Page 153 - Dark Matter:Women Witnessing Issue #3 - December 2015

Dark Matter: Women Witnessing - December, 2015 Issue #3 - EXTINCTION / DEVOTION

Julie Gabrielli

Song of the Chesapeake

“Anything we love can be saved.”

Alice Walker

As a resident of Baltimore for the last twenty-five years, I have spent many days on the

Chesapeake, usually in a sailboat. Like many Marylanders, I am acutely aware of the state of

our great estuary and her many tributaries. The Report Card issued in late 2014 by the

Chesapeake Bay Foundation gives the State of the Bay a D+, the same grade as in 2012. Hard-

won improvements in water quality were offset by losses in other areas, the impression of no

progress defying the dedication of thousands of people and millions of dollars.

Returning from western Maryland on

Interstate 70, I’ve seen a highway

sign that says, “Entering Chesapeake

Bay Watershed.” A colorful foursquare

illustration depicts a wading heron, a

blue crab, a rockfish, and water

waves. The Chesapeake Bay

Commission and state highway

departments in Maryland and Virginia

have scattered them on roadways throughout the watershed. This is likely counted as a win for

awareness. The signs have subheads like, “Be a friend to the Chesapeake Bay,” “Please

Treasure the Chesapeake,” and “Conserving Waterways Protects the Bay.” My heart aches at

the irony of such a sign placed on a four-lane divided highway crashing through farmland and

forest, where exhaust from cars and trucks spews nitrogen into the air and overheated,

! ! "!

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