Chesapeake Uncharted

The Chesapeake Bay Journal introduces listeners of its award-winning podcast, Chesapeake Uncharted, to its latest audio offering, the Chesapeake Bay Journal Newscast. Each month, Newscast listeners will get up to date with environmental news from Bay Journal reporters in a lively roundtable format. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts! Direct links below to our show on the following platforms:...

Shorebirds appear plentiful on any visit to the beach. But their habitat is under threat from climate change and the legacy of a Great Depression-era work program. This is the last in our series of episodes spotlighting the Bay Journal documentary film, "Chesapeake Rhythms."

Tundra swans are among the most magnificent birds in North America and the largest waterfowl, traveling thousands of miles from the high Arctic to their winter home on the Chesapeake Bay. So, why aren't there as many of them as there used to be in the region?

Monarch creatures may be small creatures, but they go on an epic adventure every year across much of the globe.  Now, the federal government is stepping in. In December, the Fish and Wildlife Service proposed to list monarch butterflies as "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act. But since then, the new Trump administration has begun discussing  rescinding the definition of "harm" in the act...

All about eels. A long with great blue herons and humans, eels are probably the most widely distributed of all Chesapeake Bay species. The returning eels will spread throughout the Chesapeake and its 40 some rivers and thousands of streams, eating and being eaten. It's hard to think of a more vital part of the region's aquatic ecosystem. 

Take a sound journey with the makers of the Chesapeake Bay Journal's latest documentary film, "Chesapeake Rhythms." Dave Harp, Tom Horton and Sandy Cannon Brown share the behind the scenes story of how they captured footage of tundra swans, monarch butterflies, eels and shorebirds. 

Migrations shape life in the Chesapeake Bay and its watershed. Follow along with Chesapeake Bay Journal filmmakers David Harp, Tom Horton and Sandy Cannon Brown as they track the journeys of monarch butterflies, eels, tundra swans and shorebirds in their latest documentary, Chesapeake Rhythms . Hear behind-the-scenes interviews with the filmmakers as well as original reporting by Jeremy Cox and La...

Connor Tupponce, a member of the Upper Mattaponi and Chickahominy tribes, discusses his work promoting tribal consultation in environmental and land-use matters in Virginia. Indigenous voices are crucial in managing public lands, he says. That's especially true at Werowocomoco, the recently rediscovered site along the York River that was once the seat of the Powhatan Confederacy.

Ron Lopez is a researcher in wetlands ecology at Virginia Commonwealth University who is part of a team breaking ground on our understanding of potentially toxic algae blooms in the Shenandoah River. His efforts toward developing remote-sensing methods to map those slilmy blooms are the basis of his ongoing doctoral thesis. So, yes, we will be talking about drones. Lopez also discusses his atypica...

Symone Barkley, a Baltimore native, is a recipient of the North American Association for Environmental Education's "30 Under 30 Award," which recognizes young leaders in the field worldwide. And she's a fellow traveler in the podcast world, hosting a podcast series for her employer, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. That would be " Planet NOAA." Here, she discusses the state of...

The Pennsylvania 4-H chapter has named Grace Ziegmont as one of its state project ambassadors. These are members who provide guidance to 4-H staff statewide on programming and projects. The 16-year-old York County resident also serves as the president of the Governor's Youth Council for Hunting, Fishing and Conservation. And we haven't even gotten to her role in making historic change happen withi...

Jay Fleming has devoted his life to documenting a dying way of life on the Chesapeake Bay. He has compiled his photographs of watermen into two popular books. His photographs, more than anyone else's, tell the tale of of the estuary's seafood industry. 

Helping others fall in love with nature is one of Maya Alexander's main passions. She is African American and has experienced first hand the challenges of engaging with the outdoors, a pasttime that has traditionally been associated with the white middle class. Yet, Alexander, a community engagement manager for Virginia's Alliance for the Shenandoah Valley, finds a way to keep moving forward in th...

Noah Bressman, a Salisbury University researcher, has quickly made a name for himself as a marine biology researcher and a science communicator. He's active on social media. He organizes fishing tournaments that incorporate environmental education. He envisions a world with fewer invasive fish in the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries -- a world made possible by people making subtle shifts to thei...

In early 2023, Carmera Thomas-Wilhite joined the Chesapeake Bay region's most influential environmental group, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, as its first vice president for diversity, equity, inclusion and justice. How'd she get there? What's her mission? Find out in our conversation.

Anna Killius is a political wrangler. Her formal title: executive director of the Chesapeake Bay Commission. She occupies a space with few peers in American politics: a regional influencer of environmental policy with her sights set on a single watershed. Here, she discusses how she builds consensus -- and steers clear of infighting -- to drive better results for the cleanup of America's largest e...

If anyone has the word "mentor" written all over them, it's Randy Rowel. He coordinates the Chesapeake Research Consortium's C-StREAM (Chesapeake Student Recruitment, Early Advisement, and Mentoring) program, helping to guide people of color into green careers. He talks with us about how the environmental sector can bring more diversity into its ranks and, in turn, be more effective in underserved...

Within three years, Luke McFadden has built a mini-empire on social media, accumulating 1.6 million followers on TikTok and hundreds of thousands more on other sites. He simply shows what life is like as a crabber on the Chesapeake Bay. No one has been more surprised with his success than the unassuming 27-year-old from Pasadena, Maryland.

Imani Black founded Minorities in Aquaculture in 2020. In doing so, she set out to help people of color, especially women of color, enter the growing field of aquaculture. Aquaculture is the technical name for fish farming or, in this case, oyster farming. This is a story about seismic shifts in an industry, a Chesapeake Bay way of life. But it's also a story about the power of one person trying t...

The federally led campaign to save the Chesapeake Bay is officially 40 years old. This season, we turn to movers and shakers in the Bay sphere who weren't born when the effort got started. With the cleanup facing a critical inflection point, these younger voices -- we call them "wave makers" -- offer a tantalizing glimpse into what the future may hold. 

As climate change fuels more Agnes-like storms, what will we do to protect vulnerable communities? Tangier Island in Virginia's portion of the Chesapeake Bay offers clues. 

Tropical Storm Agnes reshaped the way the United States responds to natural disasters on a national scale. Here's how.

Environmental destruction wrought by 1972's Tropical Storm Agnes fanned the flames of the "Save the Bay" movement into a political wildfire in the Chesapeake Bay region. The storm's legacy is reflected in many current controversies, including the fate of the Conowingo Dam.

Record-setting rainfall during 1972's Tropical Storm Agnes washed decades-worth of pollution into the Chesapeake Bay's fragile waters, damaging the environment for decades.

Tropical Storm Agnes tested the limits of flood barriers. In Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, a wall wasn't enough. This episode explores what the constant battle to hold back the Susquehanna River tells us about our current fight against climate change.