s not, and features interviews with a diverse group of conservation leaders.
Chesapeake Conversations is produced by Platform Media, LLC, with music by Scott McDaniel from Wild Echo Media. Special thanks to our partners and donors who make our work possible. Find us on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you download your podcasts.
Champions of the Chesapeake
Since 2014, Chesapeake Conservancy’s annual Champions of the Chesapeake awards have recognized individuals and organizations from across the region for exemplary leadership and dedication to protecting and restoring the Chesapeake’s natural systems and cultural resources.
In 2022, Chesapeake Conservancy proudly presented the Champions of the Chesapeake awards to Rappahannock Tribe Chief Anne Richardson and Blacks of the Chesapeake Foundation President and Founder Vince Leggett.
James and Sylvia Earl are long-time supporters of Chesapeake Conservancy. Their decision to leave a lasting legacy by providing a workspace for local conservation nonprofits will profoundly affect Chesapeake Conservation for generations to come. As Chesapeake Conservancy knows, one of the most difficult challenges nonprofits face is fundraising for overhead costs, such as rent. By enabling the Conservancy to acquire its own building, the Earl family gift will relieve several local nonprofits of that burden, as well as provide space for collaboration and sharing resources. Chesapeake Conservancy is forever grateful for their support of our important work.
James and Sylvia Earl
A small group of Girl Scouts, led by 14-year-old Nethra Purushothaman, challenged the Girl Scouts National Capital Council on their plans to sell hundreds of acres of forested habitat in Prince George’s County, Maryland, for development. Nethra and her friends stood up for East Marlton Forest. With some mentoring from Chesapeake Conservancy and Sierra Club of Maryland, it appears these big little heroes were victorious, and most of the land will become part of the Charles Branch Stream Valley Park.
Nethra Purushothaman
Financial Report
For more detailed information on our financials and governance, visit our website.
Donors
Our sincere appreciation to the individual, foundation and corporate donors who have made our work possible. We truly appreciate your generosity.
($500-$999)
Contact us
Chesapeake Conservancy is a nonprofit organization based in Annapolis, Maryland. We are conservation entrepreneurs. We believe that the Chesapeake is a national treasure that should be accessible for everyone and a place where wildlife can thrive. We use technology to enhance the pace and quality of conservation, and we help build parks, trails, and public access sites. Chesapeake Conservancy works in close partnership with the National Park Service, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bureau of Land Management Eastern States, as well as other federal, state and local agencies, private foundations and corporations to advance conservation.
Earl Conservation Center
1212 West Street
Annapolis, MD 21401
Photo Credits
Chair and the President: Jody Couser
Organizational Achievements: “Brown Pelican Rookery” Michael Weiss
Your Gift Today: “Kayaker” Yazan Hasan
2022 Accomplishments: “Maryland Lt. Gov. Boyd Rutherford at Sandy Point State Park Bilingual Nature Center” Office of Maryland Governor, Elktonia Beach Signing Ceremony” Will Parson/Chesapeake Bay Program, Fones Cliffs Boat Tour” Tami Heilemann/DOI, “Bird River Aerial” Chesapeake Bay Program, “Computer Collaboration” Jody Couser
Innovation Map: Chesapeake Conservancy
Podcast: Mark Hamilton
Virtual Connections: “Peregrine Falcon” Peter Turcik
Champions of the Chesapeake: “Rappahannock Tribe Chief Anne Richardson” Zhivko Illeieff/The Conservation Fund and “Blacks of the Chesapeake Founder and President Vince Leggett,” Courtesy Photo
Closing Photo Montage (clockwise): “Staff Paddle” Matthew Provost, “Crab Feast” Jennifer Yin, “Belted Kingfisher” Sue Buyaskas, “Pier Fishing at Gloucester Point Beach” Stephanie Little, “Osprey” Jack Anderson, “Greenbury Point” David Sites, “Sunset at Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge” Sue Buyaskas and “Deer Peeking Out” Sue Buyaskas