How to Navigate the BayStat Site

This website is intended to serve as the public outreach side of the BayStat process. Our primary goal for this website is to engage Maryland’s citizens in restoring Chesapeake Bay by providing a transparent presentation of our best, scientifically based assessment of the health of Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries, the sources of the problems, and the effectiveness of the wide variety of programs designed to address the problems and restore the Bay.

The first several times you use this website, we recommend that you follow through the major sections in order as numbered at the top of each page. Each of these sections presents information for both Maryland’s portion of Chesapeake Bay, as well as each of the 10 major tributary basins.

• Section 1 - Current Health: This section provides an overview of the health of Maryland’s portion of Chesapeake Bay and each of the 10 major tributary basins.
• Section 2 – Problem Sources: This sections identifies the sources of the three major pollutants determining the Bay’s health, and progress to date at reducing them.
• Section 3 – Solutions: This section identifies the programs in place to address the problems and the effectiveness of those programs.

The intent of this website is not to provide all the information available on the health of Chesapeake Bay and our efforts to restore it. There are many other websites that go into much greater detail, and we have provided links to those sites throughout. Rather we hope that this website provides Maryland’s citizens with a starting point for accessing the most important information, and as a resource for becoming informed and engaged in restoring our most precious natural resource.