2010_5_Chesapeake EO Strategy Executive Summary

8/8/2019 2010_5_Chesapeake EO Strategy Executive Summary

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ExecutiveSummary

Executive Order 13508

Strategy for

Protecting and Restoring

the Chesapeake Bay Watershed

he Chesapeake Baywatershed is one of themost extraordinary places in

America. The nations largestestuary and its network o

streams, creeks and rivers hold tremendousecological, cultural, economic, historicand recreational value or the region andits citizens. But the Bay and its tributariesremain in poor health, with polluted

water, low populations o fsh and shellfsh,degraded habitats and landscapes lost todevelopment.

May 12, 2009 was a historic day or theChesapeake Bay and its watershed. On thatdate, President Obama issued Executive Order13508 on Chesapeake Bay Protection andRestoration. In the Executive Order, PresidentObama declared the Chesapeake Bay a nationaltreasure and ushered in a new era o ederalleadership, action and accountability. Thepurpose o the Executive Order is to protect andrestore the health, heritage, natural resources,and social and economic value o the nationslargest estuarine ecosystem and the naturalsustainability o its watershed.

To bring the ull weight o the ederalgovernment to address the Chesapeakeschallenges, the Executive Order establishedthe Federal Leadership Committee (FLC)or the Chesapeake Bay, which is chaired bythe Administrator o the U.S. EnvironmentalProtection Agency and includes seniorrepresentatives rom the departments oAgriculture, Commerce, Deense, HomelandSecurity, Interior and Transportation. The

Executive Order charged the FLC withdeveloping and implementing a new strategy orprotection and restoration o the Chesapeakeregion.

The Executive Order acknowledges thatalthough the ederal government should assumea strong leadership role in the restoration othe Bay, success depends on a collaborativeeort involving state and local governments,businesses, non-governmental organizations andthe regions residents. To develop the strategy,ederal agencies consulted with the six Baywatershed states, the District o Columbia andthe Chesapeake Bay Commission, engaged keystakeholders and held public meetings.

Vision for the Chesapeake

Source:

As a guiding foundation

for the strategy, federal

agencies drafted a vision

statement that describes

the desired conditionsof the Chesapeake

Bay and its watershed.

Achieving this vision is an

important commitment to

the citizens of today and

generations of tomorrow.

A Chesapeake watershed with:

nclean water that is swimmable and shable in streams, rivers and the Bay

nsustainable, healthy populations of blue crabs, oysters, sh and other wildlife

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a broad network of land and water habitats that support life and are resilient to theimpacts of development and climate change

nabundant forests and thriving farms that benet both the economy and environment

nextensive areas of conserved lands that protect nature and the regions heritage

nample access to provide for public enjoyment

ncities, towns and neighborhoods where citizens are stewards of nature

De ve lop e d b y t h e Fe d e ra l L e ad e rs h ip C ommi t t e e f o r t h e C h e s ap e ake Bay


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Executive Summary

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Focus of the StrategyThe progress o the past several decades has notbeen sufcient to ully restore and protect theChesapeake Bay watershed. Federal agenciesrecognize the need to undamentally shit eorts,take bold action and increase accountability. Thestrategy includes several areas o ocus that willlead to greater success.

Launching major initiatives

& accounting for progress:

Launching major environmental initiatives: Establish rigorous new regulation andenorcement to implement all pollutioncontrols or clean water.

Put new agricultural conservation practiceson 4 million acres o arms.

Protect 2 million acres o land important toenvironment, arms, orests and people.

Restore oysters in 20 tributaries.

Short-term action:To accelerate the paceo restoration and protection, many actions

occur in the next ew years, and many o theactions are on-the-ground and in-the-water throughout the Chesapeake watershed.

Two-year milestones: To increaseaccountability, ederal agencies will establishmilestones every two years or actions to meetenvironmental goals. These will support andcomplement the states two-year milestonesor water quality.

Measureable environmental goals: Actionsare designed to accomplish specifc andmeasureable improvements in water quality,habitat recovery, fsh and wildlie protectionand land conservation.

Partnering with communities:

For the entire region:The strategy is about

much more than the Chesapeake Bay. It isabout restoration and protection neededin communities around the 64,000-square-mile watershed, across the landscape and inthousands o streams, creeks and rivers. Thenatural resources o the Chesapeake regionare important to the lives and livelihood o17 million people.

