Chesapeake Bay Foundation

Chesapeake Bay Foundation
Non-Profit 401(c)(3) Organization
Industry Environmental protection and preservation
Founded 1967
Founder Arthur Sherwood et al.
Headquarters Annapolis, Maryland, United States
Number of employees
 185

The Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) is a non-profit organization devoted to the restoration and protection of the Chesapeake Bay in the United States. It was founded in 1967 and has headquarters offices in Annapolis, Maryland. The foundation has field offices in Salisbury, Maryland; Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Richmond, Virginia; Norfolk, Virginia and Washington, D.C.[1]

CBF offers an outdoor education program that has introduced several generations of school children to the Chesapeake Bay through several idyllic outposts along the Bay's shores, such as Fox Island, Smith Island, Bishop's Head and others. Children learn the fragile nature of the Bay's ecosystem, and the extent of its watershed, much of which includes their own homes in suburbia. CBF also lobbies state and local governments on regulations intended to protect the health of the Bay.

Along with education and advocacy, the CBF also moves to make the Bay cleaner through restoration and litigation. Their mission is to restore the Bay to balance in environmental programs such as planting trees and other greenery, along with restoring oyster populations. In litigation, the CBF makes it their mission to hold environmentally negligent companies and organizations accountable for their actions.

New headquarters building

In 2001, CBF moved from a walkable downtown location in Annapolis to a new headquarters building, the Philip Merrill Environmental Center, about 5 miles (8 km) outside of town. The new building, at the former site of the Bay Ridge Inn on the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay, is a green building that demonstrates a number of energy-saving and other sustainable features. It was the first building to receive the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) "Platinum" rating from the United States Green Building Council.[2]

The new headquarters is not accessible by public transportation. The foundation's choice for a new headquarters site symbolizes a dilemma of the modern environmental movement: how to be connected to the environment without despoiling it. In this case, the enlarged footprint of employees and visitors forced to drive to the building was offset by its reduced imperviousness compared to the former inn, use of recycled materials, re-use of wastewater on-site, and use of composting toilets. The building was an early adopter of green building principles, but apart from automobiles and bicycles, remains inaccessible by other modes of transportation.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF). Annapolis, MD. "Mission and Vision." Accessed 2010-03-26.
  2. ↑ CBF. "The Philip Merrill Center: CBF's Headquarters." Accessed 2010-03-26.


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