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My first interaction with a hellbender was profound. Imagine putting your head underwater in a cool mountain stream and inadvertently coming face-to-face with a gigantic, 15-inch aquatic salamander. We were snorkeling in a clear Pennsylvania mountain stream, looking at crayfish and taking photos of fish with our underwater camera. I peered under a rock to get a closer look at a colorful darter, and there it was: a snot otter, the alligator of the Alleghenies, a devil dog, a grampus. Known by many names, the eastern hellbender (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis) is a species of giant salamander endemic to eastern North America. It is a completely aquatic amphibian and can grow to be quite large — the record is almost 30 inches.
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We are thrilled to share the news that John B. Cary Elementary School (Cary) was named, on Earth Day, as a U.S. Department of Education Green Ribbon School for 2022. Across the country, 27 schools (with only two in Virginia, both of which are in Richmond), five districts, and four postsecondary institutions also received this …
Over the last few months, there have been some additions here on the Alliance team. It is with great excitement that we announce three new staff members! Read on to learn more about each of these passionate new employees and hear how they will help us increase our impact!
It seems like everywhere you look, the native flowers of the Chesapeake are in full bloom. We asked our native plant-loving staff to provide a few fun facts about some of their favorite native plants! From herbal teas to honey bees, it’s fascinating to learn about the beneficial qualities of our native plants! We hope …
Warmer weather is upon us and nobody is more excited than our canine friends. The Richmond staff kindly put together a list of some of their favorite hikes to take their dogs on. We hope that if you’re in the Richmond area that you and your dog can find some time to enjoy the outdoors, explore nature, and maybe take a dip in the James River.
With funding from the Virginia Environmental Endowment, the Chesapeake Bay Program’s Local Government Advisory Committee (LGAC) hosted its Wandering Virginia’s Waterways bus tour March 31-April 1st, 2022. This 2-day bus tour invited Virginia’s mainland local elected officials to take a trip across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and explore the Commonwealth’s lower Eastern Shore.
In 2019, my husband and I started a nonprofit that focused on the environment, The High 5 Initiative. What we found is that communities want to help, they just needed a way to, so we created a cleanup and a recycling initiative that focused on providing paths to communities to become better environmental stewards.
Given what seems like a daily bombardment of bad or worrisome environmental news, it’s easy to understand why people who don’t work in the environmental field think there’s nothing they can do to help. Admittedly, citizen stewardship isn’t the answer to all of the planet’s problems, but I can’t help but feel that giving people agency to effect change in their own backyards can lead to a citizenry more engaged on environmental issues.
This past Friday, April 1st marked the official kick-off of our 18th annual Project Clean Stream (PCS) season! Every year PCS brings together thousands of volunteers to pick up trash from local streams, creeks, rivers, parks, and neighborhoods throughout the Chesapeake watershed.
So far in April, we have over 50 events registered and 18 of those happened this past weekend with four of them hosted by Alliance staff at each one of our regional offices!
My name is Wilder, I am a five year old from Monkton, Maryland. I have a unique name and find ways of living up to my name daily. With this, I am one who loves adventuring outside. I have been hiking with my parents since I was born, biking since I could sit on a Strider Bike, and started camping when I was four. I have always loved the outdoors and love being immersed in it. I have loved the outdoors so much that I wanted to create my own business, in 2021 Keep it Wild(er) was created.
