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Bay Facts. The largest and at one-time most productive estuary in the United States, and the third largest in the world, the Chesapeake Bay is an integral part of our natural and national history. Home to more than 18 million people and 3,600 species of plants and animals, the Chesapeake Bay watershed is truly an extraordinary place.
- Habitat
Within the Chesapeake Bay watershed, five major rivers—the...
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Your donation helps the Chesapeake Bay Foundation maintain...
- How We Save The Bay
The Bay Needs You. The State of the Bay Report makes it...
- Voices for Clean Water
The waters of the Chesapeake Bay are the balm that soothes...
- Agriculture
A 2022 CBF report, Agricultural Conservation Practices:...
- History
In 1991, to celebrate its 25th anniversary, CBF commissioned...
- Locations
The Chesapeake Bay Foundation opened its first office in...
- Fisheries
The Chesapeake Bay is home to 348 species of finfish and 173...
- Habitat
Sep 25, 2024 · News •. Chesapeake Bay, largest inlet in the Atlantic Coastal Plain of the eastern United States. Created by the submergence of the lower courses of the Susquehanna River and its tributaries, it is 193 miles (311 km) long and 3 to 25 miles (5 to 40 km) wide. The southern part of the bay is bordered by Virginia and its northern part by Maryland.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
More things to know about the Chesapeake, the nation’s largest estuary. While just two states, Maryland and Virginia, border the Chesapeake Bay, the Bay’s watershed stretches much further. The watershed — the area that drains into the Bay — covers parts of six states: Delaware, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia.
18.5 million people. The Chesapeake Bay watershed is home to more than 18 and a half million people. Ten million of them live along or near the Bay’s shores. About 150,000 new people move into the Bay watershed each year. Learn more.
- The Bay holds about 18 trillion gallons of water. That amount of water would fill more than fifty billion bathtubs to the brim.
- Only about half of the water in the Bay comes from the ocean. The rest comes from the 64,000 square mile watershed, which extends approximately 524 miles from Cooperstown, New York to Norfolk, Virginia.
- Roughly 51 billion gallons of water enter the Bay each day from the 100,000 streams, creeks, and rivers that feed it.
- A person 6 feet tall could wade through more than 700,000 acres of the Bay without becoming completely submerged. The deepest part of the Bay, called "The Hole" is more than 170 feet deep.
Aug 12, 2021 · The Bay is about 4.5km wide at its narrowest point and about 48km wide at its widest point. The Chesapeake Bay is quite shallow and has an average depth of 6.4m. The bay reaches a maximum depth of 53m at its deepest point, which is known as “The Hole” and is located to the southeast of Annapolis, close to Bloody Point, on Kent Island, Maryland.
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Aug 9, 2024 · Quick facts for kids. The Chesapeake Bay ( CHESS-ə-peek) is the largest estuary in the United States. The Bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula, including parts of the Eastern Shore of Maryland, the Eastern Shore of Virginia, and the state of Delaware.