Supporting local efforts: Local communitieshave the greatest interest in and ability toimpact conservation o their local environment.The strategy is designed to directly support

the restoration activities o local governments,watershed groups, county conservationdistricts, landowners and citizens.

Beneting economies and jobs: Manyederal actions will provide economic beneftsor communities, citizens and the region,including conservation o working armsand orests, expanded oyster aquaculture,support or conservation corps programs andgreen jobs, and development o an innovativeenvironmental marketplace or selling, buying

and trading credits or pollution reductions.Deepening the federal commitment:

Unprecedented level of activity: Thestrategy reects an unprecedented depthand breadth o ederal actions and resourcesdedicated to the Chesapeake region.

Targeting of resources: Agencies will beaggressively targeting resources where theycan have the most impact areas with themost pollution and potential or runo, withthe highest potential or restoring fsh and

wildlie, and with habitats and lands most inneed o protection.

Federal leadership by example: The ederalgovernment is one o the largest landownersin the region (owning 5.3 percent o land in


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Strategy for Protecting and Restoring the Chesapeake Bay Watershed

the watershed). The ederal government willlead by example by restoring water quality,habitats, fsh and wildlie, conserving lands,and increasing public access on its properties.

A comprehensive approach: TheChesapeake Bay watershed is an ecosystem a network that includes people, plants, fshand wildlie and the places they live, each onerelated to and connected to the other. Thestrategy recognizes this interdependence,and the actions included in the strategy aredesigned to beneft the entire ecosystem.

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Regional Strategy Reects

National Initiatives

In developing the Chesapeake strategy, ederalagencies have incorporated cornerstone principlesrom several major national initiatives that areguiding overall environmental improvement in theUnited States, including the Ocean Policy TaskForce, the Americas Great Outdoors Initiative,and the Interagency Climate Change AdaptationTask Force. Reecting national policy in a regional

strategy urther illustrates that solutions in theChesapeake Bay watershed can serve as a modelor restoring ecosystems elsewhere in the country.Federal agencies will be able to share the lessonslearned in the Chesapeake with partners on othernational initiatives.

Presidential actions that have also shaped thisstrategy include the Executive Order on FederalLeadership in Environmental, Energy andEconomic Perormance; the memorandum onTransparency and Open Government; and the

Executive Order on Environmental Justice,which calls or the air treatment and meaningulinvolvement o all people regardless o race, color,national origin, or income with respect to thedevelopment, implementation, and enorcement oenvironmental laws, regulations, and policies.

Ecosystem-based management is also among themost signifcant overarching principles includedin this strategy. This approach recognizes the

interdependence o all aspects o an ecosystem,including water, fsh and wildlie, habitats andland-use. Management actions are guided bythis scientifc understanding and aim to protect,maintain and restore overall environmentalunctioning to achieve long-term sustainabilityo ecosystems and the human communities thatdepend on them.

Structure of the Strategy

The Executive Order directed ederal agencies todefne environmental goals or the Chesapeake

Bay and describe milestones or makingprogress toward attainment o these goals.For the strategy, ederal agencies have ocusedon achieving the most essential priorities or ahealthy Chesapeake ecosystem:

nRestore Clean Water

nRecover Habitat

nSustain Fish and Wildlife

nConserve Land and Increase Public Access

Federal agencies also developed 12 key

environmental outcomes that will be achievedthrough expanded ederal actions described in thestrategy and ongoing state activities, and will reectprogress toward attainment o the overall goals.

The strategy also eatures supporting strategiesthat provide invaluable cross-cutting supportto achieving environmental goals or are criticalcomplementary eorts in the restoration andprotection o the Chesapeake Bay and watershed.The supporting strategy chapters are:

nExpand Citizen Stewardship

nRespond to Climate Change

nDevelop Environmental Markets

nStrengthen Science


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Restore Clean WaterGoal: Reduce nitrogen, phosphorus, sediment and other pollutants to meet Bay waterquality goals for dissolved oxygen, clarity, chlorophyll-a and toxic contaminants.

