Sustainable Use of Land in the Chesapeake Bay Region

The Environmental Law Institute works throughout the Chesapeake Bay region to promote new tools that support smart growth and reinvestment across the Bay states. Although the Institute has focused extensively on Pennsylvania and Maryland, we have also engaged in Chesapeake Bay-wide research on smart growth.

Featured Areas of Expertise and Resources:

Chesapeake Bay-Wide Smart Growth Research:

Conserving Treasured Landscapes in the Chesapeake: A Special Report (2009): ELI, the Friends of the Capt. John Smith Chesapeake Trail, and the National Geographic Society worked in collaboration to produced this special report, along with an appendix and map, recommending the development of a bold and coordinated strategy for conserving the Chesapeake's treasured landscapes and calling for more federal investment in land conservation.
Chesapeake 2000 Tax Policy Study (2003) examines ways in which tax laws affect implementation of the 2000 Chesapeake Bay Agreement.
Forests for the Bay (2000) offers a set of policy recommendations that would support the Bay states' commitment to forest conservation.

Pennsylvania: ELI studies local and state land-use and development laws and policies in Pennsylvania. Approaching the state as a model and a case study, ELI evaluates practices and promotes those that foster smart growth while offering solutions to problem policies that create sprawl. In 2008, ELI co-sponsored a conference with 10,000 Friends of Pennsylvania, Saving $ — Managing Water: Regional and Collaborative Approaches to Water, Sewer, and Stormwater Management in Pennsylvania, which was designed to provide a forum for participants to discuss approaches to water management. A report summarizing the workshop is also available. ELI also published a law review paper titled New Paths in Existing Law: Opportunities for Pennsylvania to Avoid Sprawl (2007).

Maryland: As in Pennsylvania, ELI studies Maryland's land use and development laws and policies. In 2008, ELI published Maryland Farmland Conservation: Supporting Sustainable Use of Land through Tax Policy, which describes Maryland's primary tax measures affecting agriculture.

Virginia: As in the other Bay States, ELI studies Virginia's land use and development laws and policies. In 2001, ELI published Virginia's Economic Incentives: Missed Opportunities for Sustainable Growth, which explores the link between government economic development incentives and the consideration of the effects of these subsidies and investments on land use, urban and exurban development, and sustainability of the economic and social investment.

Invasive species in the Chesapeake Bay: ELI's Invasive Species Program collaborates closely with state and federal agencies to develop policies aimed at preventing the introduction of invasive species into the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Halting the Invasion in the Chesapeake Bay (2007) analyzes laws and regulations that affect important areas for aquatic invasives, such as the pet trade, importation of aquarium fish, aquaculture, and other commercial enterprises; and makes recommendations to assist states in harmonizing interstate efforts.

ELI’s Land & Biodiversity Program focuses on:

Land & Biodiversity Publications

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