Publications

A number of tools are being used to determine the validity of the goal and the effects the nutrient redduction will have o the Bay's water quality: 1) computer models are being used to guide the reevaluation; 2) research, monitoring and detailed studies of the habitat requirements of the Bay's living resources (plant and animal life) are being conducted; 3) engineering studies of control options for managing point and nonpoint source pollution are underway. This reevaluation has been supported by many Chesapeake Bay Program participants who have worked since the original Baywide Nutrient Reduction Strategy was prepared in 1988. This report was prepared by a reevaluation Workgroup whose members are noted on the next page.

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The distribution and abundance of submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) in the lower Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries were delineated with color aerial photography and surface information. Over 8500 hectares of SAV were identified on 31 topographic quadrangles. To enable computer retrieval of the aerial resource information, all information from the 1978 mapping effort was entered into a data base based on the Universal Transverse Mercator coordinate system. Analysis of the historical distribution of SAV throughout the lower Bay was accomplished by use of aerial photography for six selected areas. Low levels of SAV in 1937 increased significantly until approximately 1971 when a precipitous decline in coverage occurred during the period of 1973-1974. This decline continued until 1978 when the lowest levels iin SAV over the last 40 years were recorded.

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This two-day Chesapeake Information Management System Workshop was structured to facilitate the refinement the of recommendations made in the report, and the creation of new recommendations where needed. The workshop consisted of plenary sessions where participants gave presentations and debated topics in an open forum, and breakout sessions where smaller groups of participants discussed specific topics with the goal of drafting recommendations. Concurrent breakout sessions in the following four topical areas were conducted: 1)User interface for the Chesapeake Information Management; 2)Information Management System functions; 3) Accessing and Sharing data; and 4) Data base design. The conclusions reached and recommendations made during the workshop are presented the Overall Conclusions and Recommendations.

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this report reviews the most current data on the status and trends of forests in the states of the Chesapeake Bay watershed. The report begins with an historical perspective of land use changes in the basin from the time of European settlement to today. It then proceeds with the status of the forests in the Bay watershed in 1996 and trends of forest change from the mid-1970's to early 1990's. This information is examined in light of its importance to the Bay. finally, we present recommendations for an effective forest conservation program for the Chesapeake Bay region.

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The Policy establishes an immediate goal of no net loss with a long-term goal of a "net resource gain". The gain of wetland acreage and function over present day conditions serves as a means of recoering the values of wetlands already lost over years of inadequate protection. These values include not onl traditional habitat values for breedings, spawning, nesting and wintering of living resources but also benefits in water quality, flood protection and the regional economy. The Policy addresses the protection and restoration of both tidal and non-tidal wetlands through several elements, each with attendant policy goals and specific action items.

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In its 2005 Directive, "Meeting the Nutrient and Sediment Goals-Next steps", the first Chesapeake Bay Federal Principals meeting was held on October 7, 2005. At that meeting, high level federal representatives, supported by the Chesapeake Bay Program's Federa Agencies Committee (FAC), confirmed their willingness to join the Network by signing the Resolution to Enhance Federal Cooperative Conservation in the Chesapeake Program. In the Resolution the federal agencagreed to cooperate with the Network to "provide resource managers, local governments, watershed associations and landowners with more effective access to appropriate programs of Federal and State agencies, in order to accelerate the restoration of the Chesapeake Bay and its tidal tributaries."

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The four critical issue forum questions were addressed by the participants as part of the effort to define the extent and magnitude water column contamination in the Chesapeake Bay basin. Two major pointswere made and reiterated throughout the discussion: 1) existing data are insufficient (i.e. spatially, temporally, and geochemically limited) to determine the nature, magnitude, and extent of water column samples is expensive and available resources are limitedhe focus of future monitoring or assessment of Bay basin water column contamination needs to be determined. A present, water column metals data for Bay tidal waters are limited; water column organic for Bay tidal waters are very limited or rare.

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A committee of eight Bay managers and scientists worked with the Citizen Monitoring Coordinator in setting up the pilot program. This technical advisory committee reviewed the project plans and the protocol manual, provided technical guidance to the project coordinator as needed and reviewed and evaluated results for inclusion in interim reports.

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One of the most important reasons to consider market-based policies is to facilitate the development of innovative pollution control strategies. This report explains the different ways in which the price or cost of environment activities can be established. Conventional ways of obtaining improved environmental quality are increasingly costly. The market-based environmental policies reviewed above offer many opportunities to improve the environment and control the costs of compliance.

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In this report, a comparison data set with helix and block results for the same samples was analyzed to estimate the magnitude of the low bias of the helix method compared to the block method. This data set extends the comparison made with freshwater samples by Slayton and Trovato (1979) to estuarine waters fwith lower chlorophyll and nitrogen concentrations. To improve the accuracy of nitrogen estimates in the Chesapeake Bay Program's time-variable computer model, the Modeling Subcommittee requested the equations would be useful in other analyses as well, and have also been requested by the Maryland Department of Environment (Magien pers. comm.). The TKMW and TKNF helix data were adjusted became permanaent on Jaunary 22, 1992, when this report was approved by the Monitoring Subcommittee. The original helix data are still available upon request in the CBP data base.

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