The new federal strategy for the Chesapeake region released May 12 focuses on protecting and restoring the environment in communities throughout the 64,000-square-mile watershed and in its thousands of streams, creeks and rivers. The strategy includes using rigorous regulations to restore clean water, implementing new conservation practices on 4 million acres of farms, conserving 2 million acres of undeveloped land and rebuilding oysters in 20 tributaries of the bay.

May marks the 20th anniversary of American Wetlands Month (AWM), a time when EPA and its wetland partners celebrate the vital importance of wetlands to the nation's ecological, economic, and social health. EPA and its partners are planning a number of events.