John Page Williams examines a clump of oysters.
John Page Williams is CBF's Senior Naturalist. He joined the CBF staff in 1973 because he has been fish-obsessed since he was four years old. Nobody told him this work would turn into a study of constitutional law, municipal finance, and most of all, human behavior.
He's still fascinated by all the challenges involved in saving the Bay, and he still learns something every day that he's on the water.
John Page is no longer at CBF.
John Page's Posts
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Cautious Good News about Underwater Bay Grasses
July 24, 2019
After last year’s record-breaking rainfall across the region had many wondering how the Bay's underwater grasses were holding up.
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Blue Catfish: How to Think about an Invasive Species
June 6, 2019
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Lest We Forget: Some Thoughts about Endangered Species Day
May 17, 2019
Remembering critical Chesapeake Bay species in honor of Endangered Species Day.
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Farmer Profiles: Dave Graybill
April 4, 2019
“You have to control the good things in your environment.”
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This Month on the Bay: March’s Lion Has Lost His Teeth
March 21, 2019
True to form, March 2019 came in like a lion this year.
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2018 State of the Bay: A Stiff Reality Check
January 15, 2019
A cynic might be tempted to say that our optimism for the Bay a year ago was false, but a clear-eyed optimist will instead look closely at the important scientific signals and watch carefully as 2019 progresses.
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This Month on the Bay: Buffleheads and a Winter Miracle
December 5, 2018
From Northern Canadian forests to the waters of the Chesapeake Bay, Buffleheads are back for winter.
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This Month on the Bay: From Fall Colors to Dead Leaves
November 7, 2018
Tuesday's elections may determine the success or failure of the Chesapeake Bay cleanup.
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This Month on the Bay: Late Summer Glory in Tidal Fresh Marshes
August 24, 2018
Tidal Fresh sounds like an oxymoron. If a waterway is tidal, its bottom must be below sea level and open to the ocean, so it should be salty. Right? Nope.
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This Month on the Bay: Life in an Eelgrass Bed
July 11, 2018
If oyster reefs are the Chesapeake's equivalents to corals, underwater grass beds are our rain forests.
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This Month on the Bay: Worms in Love in June
June 12, 2018
Our Bay's worms are cornerstones of its ecological wealth.
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This Month on the Bay: A Mahogany Tide in May
May 9, 2018
Mahogany tides are natural occurrences, but a bloom as widespread and deep as the one that came this week is a serious reminder of how much we have overfertilized our waters with nitrogen and phosphorus.
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T.O. Longest & Sons: Dressing the Land for the Long Haul
April 26, 2018
(DRAGONVILLE, VA)—Tommy Longest and his son-in-law, Kevin Norman, produce corn and no-till soybeans on about 4,000 acres (2,100 in corn) of land in King & Queen County, VA, between Dragon Run (the headwaters of the Piankatank River) and the Mattaponi River.
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This Month on the Bay: Springtime Silver in the Rivers in April
April 12, 2018
In the spring, our Chesapeake swells with silver: shad and river herring.
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Chesapeake Farm Heroes: Mt. Nebo Farms, Accomack Co., VA
April 4, 2018
Lynn Gayle and his son, Sands, farm a wide range of fields in Accomack County, Virginia, from their home base near Onancock.
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This Month on the Bay: Watching Northern Water Snakes in March
March 29, 2018
"Wow! Did you see that? A cottonmouth moccasin chased me on my water skis. Good thing I didn't fall."
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Anglers for Clean Water: John Bello
March 14, 2018
Like many of us "of a certain age," John Bello cut his angling teeth as a boy, with his father and an uncle bottom-fishing bait on oyster reefs for white perch, spot, croakers, and gray trout.
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This Month on the Bay: Great Blue Herons Prepare for Spring in February
February 7, 2018
The great blue heron was being smart, standing under sheltering pines at the edge of a marsh.
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Atlantic Menhaden Are in Jeopardy Again: What Does It Mean for Stripers?
January 30, 2018
Protecting Atlantic Menhaden is like pushing a rock up a hill, over and over: the threats just keep coming.
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This Month on the Bay: The Bay's Bare Bones Are Exposed in January
January 4, 2018
You’ll be surprised at how much you learn about the Chesapeake when its bare bones are showing.
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This Month on the Bay: Getting Outside in December
December 19, 2017
There’s a piece of beach in front of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s headquarters where an East wind pushes waves onto a sand bar. In the Fall of the year, those waves concentrate baitfish.
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This Month on the Bay: Leaf Peeping from the Water in October
October 30, 2017
Chase the colors of autumn on the waterways of the Chesapeake. With colors ranging from yellow through flaming red to deep purple, the best Mid-Atlantic leaf peeping is from the water.
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Menhaden Monikers
October 12, 2017
"Some people call 'em bunkers, some people call 'em pogies, some people menhaden; they're all the same fish."
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Atlantic Menhaden Need More Protection
September 20, 2017
We are all bound together in a mind-bogglingly complex web of life, in which what happens to one species affects multiple others. Yet up to now, we have governed many of our natural resources in a vacuum called single-species management.
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Locust Blooms and Other Springtime Delights
May 30, 2017
Between soft crab sandwiches and memorable days on the water, there is much to celebrate in the first peeler run. If we want to keep these runs strong, though, we're going to have to manage our harvests carefully and continue the struggle to restore their underwater grass habitats and the dissolved oxygen they need to keep growing.
