Maryland Coastal Bays Celebrates 30 Years Of Preserving The Eastern Shore’s Estuaries

OCEAN CITY, Md. — Maryland Coastal Bays Program celebrated its 30th anniversary as volunteers, government officials and former executive directors gathered to mark three decades of conservation efforts on the Eastern Shore.

The Maryland Coastal Bays Program is an Eastern Shore-based nonprofit that works to preserve the resiliency of the region’s estuaries. Former Executive Director Dave Blazer said the organization’s success began early with initiatives such as the Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan.

“That’s kind of the management plan they developed in those early years with all the citizens, local governments and the state government,” Blazer said. “My job was to implement it. There were more than 500 actions to try to get those things moving and going.”

The plan was implemented in 1999 and remains active today. Former Executive Director Dave Wilson said the 400-page document has served as a roadmap for the organization’s efforts to protect the bays.

“It helps us accomplish things like a whole lot of the colonial nesting bird work and water quality improvements,” Wilson said. “We’ve seen land conservation working with farmers.”

Events like the anniversary celebration remind state Sen. Mary Beth Carozza how much progress Maryland has made in supporting its coastal bays.

“We’ve had members of the Maryland General Assembly come down and look at some of the projects we’re doing,” Carozza said. “We’re going to continue to do that and continue to educate so all Marylanders know that, in addition to protecting the Chesapeake Bay, we will prioritize our coastal bays as well.”

Blazer said he is pleased the bays are no longer referred to as “Maryland’s forgotten bays.”

“You don’t hear the term ‘forgotten bays’ anymore because all those processes and programs we talked about are now entrenched,” Blazer said. “They’re part of the state’s language, focus and priorities.”