Why Its Important

Clean water is one o the most precious resourcesto people and communities throughout the regionand is essential or healthy habitats, wildlie and fsh,rom the most remote streams in the watershed tothe depths o the Chesapeake Bay. It is vital to havewater that is not polluted, has enough oxygen tosupport fsh, crabs and other aquatic lie, and is clearenough or sunlight to reach underwater grasses.In 2009, however, water quality in the Bay wasextremely poor, meeting only 24 percent o goalsestablished by the Chesapeake Bay Program. Streamquality in the watershed was also degraded, with 52

percent o the streams having a rating o poor orvery poor (based on the index o biological integrity).Signifcant reductions in nitrogen, phosphorous,sediment and chemical contaminants are needed toachieve water quality goals throughout the Bay andits watershed.

Action Overview

The water quality chapter contains acomprehensive range o actions to achieve thisgoal, including EPAs establishment and, in

partnership with the Bay jurisdictions and otherederal agencies, implementation o the Chesapeake

Total Maximum Daily Load or TMDL (a rigorouspollution diet or the Bay and regions waterways),rulemaking or expanded regulation o stormwaterand concentrated animal eeding operations, astronger emphasis on enorcement and complianceactivities, and increased grant unding or stateregulatory programs. The U.S. Departmento Agriculture (USDA) will aggressively targetits fnancial resources and technical assistanceto priority watersheds, help states meet two-year milestones or implementing agricultureconservation practices, accelerate the development

o new conservation technologies, and develop asystem or improving the reporting o conservationpractices. EPA will coordinate the eort to reducestormwater pollution rom ederal acilities andlands and to implement ederal land managementpractices that protect orests, wetlands andwaterways. EPA, DOI and NOAA will expand theunderstanding o the toxic contaminant problem inthe Bay and its watershed and develop contaminantreduction outcomes and strategies.

OUTCOMES

Water Quality Meet water quality standards for

dissolved oxygen, clarity/underwater grasses and

chlorophyll-a in the Bay and tidal tributaries by

implementing 100 percent of pollution reduction

actions for nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment

no later than 2025, with 60 percent of segments

attaining water quality standards by 2025. (Current

condition: 89 of the 92 segments of the Bay and its

tidal waters are impaired.)

Stream Restoration: Improve the health of streams

so that 70 percent of sampled streams throughout

the Chesapeake watershed in a condition of fair,

good or excellent as measured by the Index of Biotic

Integrity by 2025. (Current condition: 45 percent of

sampled streams rated fair, good or excellent.)

Agriculture Conservation: Work with producers to

apply new conservation practices on 4 million acres of

working agricultural lands in high priority watersheds

by 2025 to improve water quality in the Chesapeake

Bay and its tributaries. (Current condition: Of the

approximately 8 million acres of agricultural working

lands in high-priority watersheds, approximately 4

million acres are identied as having soils with the

highest potential for leaching and runoff, which may

affect water quality. The 4-million-acre target is to

apply or expand conservation treatment on virtually all

of the most vulnerable agricultural lands.)

Source: NPS


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Recover HabitatGoal:Restore a network of land and water habitats to support priority species and to afford otherpublic benets, including water quality, recreational uses and scenic value across the watershed.

Why Its Important

Wetlands, orests, felds, streams, underwatergrasses and mudats in the Chesapeake watershedprovide thousands o species o plants, fshand wildlie with the places they need to fndood, shelter, reproduce and rear their young.Chesapeake habitats also provide habitathighways or Atlantic Coast fsh populationsand birds migrating along the Atlantic Flyway.These habitats play an important role in flteringpollution beore it enters waterways. Wetlandsserve as holding tanks and water flters or coastalstorm surge and heavy rainall and help prevent

costly ood damage. Forest buers along streamsand shorelines provide shade to keep streamscool, ood or aquatic organisms and corridorsor wildlie movement. Streams are the arteriesthat connect the watershed and provide not onlypassage or fsh but also a physical connectionrom every local community to the Bay.

Action Overview

The habitat chapter includes a variety o actionsby ederal agencies including the U.S. Fish andWildlie Service (FWS), the National Oceanicand Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), theU.S. Army Corps o Engineers (USACE) andUSDA that will restore and protect habitats.For wetlands, this includes actions to sustainthe most important marshes, increase incentivesor restoration on private land, combat invasivespecies and strengthen ederal coordination onpermits with direct impacts on marshes. Eortsto restore vital island habitats in the Bay itsel

will expand. Forest buers that beneft streamhealth will be expanded through increasedtargeting o restoration and acceleratedapplication o the Conservation ReserveEnhancement Program. Streams will beprioritized and barriers removed to allow fshto return to historical migration routes. TheU.S. Department o Transportation (DOT)will work with partner agencies to encourageecosystem-level planning or mitigation ohighway impacts on habitat.

