Editor’s note     Three report cards come to us in the early months of the year, each asking us to consider the health of the Chesapeake Bay and where — if anywhere — all our work is getting us.     Each arrives at a different time, uses different criteria and grading systems and supports a different agenda. How to make sense of any — let alone all — of them? Here staff writer Ashley Brotherton offers a cheat-sheet on the basics....

Oyster shells could be worth more than the change in your pocket if the Oyster Recovery Partnership can talk the political talk.     The nonprofit Partnership, which has planted four billion seed oysters in its work for recovery, is now seeking to persuade legislators to pass a bill giving a $1 tax credit for every bushel of oyster shells you recycle.     Shells are desperately needed to make habitats for new oyster families and the communities they support....

Chesapeake Bay waterman were coming close to extinction in 2010 when a group of Chesapeake non-profits got innovative. The bright idea: Training captains who make a living on the Bay to give tours of the water and their craft.     Now, 80 watermen guide tours through the Bay where they make their living, earning extra cash during the slow seasons.     The idea is so bright that the Watermen Heritage Tourism Training Program has won the Maryland Historical Trust...

Do you long to bike to work, but fear the roads? Want to walk around town more, but have no sidewalks in your neighborhood? This is the time for every Marylander to speak up.     Maryland’s Department of Transportation is updating the Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan, which outlines how to make our state more bike- and pedestrian-friendly. Tell them what it would take to get you to pedal to the drug store or walk to the park instead of hopping in your car.  ...