Here were the top 10 picks

Rachel Carson and Sylvia Earle

Biologist and Silver Spring, Maryland native Rachel Carson (1907-1964), inspired a generation to treasure aquatic environments with her books about the wonders of the sea. Her final book, Silent Spring, sparked the modern environmental movement and alerted the world to the effects of pesticides on wildlife. Sylvia Alice Earle (b. 1935), a renowned marine biologist, was the first female chief scientist of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Earle was awarded the Norwegian Rachel Carson Prize in 2017 in recognition for her work as a trailblazing oceanographer, explorer, and author.

Mac and Chessie

Shorthand for Potomac and Chesapeake, the local waterways where D1, D2, and hundreds of their fellow Atlantic bottlenose dolphins spend the summer months. Its in these shallow, tidal waters where the dolphins seek safe harbor to birth and raise their young, and voyage back out to the deeper sea in winter.

Powhatan and Piscataway

The Powhatan and Piscataway are indigenous peoples of the Potomac region. Virginia recognizes the Pamunkey, Mattaponi, and six other native groups as having ancestral ties to the Powhatan confederation, originally an affiliation of 30 eastern Virginian tributary peoples. The Piscataway territory includes land that stretches along the Potomac River in what is now D.C.; Prince George’s, Charles, St. Mary’s, Frederick, and Montgomery counties in Maryland; and across the river into Northern Virginia. They were once the most populous native population in the Chesapeake Bay region. Today, the Piscataway Indian Nation and the Piscataway Conoy Tribe are formally recognized by the state of Maryland.

Ebb and Flow

Like the incoming flow and outgoing ebb of the waters of the Potomac River. That’s right, Washington, DC has tides! The Potomac’s fresh water begins to mix with tidal waters near Chain Bridge. As the river widens and expands downstream towards the Chesapeake Bay, its waters become more brackish and support dolphins and other marine life typical of ocean environments.

Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass

After fighting to escape slavery, Harriet Tubman (1822-1913) and Frederick Douglass (1818-1895) dedicated their lives to advancing justice, equality, and human rights for African Americans. As a conductor of the underground railroad, Tubman put her life on the line as a liberator, scout, nurse, and soldier to help escaped slaves from the South travel north and secure their freedom. Maryland-born Douglass became a renowned author, national leader of the abolitionist movement, orator, and statesman. His powerful autobiographies influenced others, including President Lincoln, in the battle for abolition and social justice. Today, you can visit the Frederick Douglass home in the historic Anacostia neighborhood of Washington, DC.

Echo and Radar

Echolocation is used by dolphins as a way of "seeing with sound". By bouncing sound waves off of objects and back to their quite large brains, dolphins can find prey (like local American shad) and navigate both the vast ocean and the channel of the Potomac. Radar is a man-made technology that works similarly to echolocation, but dolphins still have us beat-- their natural echolocation is still inspiring improvements in radar technology today.

Aldo Leopold and Wendell Berry

Authors Aldo Leopold (1887-1948) and Wendell Berry (b. 1934) advanced powerful philosophies of conservation and environmental ethics in their renowned works. Considered the founder of wildlife ecology in the United States, Leopold was a conservationist, forester, philosopher, and educator. In one of his best-known works, The Land Ethic, he calls upon us to foster a nurturing, respectful relationship with nature and wildlife. Farmer and prolific writer Wendell Berry has authored over 40 essays, poems, and novels that encourage humans to live in harmony with our environment. In his work The Unsettling of America: Culture and Agriculture, he critically examines the failures of modern, mechanized life and advocates for sustainable agricultural practices as a part of the broader conservation movement.

Cherry and Blossom

Gifted by Japan’s Mayor of Tokyo City in 1912, the cherry blossom trees that line Washington, DC’s Tidal Basin are an iconic and beloved natural wonder that symbolize the renewal of springtime. Each year, visitors from all over the world walk along the water’s edge to experience and capture the soft pink blossoms before the season’s winds force the trees to shed their petals.

Madeleine Paddlin’ Albright and Colin Divin’ Powell

Former US Secretary of States - with a twist. The Potomac-Chesapeake Dolphin Project has assigned over 300 dolphins with names honoring US political leaders, including Barbara Bush and Abraham Lincoln, but notably no dolphin has been honored with Albright or Powell’s name. Could the Potomac dolphins be the face of US diplomatic relations?

Benjamin Banneker and Pierre L’Enfant

Informally called the “Architects of Washington, DC” Banneker and L’Enfant helped shape the District of Columbia, quite literally. Born to a free woman and a former slave in Baltimore County, Banneker (1731-1806) was a self-taught mathematician, naturalist, and almanac author. He used astronomy to map the north-south and east-west quadrants of the Federal District with Major Andrew Ellicott starting in 1791. That same year, L’Enfant (1754-1825), a French-American military engineer, was commissioned by George Washington to design a detailed layout for the future capital city. His design of streets, parks, and canals - bounded by rivers - is known as the L’Enfant Plan for the Federal City.

