Vol. 40, No. 321

For more information contact Beth Shockley, Public Affairs, 302-739-9902; or Tom Zolper, Maryland Communications Coordinator, Chesapeake Bay Foundation, 443-482-2066.

Trap Pond State Park photograph is included in exhibit highlighting Chesapeake Bay Watershed

DOVER (Sept. 16, 2010) - A photograph taken in Trap Pond State Park in late August was chosen among hundreds to highlight Delaware’s important role as part of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. The exhibit featuring the photo was organized by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. It will be on display next week on Capitol Hill, in the rotunda of the Russell Senate Office Building in Washington, D.C.

The project, a partnership with the International League of Conservation Photographers, documents in photographs the entire Chesapeake Bay Watershed. The foundation teamed up with iLCP to highlight the importance of the federal Chesapeake Clean Water Act (CCWA) through photographs, video and stories from across the Chesapeake Bay watershed—from Cooperstown, New York to southwestern Virginia.

Some of the world's most accomplished photographers fanned out across the Bay's 64,000 square mile watershed to capture its beauty, communities and environmental issues. Octavio Aburto, who has photographed marine ecosystems in Mexican coastal waters since 1994, took the Trap Pond photo.

“He took other pictures in Delaware, but the Trap Pond photograph was chosen to best represent the watershed,” said Tom Zolper, Maryland Communications Coordinator for the Chesapeakd Bay Foundation. “Rivers and streams on the western side of Delaware flow into the Chesapeake Bay, so the health of those waters is important not only to Delaware residents but to watermen, fishermen, boaters and everyone who depends on and enjoys the Bay. I hope people can see from Octavio’s photograph the specialness of Trap Pond State Park, and can appreciate how each place and activity in the Bay watershed is important to its overall health.”  

The Trap Pond photo is one of 30 to be displayed in the exhibit, which runs through Sept. 24. According to the foundation, the Trap Pond photograph was selected not only for its aesthetic values but because it represents such an interesting ecosystem within the Bay watershed, and also because the photographer was particularly excited about the area, “Octavio was particularly excited about this place; he hadn’t photographed a bald cypress swamp before,” said Zolper.