We welcome your opinions and letters — with name and address. We will edit when necessary. Include your name, address and phone number for verification. Mail them to Bay Weekly, P.O. Box 358, Deale, MD 20751 • E-mail them to us at [email protected].

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Re-connect with the Bay at 140 Chesapeake Gateways
Dear Bay Weekly:
Your editorial “Spotlight the Bay” [Vol. XII, No. 27: July 1] paints an evocative rationale for why we need to promote re-engagement with the Chesapeake. In this modern world, it is too easy for us to lose track of the powerful influence of the Bay on our heritage, our surroundings, our economy and our quality of life. We cannot take it for granted. The character of this special place we call Chesapeake depends on our intimate connection with it.

That’s what the Chesapeake Bay Gateways Network is all about: a system of 140 special places for experiencing the Chesapeake connection. Gateways include parks, wildlife refuges, maritime museums, skipjacks, lighthouses, paddling routes and more. From the Bay’s source on the Susquehanna to its mouth at the Atlantic, Gateways connect visitors with authentic Chesapeake stories and adventures each year.

This network of Gateways is young, and the focus in its first years has been on bringing great Bay places into this partnership and on enhancing experiences at those many sites. Projects to improve interpretation and provide new ways for connecting with the Chesapeake are now underway at scores of Gateways.

But now it is time to get the word out; to draw more and more watershed residents to those connections. This is a fundamental Gateways priority for the coming years.

A first step just occurred in sight of the Washington Monument, where hundreds of thousands of visitors came across a 65-foot Chesapeake skipjack — with a towering new mast hand-built on the National Mall during the Smithsonian Folklife Festival. That’s visibility. Gateways brought the boat there, along with a day of Chesapeake music, to start raising the profile and connecting people with the Bay. Already, visits to www.baygateways.net — a comprehensive source of information for exploring the Bay’s special places — are increasing, up to 1,000 per day.

This is only a beginning. In the coming year the Gateways Network will strive to broaden those connections by making Gateways more visible and visited. And it is necessary. For we have to experience and love the Chesapeake to remake its future. And the more people that connect the Bay to their daily lives, the more they will be willing to take steps to restore it.

So let’s all go out and re-connect with the Bay at one of those 140 special Chesapeake Gateways. Visit www.baygateways.net to start your exploration.

—Jonathan Doherty: Director, Chesapeake Bay Gateways Network

Make that Maryland Geological Survey
Dear Bay Weekly:
I enjoyed Carrie Steele’s article on well-water contaminants [“What in the Well Is Going On?” Vol. XII, No. 26: June 24] and was glad to provide her information on groundwater contamination. However, please note that I work for the Maryland Geological Survey, not the U.S. Geological Survey as indicated in the article. Maryland Geological Survey (which is part of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources) has been conducting geological and groundwater research in Maryland for more than 100 years. We are often confused with the USGS (with whom we have a long and mutually beneficial relationship), and tend to get a little sensitive when not properly credited!

—David W. Bolton: Chief, Hydrogeology and Hydrology, Maryland Geological Survey

Loving 101 Ways
Dear Bay Weekly:
I absolutely love the watercolor on the front cover of your Indispensable Guide to Summer on the Bay [supplement to Vol. XII, No. 25: June 17). Where can I purchase a print?
—Linda Nolan: [email protected]

Editor’s note: Write to artist Gary Pendleton at [email protected].