Harrisburg, PA – Today, Chesapeake Conservancy President and CEO Joel Dunn issued this statement regarding Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro’s signing into law a bipartisan budget for fiscal year 2024-25, which includes $50 million in funding for the state’s Clean Stream Fund.

“Chesapeake Conservancy welcomes the great news within Pennsylvania’s 2024-25 Budget which includes $50 million in funding to the Clean Streams Fund, extending the Agriculture Conservation Assistance Program (ACAP).

“The Chesapeake conservation movement has tangible proof that Pennsylvania’s focus on stream restoration is working at places like Turtle Creek in Union County, where last spring, two stream segments were removed from the EPA’s list of agriculturally impaired streams after just a decade of partnership work and dedicated funding.

“As the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science recently gave the Bay its highest grade in more than 20 years, a C+, we are grateful for this continued significant funding in Pennsylvania’s budget for stream restoration.

“Starting in 2019, partners in Pennsylvania, including local, state, and federal governments; conservation districts; nonprofits; universities; and others, envisioned a rapid stream delisting program to make the most of limited resources using high-resolution hydrography data.

“These partners are now working across 57 streams in seven Pennsylvania counties, and tangible results are on the horizon.

“In fact, just four years later, the state of Maryland looked to scale this method of success with the passage of the Whole Watershed Act. Thanks to the Chesapeake Bay Program and a partnership with Chesapeake Conservancy and our Chesapeake Tributaries Initiative, improved hyper-resolution hydrography data will soon be available to all the states in the watershed.

“Thank you, Governor Shapiro and bipartisan leaders, for your continued dedication to stream restoration. This is how we can save the Bay.”

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Feature Photo by Warren LeMay

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