OUTCOMES

Wetland Restoration: Restore 30,000 acresof tidal and non-tidal wetlands and enhance thefunction of 150,000 additional acres of degraded

wetlands by 2025. (Current condition: 1 millionacres of tidal and non-tidal wetlands estimatedto be available in the Chesapeake watershed forrestoration or enhancement. Between 1998 and2008, 18,217 acres of wetlands were restoredand 97,738 acres were enhanced.)

Forest Buffers: Restore riparian forest buffers

to 63 percent, or 181,440 miles, of the total

riparian miles (streambank and shoreline miles) inthe Bay watershed by 2025. (Current condition:58 percent of the 288,000 total riparian miles inthe Bay watershed has forest buffers in place.)

Fish Passage: Restore historical sh migratoryroutes by opening an additional 1,000 stream

miles by 2025, with restoration success indicated

by the presence of River herring, Americanshad and/or American eel. (Current condition:

Approximately 1,924 stream miles in theChesapeake Bay watershed have been openedand are accessible for sh migration. Projects arecurrently being ranked and prioritized through acollaborative federal and state process designedto strategically target priority projects.)

Source: NOAA


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Sustain Fish and WildlifeGoal: Sustain healthy populations of sh and wildlife, which contribute to a resilient ecosystemand vibrant economy.

Why Its Important

The Chesapeake Bay is one o the premier fshproduction areas or the East Coast. More than 250fsh species, both resident and migratory, use the Bayand tributaries or some portion o their lie cycles.American and hickory shad, river herring, stripedbass, eel, weakfsh, bluefsh, ounder, oysters, andblue crabs hold tremendous ecological, commercial,and cultural value. More than 300 migratory birdspecies can be ound in the watershed. During theall, the skies come alive as one million ducks, geese,

and swans return to overwinter on the Chesapeake.Managing Bay fsheries and wildlie is critical torestoring and protecting the population o thesespecies and their important place in the ecosystem.Habitat loss as a result o poor water quality, land useand urbanization, climate change, and other humanactivities is threatening the sustainability o fsh andwildlie species. Oyster populations are less than onepercent o historic levels. Over 5,000 miles o fshspawning habitat on Bay tributaries remain blockedby man-made obstructions. Key fsh and shellfshspecies have declined dramatically in abundance or

productivity.

Action Overview

For the purpose o tracking progress in the Bay andheadwaters, this strategy ocuses on our species(oysters, blue crab, brook trout and black duck)because they reect the overall health o theirhabitat and hold great ecological, commercial andrecreational signifcance. The importance o otherspecies is clearly recognized, and a prioritizationramework is described. For oysters, NOAA andUSACE will launch a Bay-wide restoration strategy

in collaboration with Maryland, Virginia and thePotomac River Fisheries Commission that ocuseson priority tributaries, supports expansion ocommercial aquaculture and bolsters research onoyster stock, habitat and restoration progress. Forblue crabs, NOAA will enhance the science usedto support interjurisdictional management andrestoration. Along with partners, NOAA will revisethe long-term goal or blue crab abundance. Forbrook trout, FWS will restore key stream habitats,establish a monitoring program in the watershedand consider the impact o climate change in

selecting stream habitats or restoration.

OUTCOMES

Oysters: Restore native oyster habitats and

populations in 20 out of 35 to 40 candidate

tributaries by 2025. (Current condition: 0 tributarieswith fully restored oyster populations; severaltributaries with successful living oyster reef habitat.)

Blue Crabs: Maintain sustainable blue crab

interim rebuilding target of 200 million adults (1+

years old) in 2011 and develop a new populationtarget for 2012 through 2025. (Current condition:2007-2008: 131 million; 2008-2009: 223 million;2009-2010: 315 million.)

Brook Trout: Restore naturally reproducing brook

trout populations in headwater streams by improving58 sub-watersheds from reduced classication

(10-50 percent of habitat loss) to healthy (less

than 10 percent of habitat loss) by 2025. (Currentcondition: 388 of 1,294 sub-watersheds in the

Chesapeake Bay currently classied as reducedfor brook trout.)

