10:30 a.m. Watershed for the Chesapeake
This film presents a historical overview of the early days of the campaign to clean up the Chesapeake Bay. Telling the story in their own words, are some of the first voices – the citizens and scientists, the politicians, farmers, and fishermen who spoke up and went to work to save the Bay. Working and living along the rivers around America’s richest estuary, they saw the Chesapeake Bay changing. They were losing seagrasses along the shores, waterfowl in the autumn skies, oysters in the winter waters, the great spawning runs of spring, and even the blue crab catches were faltering. A citizen movement began to spread, finally launching a major campaign to restore the Chesapeake. This historic, three-state effort is now backed by Congress, by federal and state governments, and by millions of citizens in the Mid-Atlantic region. This documentary highlights some of the key people, events, and scientific findings that played a role in the early stages of this ongoing drama.
11:30 a.m. Chesapeake: The Twilight Estuary
Beneath the surface of the Chesapeake Bay, in a twilight world where shafts of light barely pierce the water, a blanket of sea grasses once flourished. The grass beds harbored spawning fish and soft-shelled crabs, a nursery ground, a hiding place. Then the grasses began going, along with the Chesapeake’s great harvests of striped bass, shad, and oysters. What was killing the grasses? And what were the dying grasses trying to tell us about the fate of the Chesapeake Bay, the nation’s richest estuary? This graceful and entertaining film sets out to answer that environmental mystery. Along the way it reminds us of why it remains so important to restore the Chesapeake and the way of life that once flourished in all its small towns and backwaters.
12:30 p.m. Chesapeake Horizons, presented by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.
This 30-minute color documentary focuses on the changing ecological balance of the Bay and its effects on the lives of residents in two towns, Reedville, Virginia, and Broomes Island, Maryland. Among the subjects are Chesapeake crabbers, oystermen, netters, packinghouse workers, environmentalists, and other area residents. Chesapeake Horizons shows that scientists and laymen alike are beginning to see the Bay as a vulnerable place. The film also offers clues as to how residents of the Bay can do their share to help its future.
1:30 p.m. Aqua Kids
Aqua Kids motivates young people to take an active role in preserving aquatic environments and wildlife, by showing how other kids just like them can do the same. In this episode, the Aqua Kids take a look at the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem.
2:00 p.m. Hidden Rivers
Maryland Public Television and the Maryland Department of Natural Resources present Hidden Rivers—a new Outdoors Maryland special that explores the impact of storm water runoff on streams, creeks, rivers, and the Chesapeake Bay.
2:30 p.m. Preacher for th