Stream Health Indicators Project

Description

This Goal Implementation Team-funded project, Scope of Work 12: Data Review and Development of Multi-Metric Stream Health Indicators, was completed in September 2023. It was a continuation of work developed by the Stream Health Workgroup and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to better understand the drivers and stressors affecting stream health throughout the Chesapeake Bay watershed. This project was awarded to Tetra Tech and is Phase 3A of a larger process to develop additional stream health indicators. Phases 3B and 3C will be completed in the future.

Currently, the Chesapeake Basin-wide Indicator of Biological Integrity (Chessie BIBI) is the sole indicator of stream health utilized by the Stream Health Workgroup. While it is an excellent indicator of the overall biotic community, it does not necessarily reflect BMP-driven improvements in hydraulics, geomorphology and physicochemical qualities. The main outcome of the full Phase 3 plan is the identification of additional non-biological metrics that may complement the Chessie BIBI. These additional metrics will help us better understand the trajectory of stream health (e.g., improving or declining) by expanding the assessment of stream health to include factors beyond the biological stream community.

This project conducted interviews with experts, reviewed data, created a framework, provided a data inventory matrix and makes recommendations that may help develop multi-metric stream health indicators for hydraulics and geomorphology (hydromorphology). The final report incorporates the framework document and associated data sources spreadsheet and recommendations for further indicator development and associated data inventory matrix.