BayScapes are low maintenance, requiring less mowing, fertilizing, and pesticides, protect water quality in our streams, rivers, and the Bay, and provide habitat for song birds, small mammals, and butterflies. Visit the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay's Guide to BayScaping for more information. Buy a Chesapeake Bay License Plate . Both Maryland and Virginia offer special license plates that support Chesapeake Bay restoration efforts. Grow an Oyster Garden .
Oysters are filter feeders that have the ability to filter and clean large amounts of water.
The decline of the oyster population in the Chesapeake Bay has impacted water quality. You can help increase the oyster population through oyster gardening. Oyster gardens are grown on floats attached to your dock. By placing oysters in a favorable growing environment, maturity can be reached in 18 to 24 months instead of the 4 to 5 years required for natural bottom growth. While growing, the oysters filter the water.