The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Chesapeake Bay Program announced a goal of permanently protecting 695,000 acres of forests by 2020, with an interim goal of protecting 266,400 acres by 2012.

These goals include 15,000 additional acres in Delaware; 250,000 acres in Maryland; 100,000 in Pennsylvania; and 315,000 in Virginia, through national, state or local programs offered by government agencies or private land trusts.

Forests cover about 58 percent of the Chesapeake Bay watershed thereby producing less nutrient runoff because their roots and leaves absorb nitrogen. It is estimated that the region loses about 100 acres of forest a day and forest loss at this rate could increase nitrogen loads to the bay by 1,300 pounds per day.

For more information, visit EPA’s Chesapeake Bay Program webpage.

1/11/2008