The Bay Journal

The George Washington and Jefferson National Forests in Virginia have roadless wilderness areas that would be affected if the federal government repeals the Roadless Rule. (Recreation.gov) The U.S. Forest Service under the U.S. Department of Agriculture filed a proposed rule on Aug. 18 to fully rescind the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation rule. Public comment periods on the repeal and environmental impact statement are open until Sept. 21.

A female scarlet tanager perches on a tree at Codorus State Park in York County, PA. (Henry T. McLin/CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) For generations, grade school children across Pennsylvania have learned the official plant and animal symbols for the state, such as the mountain laurel (state flower), brook trout (state fish) and eastern hellbender (the comparatively new state amphibian). Soon, they may have another critter to add to the list: the scarlet tanager. Last March, state Rep.

Fishing boats gather menhaden in a large net, preparing to load them into a larger boat for transport to Reedville, VA. Hearings have been set along the Atlantic coast to let the public weigh in on whether to reduce the large-scale harvest of menhaden in the Chesapeake Bay by up to 50% and spread that harvest more evenly throughout the fishing season. The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC), an interstate body that regulates near-shore fishing for migratory species, voted Aug.

Bill Temmink of Joppatowne, MD, looks out on the murky water at Mariner Point Park, downstream from where Foster Branch joins the Gunpowder River. Following $4 million settlement in May, violations at Maryland site continue into August The plume of muddy water in the Gunpowder River, once so vast it could be seen from space, has receded somewhat. But Foster Branch, the creek that flows into that Chesapeake Bay tributary, still looks like it’s brimming with creamed coffee.

The tunnel-boring machine, Hazel, sits beside one of two wide shafts that will reduce sewage-stormwater overflows in Alexandria, VA, in July 2022. Alexandria Renew Enterprises, or AlexRenew, completed its overhaul of the city of combined sewer system serving Alexandria, VA, on June 29. The upgrade is expected to keep 120 million gallons of wastewater out of Virginia waterways each year. Combined sewer systems from the 1800s are found throughout the Chesapeake Bay region.

Cover photo: Corinne Griffith-Butler and Adam Schellhammer of American Rivers search for freshwater mussels after the 2025 removal of an obsolete dam on the Raystown Branch of the Juniata River in Bedford, PA. (Matt Otis) A few years ago, biologist Brian Watson was looking for endangered mussels in Virginia’s Rock Island Creek when his assistant went around a bend and made a startling discovery. It wasn’t a rare mussel. “There’s, like … a stone wall,” she shouted back to Watson.

Melissa Emmal participates in a rally shortly before commissioners in Calvert County, MD, approved a data center moratorium on Aug. 18, 2026. (Courtesy of Melissa Emmal) People spilled out of the Harford County, MD, council chambers and down the street in June. For more than 10 consecutive meetings, county residents had demanded that the council ban data center development. They got their wish. Data centers, which enable the internet and AI, are proliferating across the nation.

Gary Allen and Pam Cooper lead a tour of the old-growth forest in the Belt Woods Natural Environment Area near Bowie, MD, in August 2026. A development partnership backed by an A-list sports celebrity is looking to transform a former amusement park in Maryland into an entertainment and shopping hotbed accompanied by a broad spectrum of housing types.

The Shoosmith Landfill in Chesterfield County, VA, is visible in the back of this image, with a quarry in the foreground, as seen on May 29, 2026. (Courtesy of Chesterfield County, VA) Born and raised in Chesterfield County, VA, Phil Lohr knows what life was like before the Shoosmith Landfill moved into the neighborhood in 1976. His days were free of chemical odors tickling his nose, and nearby Swift Creek offered good fishing.

A piping plover finds a meal in the sand on New Jersey’s Cape Henlopen. (Laura Wolf/CC BY 2.0) If you spend enough time on our nearest ocean beaches, you might be lucky enough to spot a piping plover making short dashes at the water’s edge, pecking so quickly at the sand that you can’t tell if it caught a tasty invertebrate (it probably did). But you’ll need a sharp eye to see one for a few reasons.