Joe Maroon discovered a passion for the Chesapeake Bay early in his career—and his roles since then have made him a leader in saving it. In 1985, he was hired as the first Virginia director of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. Governor Mark R. Warner asked him to join his administration in March 2002 as the director of the Department of Conservation and Recreation, and he was re-appointed director by Governor Timothy M. Kaine in 2006.

 

Maroon’s years at the forefront of conservation have left him with a wealth of recollections. “Early in my career with the Bay foundation, we dealt with the phosphate detergent ban. At the time, it was considered a major step forward for reducing nutrients, by reducing the phosphorus that came out of sewage treatment plants.

 

“We also dealt with hog farms and poultry operations, and we’re still dealing with some of them now. DCR and DEQ both, along with the secretary [of natural resources], are continuing to work toward additional agreements and strengthening the programs we have, particularly with the poultry industry. Poultry generates a lot of litter, which is highly charged with nutrients, and so when it gets spread in the wrong places it can be a real problem to the local water quality as well as the Bay and our rivers. So we’ve been working on a litter transport system, and we’ve been working on feed additives that will reduce the nutrient content in the litter.

 

“Oil drilling in the Bay was a big issue right after the Prince William Sound problem in Alaska. Around that same time there had been an announcement that a couple of large oil companies had plans to drill for oil, or natural gas, in and around the Chesapeake Bay in Virginia. We were able to put some restrictions on that, and there was a prohibition on drilling directly in the Bay that took a legislative action. They did some exploration but found that it was not commercially viable.”

 

Wetlands, particularly non-tidal wetlands, have been another major issue, Maroon says. “We were seeing Virginia losing tremendous amounts of acreage of wetlands that were being drained and ditched because of a loophole in the rules. With the passage of Virginia’s non-tidal wetlands law, that changed everything. So we have much greater protection now than even at the federal level.

 

“We continue to try to deal with the problem of nutrients and nutrient over-enrichment with the Chesapeake Bay. Of course, point sources that DEQ deals with are fortunately being tackled in a pretty comprehensive way for the first time over the last few years.”

According to Maroon, land conservation has been a notable concern and will continue to be. “We’ve seen more and more land being developed. In Virginia’s history, 25 percent of all development has come in the last 15 years. So you’ve got a lot of land being developed, but thanks to Governor Kaine there’s a big push right now for additional stepped-up efforts to try to conserve our agriculture and forestry lands, historic sites, recreational lands, parks and natural areas,” he says.

“But funding for natural resources is perhaps the biggest unaddressed issue that we have faced for several decades. I think that the overwhelming amount of activity the agencies are now engaged in can be a limiting factor, unless given more resources and the ability to do the job.”