Black Duck: Restore a three-year averagewintering black duck population in the Chesapeake

Bay watershed of 100,000 birds by 2025. (Currentcondition: Recent mid-winter aerial surveys estimatethe 2007-2009 rolling three-year average at 37,158black ducks in the Chesapeake Bay.)

Source: Ben Fertig/IAN Image Library


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Conserve Land and Increase Public AccessGoal: Conserve landscapes to maintain water quality, habitat, sustainable working forests, farmsand maritime communities; and cultural, community and indigenous values. It will also expandpublic access to the Bay and its tributaries through existing and new federal, state, and local parks,refuges, reserves, trails and partner sites.

Why Its Important

At the heart o the Chesapeake region are thelandscapes alongside the Bay and its majortributaries. These treasured landscapes arethe special places we revere as individuals, ascommunities and as a people or their ecological,cultural, historical, economic and recreationalvalues. Yet, many o the Chesapeakes treasuredlandscapes are threatened. Poorly planneddevelopment increasingly pressures bothnatural and cultural lands. Forests in the region

are converted to other land uses at the rateo 100 acres each day. Cropland and pastureland in the Chesapeake Bay watershed havealso been inuenced by alternative land uses,with approximately 100 acres a day lost todevelopment between 1982 and 2003. Publicaccess to the Bay and its tributaries is also limited.

Action Overview

The land conservation chapter containsnumerous actions to achieve this goal, including

DOIs plans to launch a Chesapeake TreasuredLandscape Initiative, expand land conservationthrough coordinating ederal unding andcommunity assistance, and use strategicgeographic inormation systems in settingconservation priorities. USDA will contributein collaboration with states and ederal partnersthrough a watershed-wide strategy to reducethe loss o arms and orests. NPS will developa plan and prioritize unding or expandingpublic access. NOAA will support explorationo land-water conservation priorities. All othese actions will involve a high degree ocollaboration, directly engaging state and localgovernment, communities, non-governmentalorganizations and other ederal agencies. DOT,working through its Partnership or SustainableCommunities with EPA and the Department oHousing and Urban Development, will providetechnical assistance to communities that undertakedevelopment o integrated transportation, housingand water inrastructure plans.

OUTCOMES

Land Conservation: Protect an additional 2million additional acres of lands throughout the

watershed currently identied as high conservation

priorities at the federal, state or local level by 2025including 695,000 acres of forest land of highest

value for maintaining water quality.

Public Access: Increase public access to the Bay

and its tributaries by adding 300 new public access

sites (40 percent increase) by 2025. (Currentcondition: 761 public access sites providing accessto Bay and its tributaries exist in DC, MD, PA, VA.Data on existing access sites in NY, DE and WV willbe collected in the future.)

Source: NOAA


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Supporting Strategies

The strategy also features four chapters on supporting strategies that provide invaluable cross-cutting

support to achieving environmental goals or are critical complementary efforts in the restoration and

protection of the Chesapeake Bay and watershed. The supporting strategy chapters are:

Expand Citizen Stewardship

Objective: Foster a dramatic increase in the number of citizen stewards of every age who support and carryout local conservation and restoration.

Why its Important

People tend to protect the places they understandand care about. Regional residents increasingly seekopportunities to reconnect with the outdoors. Forcitizens o the watershed, the places where peopleexperience the Chesapeake parks, waterways,reuges, nature centers, museums, etc. and theplaces where people spend most o their time theirhomes, schools and neighborhoods provide venuesor urther engagement and action. Ultimately,

meeting the water quality, habitat restoration andland conservation goals described in this strategydepends on engaged citizens who both supportstewardship in the larger community and takepersonal action to carry it out.

Action Overview

Expanding citizen stewardship is a multi-prongedapproach that begins with engaging adults through anexpansion o Chesapeake conservation corps workorcesand the master watershed stewards program, as wellas prioritization o citizen stewardship programs inawarding o grants. The U.S. Department o theInterior (DOI) will also build stewardship by enhancingvisitor experiences and messaging at Chesapeakesites and trails and by building partnerships with

communities and citizens. NOAA will developstewards o the next generation by expanding hands-on experiences and creating a more robust andcomprehensive elementary and secondary schoolenvironmental literacy initiative.

