Discover: The Shoreline

Discover: The Shoreline. . , More than 16 million people now live in this broad "watershed" that drains into the Bay. Human waste, trash, and runoff are taking a dangerous toll on the Bay and its tributaries. So too, is the erosion that construction and land altering activities can cause by disrupting the natural relationship between land and water., Shorelines like this represent a critical opportunity to help restore the Bay and reverse the decline of its living resources in recent decades. The trees, plants, and soils along a healthy natural shoreline help filter out pollutants and keep them out of the water. These shorelines along tidal rivers halve been called the Bay's "last line of defense.", In 1984, the Maryland General Assembly enacted the Critical Area Law designed to protect these shorelines and promote their restoration. The law established criteria to promote water quality and habitat conservation as well as to accommodate growth and development in an environmentally sensitive manner., The Nanticoke is one of 48 rivers that drain directly into the Chesapeake Bay, one of the world's largest and most productive estuaries. These rivers are fed in turn by many hundreds of smaller waterways, some as far away as upstate New York and the mountains of West Virginia.