To this end, Senator Mark Warner recently introduced the Chesapeake Bay Science, Education and Ecosystem Enhancement Act (SEEE), which would improve monitoring, support coordinated management of bay habitats, strengthen fisheries management, expand educational programs for residents living in the bay watershed. , and re-authorize funding for NOAA’s Chesapeake Bay office until 2025, the federal deadline for the bay clean-up.

This bipartisan legislation was co-sponsored in the House by Congressman Rob Wittman, R-1st District, and Bobby Scott, D-3rd District.

State cost-share funds to help Virginia farmers reduce pollutants by fencing waterways, raising cover crops to reduce soil erosion, and trucking chicken manure – $ 79.8 million for fiscal 2022 – will certainly help. But because the Bay’s 64,000 square mile watershed stretches from Cooperstown, NY, all the way to Norfolk, and includes parts of six states and the District of Columbia, it must be a national effort.

Congress must lead this effort, which the foundation calls “unprecedented in scale and scope.” The report goes on to say that the bay’s restoration “will bring an estimated $ 130 billion a year in natural resource benefits to the region and shape a path for national and global environmental restoration.”

It’s not just a good return on your investment, it’s the right thing to do. And Senator Warner’s bill is a good way to mobilize the federal resources that are essential to get the job done.