Publications

The Oyster Management Plan includes both a general framework and specific guidance for managing and rebuilding the native oyster stock in Chesapeake Bay. The development of the plan was a multi-partner endeavor by representatives from state and federal agencies, academia, environmental organizations, and the oyster industry. The strategies include evaluating the use of sanctuaries and harvest reserves to obtain optimum ecological and economic benefits; rebounding habitat; increasing hatchery production; breeding disease-resistant oysters; evaluating impediments to aquaculture; managing harvest; improving coordination among the oyster partners; and developing a database to track oyster restoration projects and monitor results.

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The purpose of this guidance document is to clarify the concept of wetland mitigation and to prove a common approach to mitigation that will allow governmental decisions to rely on a sound scientific bases.

The Significance of Ammonia to Coastal and Estuarine Areas is a report on the third Shared Resources workshop on Airsheds & Watersheds. The report covers the potential detrimental effects of ammonia to air quality' the role ammonia plays as a form of nutrient enrichment of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems; the sources, airborne transport and fate of ammonia emissions; and the need to manage ammonia emissions to protect human health and the environment.

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This report summarizes the workshop proceedings which focused on atmospheric nitrogen compounds. Scientists in key policy and regulatory officials explored mechanisms by which air and water pollution control programs worked together to protect coastal ecosystems.

In developing revised water quality standards for the Chesapeake Bay and its Tidal tributaries, states may conduct use attainability analyses. This document provides economic analyses performed by the CBP related controls to meet revised criteria and designated uses that would be adopted during the course of revising water quality standards. These analyses are companion pieces to the technical support document developed by US EPA.

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One of the Tidal monitoring and Analysis Workgroup's primary responsibilities is assessing and reporting the status and trends of nutrients and other parameters monitored within the scope of the Chesapeake Bay Program water quality and biological monitoring programs. Status answers the question are we relative to benchmarks indicating where we should; want or expect to be? Trend, in conjunction with status, answers the questions: Are we improving or getting worse relative to those benchmarks? The objective of this project is to develop benchmarks for Total Phosphorus (TP), Total Nitrogen (TN), Chlorophyll (CHLa) and suspended solids (TSS).

This is a report on vegetative filter strips for agricultural runoff treatment

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As part of the Chesapeake 2000 agreement, Chesapeake Bay Program partners agreed to establish expanded goals for riparian forest buffer mileage in the Bay watershed by 2003. In response to that commitment, the Chesapeake Bay Program Forestry Workgroup has developed the recommendations within this report for acceptance at the 2003 Chesapeake Executive Council Meeting. These recommendations, including a number of goals and related policy actions, are presented collectively as the 2003 Directive for Expanded Riparian Forest Buffer Goals. The proposed goals build on the existing riparian buffer initiative from 1996. This report details these proposed goals, along with the related policy recommendations and the factors that shaped them.

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Part of a bi-state research effort funded by the EPA Chesapeake Bay Program between Maryland and Virginia. This report covers the Virginia project, and evaluates soils and slopes characteristic of the ridge and valley province. The two projects assess the effectiveness of vegetated filter strips in removing pollutants from surface water under different environmental conditions.

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This document is intended to address the inconsistency between parts of the CBP in the sampling and analytical methodology for the determination of particulate concentrations, and offer alternative sampling and analytical procedures to be implemented to eliminate these inconsistencies.

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