Upcoming Meetings

Scope and Purpose

The working farms, forests and natural, historic, and cultural areas around the Chesapeake Bay Watershed are central to creating the Chesapeake’s sense of place. These landscapes connect us to deep traditions and vital economic and ecological values. Conserving them is vital to our quality of life.

The governors of Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, the mayor of the District of Columbia, the Chesapeake Bay Commission and the federal government collectively set the first collaborative, far-reaching goal for protecting land as part of the Chesapeake 2000 Agreement: “Permanently preserve from development 20 percent of the land area in the watershed by 2010.” By 2008, two years ahead of schedule, through leadership from governors and investments by state legislatures, localities, the federal government, landowners and non-governmental organizations, this goal was achieved.

In 2009, President Obama issued a Chesapeake Bay Executive Order tasking federal agencies with efforts to help stimulate further progress, including to “expand public access to waters and open spaces of the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries from Federal lands and conserve landscapes and ecosystems of the Chesapeake Bay watershed.”

The National Park Service convened more than fifty representatives of conservation, historic preservation, and public access agencies and non-governmental organizations to develop recommendations for advancing land conservation and public access. This formed the basis for the goals of protecting an additional two million acres and adding 300 public access sites by 2025--and their complementary implementation actions--set in the Strategy for Protecting and Restoring the Chesapeake Bay Watershed required by the Executive Order and issued in 2010.

The National Park Service and the Chesapeake Conservancy continued to convene the fifty-plus conservation partners regularly to coordinate collaboration on achieving the conservation goals. By 2013, this led to a decision to formalize the group as what is now known as the “Chesapeake Conservation Partnership”. Further, the partners strongly advocated for inclusion of the land conservation (and public access) goals established in 2010 in the new Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement being negotiated and ultimately adopted in 2014. The Agreement reaffirmed and included the identical goals and outcome commitments to conserve an additional two million acres (and add 300 public access sites) by 2015.

Leading members of the Chesapeake Conservation Partnership, already working to advance collaborative progress toward the two million acre and public access goals, also serve as members of the Protected Lands Workgroup under the Fostering Chesapeake Stewardship Goal Implementation Team Team. The Protected Lands Workgroup shepherds and tracks the management strategies and biennial logic and action plans required by the Chesapeake Bay Program for goals and outcomes.

To review the primary documents of the Protected Lands Workgroup, visit https://www.chesapeakebay.net/managementstrategies/strategy/protected_lands.

For more information on the Chesapeake Conservation Partnership's broader land conservation goals, projects, and initiatives visit ChesapeakeConservation.org.

Publications

Members

Anthony Bobo, Jr., Jr. (Chair), Bureau of Land Management
Address:
1849 C St NW # 5665
Washington, DC, District of Columbia 20240

Email:  a1bobo@blm.gov
Aurelia Gracia (Coordinator), Fostering Chesapeake Stewardship Goal Implementation Team Coordinator, National Park Service (NPS)
Address:
1750 Forest Drive
Suite 140
Annapolis, Maryland 21401

Email:  aurelia_gracia@nps.gov
Daniel Koval (Staffer), Stewardship Goal Implementation Team Staffer, Chesapeake Research Consortium
Address:
1750 Forest Drive Suite 140
Annapolis, Maryland 21401

Email:  kovald@chesapeake.org
Wendy O'Sullivan, National Park Service (NPS)
Address:
1750 Forest Drive Suite 130
Annapolis, Maryland 21401

Email:  wendy_o'sullivan@nps.gov
Phone:  (202) 374-9051
Britt Slattery, Fostering Chesapeake Stewardship Goal Implementation Team Coordinator, National Park Service (NPS)
Address:
1750 Forest Drive Suite 130
Annapolis, Maryland 21401

Email:  Britt_Slattery@nps.gov
Mike Bonnell, Chesapeake Conservation Partnership
Address:
716 Giddings Ave Suite 42
Annapolis, Maryland 21401

Email:  staffassistant@chesapeakeconservation.org
Ben Alexandro, Chesapeake Conservation Partnership
Address:
30 West St C
Annapolis, Maryland 21401

Email:  balexandro@mdlcv.org
Sara Coleman, Maryland Department of Natural Resources
Address:
580 Taylor Ave
Annapolis, Maryland 21401

Email:  sara.coleman@maryland.gov
Cheryl Wise, Maryland Department of Natural Resources
Address:
580 Taylor Ave
Annapolis, Maryland 21401

Email:  cheryl.wise@maryland.gov
Ashley Rebert, Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources
Address:
400 Market St
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 17101

Email:  arebert@pa.gov
Kerri Batrowny, Delaware State Parks
Address:
Richardson & Robbins Building, 89 Kings Hwy SW
Dover, Delaware 19901

Email:  kerri.batrowny@delaware.gov
Michelle Campbell, District of Columbia Department of Energy & Environment (DOEE)
Address:
1200 First Street NE
Washington, District of Columbia 20002

Email:  michelle.campbell@dc.gov
Damien Ossi, District of Columbia Department of Energy & Environment (DOEE)
Address:
1200 First St NE
Washington, DC, District of Columbia 20002

Email:  damien.ossi@dc.gov
John Wolf, GIS Team Lead, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)
Address:
1750 Forest Drive Suite 130
Annapolis, Maryland 21401

Email:  jwolf@chesapeakebay.net
Phone:  (410) 267-5739
Becky Gwynn, Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources
Address:
7870 Villa Park Dr #400
Richmond, Virginia 23228

Email:  becky.gwynn@dwr.virginia.gov
John Rowe, West Virginia Division of Forestry
Address:
7 Players Club Dr
Charleston, West Virginia 25311

Email:  John.P.Rowe@wv.gov
Ashton Berdine, West Virginia Land Trust
Address:
1045 Bridge Rd
Charleston, West Virginia 25314

Email:  ashton@wvlandtrust.org
Alexander Silvis, West Virginia Division of Natural Resources
Address:
1910 Sleepy Creek Rd
Hedgesville, West Virginia 25427

Email:  alexander.silvis@wv.gov
Katie Brownson, Watershed Specialist, U.S. Forest Service (USFS)
Address:
1750 Forest Drive Suite 130
Annapolis, Maryland 21401

Email:  Katherine.Brownson@usda.gov
Kevin DuBois, U.S. Department of the Navy
Address:
1510 Gilbert Street
Bldg N26, Room 3300
Norfolk, Virginia 23511

Email:  kevin.dubois@navy.mil
Phone:  (757) 341-0424
Faren Wolter, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS)
Address:


Email:  faren_wolter@fws.gov
Peter Claggett, Research Geographer, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)
Address:
1750 Forest Drive Suite 130
Annapolis, Maryland 21401

Email:  pclagget@chesapeakebay.net
Phone:  (410) 267-5771