2016 Press Releases

Today, the Chesapeake Bay Program (CBP) announced the completion of the Chesapeake Bay High-resolution Land Cover Project. It is a critical and timely step needed to improve information about the natural and human-made features that exist on the landscape of the Bay watershed, such as buildings, tree canopy and water. CBP will use this dataset in 2017 as the foundation of its effort to evaluate stakeholder progress toward meeting reduction targets for Bay pollution loads.

Today, at the annual meeting of the Chesapeake Executive Council, each member spoke to the unique challenges facing their jurisdictions in regard to the restoration of the Chesapeake Bay. Notably, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania committed an additional $28 million dollars today to enhance federal and state investments in Pennsylvania to accelerate nutrient reductions.

The amount of nutrient and sediment pollution entering the Chesapeake Bay fell significantly between 2014 and 2015, helping improve water quality in the nation’s largest estuary. Experts attribute this drop in pollution loads to dry weather and below-normal river flow, but note local efforts to reduce pollution also played a role. Indeed, related research shows “best management practices”—including upgrading wastewater treatment plants, lowering vehicle and power plant emissions, and reducing runoff from farmland—have lowered nutrients and sediment in local waterways.

Blue crab population numbers increased for a second straight year, but in order to ensure a healthy future for Chesapeake Bay crabs, a report just released encourages resource managers to maintain a “risk-averse” approach to setting regulations, noting that the 2014 report—just two years ago—indicated that the population of adult female crabs was too low.

The Chesapeake Bay Program is pleased to announce that in 2015, our partners opened 22 boat ramps, fishing piers and other sites that grant public access to creeks, streams and rivers in the region. Virginia opened 10 sites along eight waterways; Pennsylvania opened six sites along the Susquehanna River; Maryland opened five sites along three waterways; and the District of Columbia opened one site along the Anacostia River. There are now 1,247 public access sites in the watershed for boating, fishing, swimming and other recreational activities. In celebration of its 100th anniversary, the National Park Service—a Chesapeake Bay Program partner—encourages people to visit parks of all kinds to connect with history and culture and enjoy the natural world.

Between 2014 and 2015, underwater grass abundance in the Chesapeake Bay rose 21 percent, bringing underwater grasses in the nation’s largest estuary to the highest total of the last three decades. Aerial imagery collected between May and November of 2015 revealed a total of 91,621 acres of underwater grasses across the region. While this total is just under half of the 185,000-acre goal to which Chesapeake Bay Program partners committed in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement, it is the highest amount ever recorded by the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) aerial survey and surpasses the partnership’s 2017 restoration target two years ahead of schedule.

Environmental education experts, cabinet-level representatives from state government, and other decision makers gathered in Annapolis on Wednesday to explore how states can assist local education agencies in creating and sustaining high-quality environmental literacy programming as part of their ongoing education reforms and to meet commitments under the 2014 Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement.

Today, the Chesapeake Bay Program announced a drop in estimated nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment pollution entering the Chesapeake Bay. Computer simulations show that pollution controls put in place by watershed jurisdictions between 2009 and 2015 have reduced nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment loads to the Bay by eight percent, 20 percent and seven percent, respectively. During the 2014 to 2015 reporting period alone, it is estimated these controls reduced nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment loads by three, three and four percent. Water quality modeling experts attribute this drop in estimated pollution loads to significant reductions of nitrogen and phosphorus in the wastewater sector, reductions in the atmospheric deposition of nitrogen as a result of the Clean Air Act and the increased implementation of agricultural conservation practices. Improved reporting and enhanced crediting of these practices have also generated a more accurate picture of the pollution entering rivers and streams from this sector.

The Chesapeake Bay Program and its partners are making measured progress toward the goals and outcomes of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement, as experts report positive observations of pollution loads and living resource abundance.