Can the Chesapeake Bay be saved? If so, at what cost? What will we have to pay, and how much will we have to change in how we live, work and play? Do we care enough to do what's needed?

Those are the questions that keep playing over in my mind as I report on what many are calling a watershed year for North America's largest estuary.

After nearly three decades of trying, the multibillion-dollar effort to restore the Chesapeake has shown frustratingly little progress. An "immense protein factory" in H.L. Mencken's day, the bay's seafood bounty has dwindled amid "dead zones" that make it hard for oysters, crabs and fish to thrive. And it's not fit for humans to swim in some places, like Baltimore's harbor.

It's not all gloom and doom, though. Scientists say there are places around the bay where water quality is showing improvement. And there's a renewed push from the federal government and from state houses to ratchet up the cleanup efforts to build on those positive signs.

But that push comes at a time when recession has drained government coffers, making it hard to talk about spending more on saving the bay.  And there's pushback from farmers, developers and others being asked to do more or different to help.

So it's timely that on Saturday, there'll be a public forum in Annapolis looking at the choices we have for the future of the Chesapeake. Sponsored by the Annapolis Capital newspaper, "The Bay at a Crossroads" will feature state and federal environmental officials, including Maryland Environment Secretary Shari Wilson and the Environmental Protection Agency's bay "czar," Chuck Fox. Also speaking will be environmental advocates, including political scientist Howard Ernst, author of "Fight for the Bay."

You can read a great summary here of the bay's predicament and what's being done about it, by The Capital's Pamela Wood.

The forum begins at 10 a.m. It's at the Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts, 801 Chase Street in Annapolis.  For directions and parking, go here. 

(Baltimore Sun file photo by Kenneth K. Lam)