Publications

This report documents the methods used to refine and update land use data for the new Chesapeake Bay Watershed Model. The origin of this work goes back to January 1983 when Northern Virginia Planning District C, Annadale, Virginia, issued a report documenting its work in developing a basin model for the Chesapeake Bay Program. The proprietory nature of the NVPDC model and the fact that its operation reuired an IBM mainframe system led the Chesapeake Bay Program Modeling Subcommittee to recommend trasfer of the Basin Model to the DEC VAX computer at the Chesapeake Bay Liaison Office (CBLO).

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The Chesapeake Bay Program findings clearly indicated that the Bay is an ecosystem in decline. The Bay's ecosystem is complex and difficult to understand, but some of the links between problems and their causes became clear in the course of the EPA study. Polluting activitiesoccuring throughout the drainage basin affect water quality in the tributary streams and the Bay. Degradation of the Bay's water and sediment quality which include inceases in nutrient concentrations. Decline i living resources are paralleled by changes in water quality which include increases in nutrient concentrations, chlorophylla, turbidity, and toxic chemicals and decreases in dissolved oxygen.

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To reverse the precipitous decline in the Bay's resources, in 1983 the Governors of Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, along with the Nayor of the District of Columbia and the Chair of the Chesapeake Bay Commission signed the Chesapeake Bay Agreement with the Administrator of the environmental Protection Agency. The signatories, known collectively as the Chesapeake Bay Executive Council, pledged to unite resources to address problems with toxics, nonpoint source pollution, and decline of SAV. This report covers their findings.

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The Chesapeake Bay Red Drum Management Plan was developed under the direction of the Fisheries Management Workgroup. Staff from the Virginia Marine Resources Commission (VMRC), Plans and Statistics Department, Fisheries Management Division were responsible for writing the plan and addressing comments on the draft versions. Support was provided by staff from Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR), Tidewater Administration, Fisheries Division. Finally we express gratitude to members of the various Chesapeake Bay Committees and Workgroups and to the public who commented on the plan.

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This report describes the current programs to ameliorate nonpoint sources of pollution to the Bay that have been developmed by the four jurisdictions in cooperation with other agencies; the achievements to date in terms of pollutant removal; and recommendations for future directions of the Bay Program over the next several years. Since the signing of the Agreement, substantial progress by the four Federal agencies to strengthen the existing NPS programs and establish new programs that deliver educational, technical, and finanacial assistance

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This report describes the current programs to ameliorate nonpoint sources of pollution to the Bay that have been developed by the four jurisdictions in cooperation with other agencies; the achievements to date in terms of pollutant removal; and recommendations for future directions of the Bay program over the next several years. Since the signing of the Agreement, substantial progress by the four Federal agenices to strengthen the existing NPS programs and establish new programs that deliver educational, technical, and financial assistance.

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This Workplan is a living ocument and, therefore, will be updated every two years to highlight Federal restoration achievements and, more importantly, to facilitate strategic planning to meet to meet watershed restoration needs. Along with many other related Anacostia initiatives, this workplan will facilitate increased communication and coordinated action between federal agencies to help achieve the restoration of the Anacostia River Watershed.

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This Workplan is a living document and, therefore, will be updated every two years to highlight Federal restoration achievements and, more importantly, to facilitate strategic planning to meet watershed restoration needs. Along with many other related Anacostia initiatives, this workplan will facilitate increased communication and coordinated action between Federal agencies to help achieve the restoration of the Anacostia River Watershed.

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When this oroject was conceived, there was no a priori plan of how to analyze the historical data to identify parameter concentrations that might qualify as benchmark levels. The historical water quality data at the CBP is a heterogeneous assemblage from diverse sources, times and places. They are not integrated with living resources data, and there is no reliable way to associate "good" or "healthy" levels of water quality parameters with known healthy biological communities. Ultimately, the authro adapted a method for calculating relative status developed as an assessment tool for the current monitoring daa to assist in the process.

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This document is a research synthesis requested by the Forestry Work Group of the Nutrient Subcommittee of the Chesapeake Bay Program. In developing the outline for the report, the authors agreed to specifically focus on the existing Riparian Forest Buffer System (RFBS) specification develiped by USDA and being used as a starting point for federal, state, and local RFBS specifications. Although the report contains a general review of riparian forest and grass vegetated filter strip literature, the goal was to use this literature to help determine the appli8cability of the forest buffer system recommended by USDA.

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