Chesapeake Bay education program forced to shut down program due to rising sea levels

After 40 years, Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s Fox Island Education Program announced that it would no longer be hosting its annual education events after this fall. The reason? Rising sea levels. 

On a blog post, the foundation said that rising ocean waters have made it unsafe to continue hosting the event on Fox Island. Foundation educators say the protective salt marshes around the island, which helped lessen the impact of waves on the facility, have been destroyed by erosion.

Using aerial photos, they say over 70 percent of the island’s land has been overtaken by the Chesapeake Bay waters in the last 50 years.

While the foundation will continue to hold its educational programs in other areas, the loss of the center is still troubling to locals.

“To lose those opportunities to have that connection to each other and the environment, to lose those places where that kind of magic happens is a wake-up call,” foundation educator Karen Mullin said in an interview with Capital Gazette.