Develop Environmental Markets

Objective: Working collaboratively, USDA, EPA, bay states and other federal partners will develop environmentalmarkets for the Chesapeake Bay, including the management infrastructure for measuring, reporting and verifyingenvironmental performance for a suite of ecosystem services.

Why its Important

Environmental markets are an innovative approach

to natural resource management that can accomplishenvironmental protection goals, encourage newtechnologies, improve efciencies, reduce costs and helpmanage growth. The basic premise o environmentalmarkets is that an entity that needs to reduce impactsto the environment buys credits representing anequivalent or greater amount o environmentalimprovement rom a provider o that improvement.Private landowners will be a major provider o thesecredits because o their vast land holdings and theirability to install cost eective conservation practices thatresult in needed environmental improvement. Thesecredits can be verifed through standardized scientifc

metrics to represent a certain level o measurableenvironmental improvement and may be registeredand traded much like any other commodity. Resultingenvironmental markets have the potential to increasethe efciency, reduce the cost and increase the qualityo environmental solutions. The strategy will expandthe current suite o environmental market potential toincrease pace and scope o conservation by coordinating,and conorming where appropriate, ederal and stateregulatory requirements to develop a robust market inthe Chesapeake Bay watershed.

Action Overview

In partnership with Bay states, EPA will issue guidance

concerning credits or nutrient and sediment reductionto accompany the Chesapeake Bay TMDL, which isexpected to be fnal in December o 2010. EPA willwork with the newly ormed Environmental MarketTeam to assure that tools and protocols developed bythe team are reected in this and subsequent guidanceto greatest extent possible. On a parallel track, USDAwill lead, in coordination with EPA and other ederalagencies (including DOC, DOI, DOT, DOD,USACE, CEQ and OMB), an interdepartmentalEnvironmental Market Team to establish thebroader inrastructure or an eective environmentalmarket in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Thisteam will address a wide range o issues includingdefning environmental perormance o conservationpractices; evaluating tools or measuring conservationpractice perormance; establishing protocols orsetting baselines, developing registries and designingcertifcation processes; creating opportunities orstacking and bundling ecosystem services; andexploring options or insurance mechanisms.


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Respond to Climate Change

Objective: Improve information on the communities, habitats and resources at risk from the impacts ofclimate change and develop products to increase knowledge and capacity to plan for and implementadaptation projects.

Why its Important

Climate change is one o the most signifcantchallenges to successul restoration and protectiono the Chesapeake Bay and its watershed. Althoughthere is still some uncertainty surrounding specifcclimate change projections, and impacts at the scaleo the Chesapeake Bay, expected impacts to the Bayand watershed include sea-level rise; increases in watertemperature, acidity and salinity; changing rainall

patterns and increases in rainall intensity; and changesto reshwater ows with corresponding signifcantimpacts to water quality and habitats. Many o theregions major cities and signifcant ecosystems arein low-lying areas that are particularly vulnerable tosea-level rise and storm surge. The impacts o climatechange extend to inrastructure, habitat, fsh andwildlie populations, stream ow, water quality, andvalued Bay landscapes and waters. Climate changethreatens past restoration gains and the eectivenesso uture actions. Adapting to the impacts o climatechange involves maintaining or enhancing theresiliency and reducing the vulnerability o the

Chesapeake Bay and its watershed.

Action Overview

The climate change chapter contains a host oactions to adapt to the rising challenge o the 21stcentury. Led by NOAA and the U.S. GeologicalSurvey (USGS), these actions include conductingcomprehensive research to identiy vulnerablecommunities and habitats throughout the watershedand assessing the risks posed by the impacts oclimate change. This work also involves predictiono changes in pollution loads and monitoring actualclimate impacts in the watershed. These agencieswill develop tools and training to provide states,local communities and resource managers witheective climate adaptation resources. Agencies willensure that vulnerable habitats are protected andpublic inrastructure on ederal lands is planned andimplemented to increase resiliency to climate changeimpacts.

Strengthen Science

Objective: Strengthen science to support ecosystem-based adaptive management, to more effectivelyprioritize, implement, monitor and evaluate the actions and policies needed, and to identify new threats to thehealth of the Chesapeake Bay and its watershed.

