A profound relationship exists between the water of the Chesapeake Bay and the huge area of land comprising the Bay's watershed. Some 50 rivers and thousands of streams reach into the watershed from the Bay like the roots of a great tree. These tributaries, each with their own watershed, directly connect farms, forests, and communities in six states and the District of Columbia with the Chesapeake Bay.

From the quiet, constant changing of the tides to the increasing roar of highways, change has marked and made the Bay what it is today. What the Bay will be in the future, however, will be determined by the patterns of growth now occurring throughout the region and the decisions we make about them.

The puzzle pieces that make up those patterns, and how you can act to guide them, can be explored in the following sections: Environment, Housing and Jobs, Land Use, and Transportation.