BayWise Landscape Management

University of Maryland Extension Master Gardeners are available to certify your yard, or garden as BayWise friendly.  If you use sustainable practices to avoid stormwater runoff, use native plantings, reduce or eliminate the use of pesticides, and/or maintain a healthy lawn,  your yard can be certified.

 SOME FACTS ABOUT THE CHESAPEAKE BAY 

• LENGTH: 200 miles.
• WIDTH: varies: 4 miles at the Bay Bridge to 30 miles at the mouth of the Potomac River.
• DEPTH: average depth is 21 feet, maximum depth is 175 feet near Bloody Point, Md.
•  MILES OF SHORELINE: 11,000 miles. (The distance from New York to Los Angeles and back to New York.)  
•  SURFACE AREA OF SHORELINE: 4,400 square miles.
•  WATERSHED: 64,000 square miles in 6 states and Washington, D.C.
•  Chesapeake is a Native American word meaning "Great Shellfish Bay". 
•  The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States and the third largest in the world.
•  The entire Bay watershed includes over 110,000 miles of streams – 2/3 of Virginia, 1/2 of Pennsylvania, 1/3 of Delaware, 1/5 of West Virginia, 1/6 of New York, and, of course, all of DC.

To have your yard BayWise Certified

Contact:  Franchella Kendall at  franchellak@aol.com   or   

Esther Mitchell at  estherm@umd.edu