Confluence: Rivers and Streams in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed

The diversity, beauty, and complexity of the Chesapeake Bay watershed through amazing photos Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States and the third-largest in the world. Its watershed extends some 64,000 square miles into six states (West Virginia, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, Maryland, and Delaware) and the District of Columbia and is home to more than 18 million people. The Bay’s watershed is also home to one-third of the Atlantic migratory bird population, some 2,700 plant species, and more than 500 finfish and shellfish species. Chesapeake Bay and its watershed are quite simply a national and regional natural treasure. Yet it is threatened. Scott Jost has traversed nearly every corner of the Bay and its watershed since 2008, focusing on the notable confluences of rivers, streams, and creeks that comprise the watershed. Using multiframe panoramas, Jost presents an incredible array of scenes, all of which capture the “confluence” and “interface” between the natural and cultural landscapes that define the Bay and our place in it. No artist has rendered a region so thoroughly or so artfully. Confluence is more than a book of art. It features ten essays and ten commentaries by some of the Bay’s most notable scientists, curators, scholars, writers, activists, river keepers, and political and spiritual leaders. The integration of photographs and text simulate a huge stained-glass image of Chesapeake Bay and its fifty major rivers and more than 100,000 tributaries. Distributed for George F. Thompson Publishing