Chesapeake Conservancy

Chesapeake Conservancy is a non-profit organisation, whose aim is to use technology and advocacy to support conservation of the Chesapeake Bay estuary on the east coast of the United States.[1] The group is based in Annapolis, Maryland.[1]

History

In December 2016, the organisation announced that Robert Stanton, former director of the National Park Service, and Anne Scott, a philanthropic investment manager, had joined the board of directors, replacing outgoing board members Patrick Noonan, Stephen Adkins and Lloyd Beatty, Jr.[2]

Board of directors

  • President and CEO: Joel Dunn
  • Chair: Douglas Wheeler
  • Vice chair: Anne Scott
  • Treasurer: Robert Gensler
  • Secretary: Robert Stanton
  • Marc Bunting
  • Jane Danowitz
  • Leslie Delagran
  • Holly Evans
  • Robert Friend
  • Heather Gartman
  • Stephen Harper
  • Verna Harrison
  • Barbara Jackson
  • Randall Larrimore
  • Turney McKnight
  • Jeffery More
  • John Neely
  • Mamie Parker
  • Richard Scobey

Honorary Board Members

Emeritus Directors

Projects

High-Resolution Land Cover Project

Chesapeake Conservancy used topographical mapping to create the Chesapeake Bay High-Resolution Land Cover Project, a high-resolution map of natural and man-made objects around the bay's 64,000 square mile watershed.[3] Initially a small-scale pilot program, using mapping to update the United States Geological Survey's existing land-change model of the bay, the conservancy subsequently formed a partnership with the University of Vermont and WorldView Solutions to extrapolate the method to the whole bay.[3] The map has square meter resolution, substantially improving the previous 30-square-meter resolution.[4] The data was then converted into a web-based application for public use, released in late 2016,[4] allowing those involved in conservation of the bay to locate optimal positions for tree buffers and other measures aimed at reducing soil and nutrient pollution in the bay's watershed. The conservancy refers to this method as "precision conservation".[4] The Chesapeake Bay Program then combined the mapping data with land use data from the area to inform other conservation measures and attempts to improve land use,[3] as well as monitoring water pollution.[4] Chesapeake Conservancy also developed other apps to combine with different kinds of data, such as municipal storm water reports. In 2014, the conservancy received a grant from Microsoft, as well as access to their Azure cloud computing service, which drastically increased the speed of the web-based application.[3] A deep neural network model developed by Chesapeake Conservancy and Microsoft allowed the data used in creating the map to be updated at more frequent intervals, which will allow researchers to track changes such as deforestation, urbanization, and the impact of climate change.[5]

Return of Native American land

In 2017, the conservancy worked with former Virginia Senator John Warner to return an area of land adjacent to the Rappahannock River to the Rappahannock Native Americans who had been forcibly moved from the area in the 17th century.[6]

Champions of the Chesapeake

Each year, the organisation gives out Champions of the Chesapeake awards to recognize individuals for their contribution to conservation of the bay, its environment, and its resources.[1] In 2017 the award was given to Maryland Governor Larry Hogan.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Governor Larry Hogan Named "Champion of the Chesapeake" By Chesapeake Conservancy". Office of Governor Larry Hogan. Retrieved 26 April 2018.
  2. Brockett, Megan (19 December 2016). "Chesapeake Conservancy announces new board members". Capital Gazette. Retrieved 26 April 2018.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Saiyid, Amena (4 January 2018). "High-Tech Tools Help Map Chesapeake Bay Restoration". Bloomberg Environment. Retrieved 26 April 2018.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Brockett, Megan (4 January 2017). "Chesapeake Conservancy mapping ways to strengthen conservation". Capital Gazette. Retrieved 26 April 2018.
  5. "Pixel-Level Land Cover Classification Using the Geo AI Data Science Virtual Machine and Batch AI". Microsoft Machine Learning Blog. Microsoft. 12 March 2018. Retrieved 26 April 2018.
  6. "Rappahannock River Property Donated Back to American Indian Tribe". Chesapeake Bay Magazine. 4 December 2017. Retrieved 26 April 2018.
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