The Deepwater Horizon spill has rightly focused America's attention on the fragility of our natural environment and the importance of our waters. But as a native of the Chesapeake Bay area, I worry that our response to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill will come at a direct cost to another environmental tragedy years in the making: the destruction of the Chesapeake Bay.

We shouldn't have to pit cleaning oil-soaked gulf shoreline against curbing mercury and nitrogen pollution in the bay. But unless the gulf spill helps us widen our focus and investment on environmental preservation across the country, we will soon be trapped in a zero-sum environmental game that forces us to choose between our nation's precious waters.

It was nearly 30 years ago that the Environmental Protection Agency first signed an agreement to clean up the Chesapeake, but half-measures and under-funding have failed to do more than slow its decline. The loss of Maryland and Virginia's oyster industries alone has been cost the region billions over the last three decades; my own family's shucking house begrudgingly shuttered its doors in the 1960s, a victim of declining catches and other forces.

We need to do more — not less — to restore and protect the bay. That's why, as devastated as we all are by the damage in the gulf, those of us who care about the bay should be aware of who will pick up the tab for Gulf Coast restoration. We know BP will foot a large portion of the bill, but oversight alone will siphon EPA resources for the next several years.

The question boils down to this: Can the EPA "restore the gulf" and "save the bay" at the same time?

The answer: Not likely, unless a new national commitment to our nation's waters is forthcoming.

Diminishing Treasury revenues and a spending freeze on all nonmilitary discretionary spending means federal agencies will have to learn to get by with less for the next few years, and the crisis in the gulf is just one more monumental problem on the EPA's plate.

The EPA's proposed budget for 2011 has already been cut to $10.2 billion — $300 million less than in 2010. Because $63 million for bay restoration was set aside by the White House months before the Deepwater Horizon became a household name, there is really no telling how this new national crisis will affect the final budget.

But these two environmental tragedies don't have to conflict. Bay-area leaders can and should use this crisis to build political support for restoration of all our troubled waters.

For those of us lucky enough to live in its watershed, restoring the bay is a deeply personal issue. We've come to recognize that we bear the responsibility for its current disrepair, and for failing to pressure our local, state and federal government to do more to protect it.

But for the rest of the nation, the connection between our quality of life and the health of our waters is generally more easily ignored.

If there is an upside to the gulf oil spill it's that it has brought national attention to the crucial role wetlands and marshes play in aquatic ecosystems and coastal economies. For perhaps the first time, America's interior has shared the pain from what's happening along our shores.

Rather than sit with fingers crossed that bay funding will survive any spending cuts the EPA makes, our local representatives in Congress should use national outrage over the gulf tragedy to push for more funding — not just for the bay or the gulf but also for the Ohio and Colorado rivers, the Great Lakes and all other threatened U.S. waters.

U.S. Sens. Benjamin Cardin of Maryland and Russ Feingold of Wisconsin have both had success in the last few weeks pushing bills through the Environment Committee that capitalize on recent enthusiasm and give the EPA new authority to protect our waterways.

With momentum behind expanding the Clean Water Act's coverage, and a national audience that cares about the state of our waters, now is the time for our leaders to make sure new EPA authorities aren't hamstrung by a lack of funding, or that EPA doesn't have to rob Peter to pay Paul when overseeing Gulf Coast restoration.

If bay residents miss this opportunity to demand greater support — not just for ourselves but for every U.S. water body that has been damaged by pollution and maltreatment — we'll be the ones to blame when bay funding is sent down the Mississippi to Louisiana.

Lincoln Saunders, a native of the Chesapeake Bay area and former finance director for the Democratic Party of Virginia, is completing graduate work at the School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University. His e-mail is jamesaun@indiana.edu.