Why its Important

Restoration and protection o the ChesapeakeBay watershed requires strengthening science andimplementing ecosystem-based management. This

will require improved monitoring, computer modelsand research to enhance decision making or all thegoals in the strategy. The strategy outlines actionsto strengthen science to promote ecosystem-basedadaptive management which will more eectivelyprioritize, implement, monitor and evaluate the actionsand policies needed and provide early warning aboutnew threats to the health o the Chesapeake Bay and itswatershed.

Action Overview

The science chapter and text throughout the strategychapters outline actions to increase science supportor the Chesapeake Bay restoration eort. USGS and

NOAA are working with ederal, state and academicpartners to expand their scientifc capabilities inconcert with the Chesapeake Bay Program. Newdecision-support tools and an expanded set o modelswill allow or better prioritization and adjustment omanagement activities. USGS and NOAA will lead theestablishment o a Chesapeake Monitoring Allianceand Data Enterprise to improve documentation ochanges in ecosystem conditions and progress towardenvironmental goals.


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Implementation and Accountability

The fnal chapter o the strategy ocuses onimplementation and accountability. This chapteroutlines the role and responsibilities o theFederal Leadership Committee in implementingthe strategy, as well as the ederal governmentscommitment to increase accountability byestablishing milestones every two years or takingaction. The fnal chapter also outlines a series oaccountability tools and processes to promotetransparency in the planning, tracking, reporting,evaluating and adapting o restoration activities.

These tools include:Federal Two-Year Milestones: Federalagencies will join the states in establishingtwo-year milestones with many ederal eortsdesigned to support the states and District inmeeting their current and uture water qualitymilestones. But ederal agencies will alsodevelop appropriate two-year milestones orthe other outcomes outlined in this strategy,beyond those or water quality.

Annual Action Plan: The action plan will

identiy the protection and restorationactivities FLC agencies will undertake inthe ollowing year to carry out the actionsand move toward the goals outlined in thisstrategy.

Annual Progress Report:The annualprogress report will assess the success o theederal agencies eorts in implementingthe actions identifed in the preceding yearsaction plan.

Independent Evaluation:The FLC

will arrange or thorough and ongoingindependent evaluation o the implementationo the strategys protection and restorationactions, including progress towardenvironmental goals.

Adaptive Management:The FLC will adoptan adaptive management process built on the

cycle o: set goals, plan actions, implement,monitor, evaluate and adjust.

Greater transparency and integration oederal, state and local actions will be greatlyenhanced through ChesapeakeStat, a web-basedtool designed to provide perormance data andinormation in a ormat that allows a range oaudiences to understand the work being done inthe Chesapeake watershed. Over time, this toolwill increase accountability by providing greateraccess to data. When combined with science-

based analysis explaining the eectiveness omanagement actions, it will inorm decisions andacilitate adaptive management o eorts. Visitorsto the ChesapeakeStatwebsite will have the abilityto view inormation about specifc restorationactivities, spending and progress toward goals andmilestones.

Source: Jane Thomas/IAN Image Library


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In Conclusion

Restoring and protecting the Chesapeake Bay andits watershed is a signifcant challenge, as the lastseveral decades have shown. The wide spectrum oserious environmental problems, combined withthe sheer size o the Bay and its 64,000-square-mile watershed, magniy the challenge. Successwill depend on an unprecedented level oengagement and collaboration among all levelso government, the private sector, nonproftorganizations and especially the 17 millionresidents o the watershed.

But the increased investment o resources inthe Chesapeake Bay and regional landscape including the thousands o streams, creeksand rivers will yield a priceless return or theenvironment, or local and regional economies,or the cultural and historic heritage, and, mostimportantly, or communities in cities, suburbsand rural areas.

The Executive Order emphasizes the urgency andneed or renewed commitment to restoration.

The pieces or success are in place around thewatershed in the orm o leadership, scienceand public interest. Restoring clean water andprotecting nature throughout the region is aduty to the millions o people who call thisplace home. The generations that come aterus will point to this time as a defning momentor reviving the integrity and splendor o theChesapeake Bay and its watershed.

The Chesapeake Bay Program provides a partnership in whichfederal agencies, states, local governments and citizens worktogether to identify and address the most critical challengesfacing Bay protection and restoration.

Source: NOAA


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EPA-903-S-10-001May 2010

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2010_5_Chesapeake EO Strategy Executive Summary

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