18th ANNUAL ROTARY CHESAPEAKE BAY CONFERENCE
Focus: The Chesapeake Bay's Ecosystem—Complexity, Importance, and Fragility
This 5-day event will provide up to 24 rising junior and senior high school students the opportunity in a setting of sun and fun, to learn first-hand about the Chesapeake Bay, its beauty, its problems and its future.  Since the first settlers established communities alone its shores, the Chesapeake Bay has provided Tidewater Virginia residents a vast bounty of seafood.  Today, the Bay is still home to many working watermen, boating enthusiasts, sports fishermen, marine research, and commercial seafood facilities. It is a natural place to enjoy and learn about the Bay, its ecosystem, and its tributaries.  In this setting, the Gloucester Rotary Club has put together a hands-on experience for tomorrow's leaders to provide insight about the Bay and the real world aspects of saving this valuable resource. 



The Conference
Monday, June 23rd - Friday, June 27th.
The conference begins at 11 a.m. on Monday and concludes on Friday at 1 p.m.

We will learn about the Chesapeake Bay by investigating its evolution, recent history, ecology, and concerns for the future.  The Chesapeake Bay, the largest estuary in North America, is an incredibly complex ecosystem that includes important habitats, resources, and food webs.  We will begin our exploration of the Chesapeake Bay by traversing one of Virginia's most pristine waterways, the Dragon Run, traveling from freshwater to the mouth of the Piankatank River, a tributary of the Bay.  We will investigate many of the Bay's habitats on wading and canoe trips, perform shallow water testing to study Bay inhabitants, and explore reasons for the decline in the Bay's health. Particular species of discussion will include the American oyster, the blue crab, and striped bass, along with other wildlife. Students will have opportunities to do hands-on investigations and also talk with marine scientists, restoration experts, marine resource managers, and watermen.  We will enjoy Tidewater Virginia's beauty and culture on this exciting educational opportunity.



Conference Host
The Gloucester Rotary Club is part of Rotary International District 7610, which sponsors the annual conference. Begun in 1991,  several of the Rotarians who had grown up on the western shores of the Chesapeake Bay wanted to help new generations of young people appreciate the issues facing the Chesapeake.

For seventeen years students have studied crabs, oysters, fisheries, sea grasses, underwater geology, wetlands, pollution and reclamation efforts. The Gloucester Rotary Club remains deeply concerned about the health of the Bay. It is our hope that this conference will raise the awareness of the future generations of leaders who will be called on to address the continuing Bay preservation issues.


Location
The conference uses the campus of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science located at Gloucester Point and the facilities of Christchurch School, an Episcopal day and boarding school in Middlesex County. Christchurch School provides air-conditioned student housing, full-service cafeteria, classrooms, laboratories, campus center, swimming pool, and other sports and recreational facilities for the conference.