Publications

In 2002, SAV coverage reached a record 89,658 acres - more than twice the level first recorded in 1978. While this increase is impressive, a great deal more needs to be done to reach the Bay Program’s new 185,000-acre baywide restoration goal. To help put SAV restoration efforts into perspective, this backgrounder highlights SAV acreage in 1984 (the sparsest year on record), 2002 (the most abundant year on record) and new segment specific restoration goals adopted by the Bay Program in April 2003.

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Riparian forests are essential interfaces between terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. They intercept surface runoff, subsurface flow and deeper ground water flows for purposes of removing or buffering effects from nutrients, pesticides or other pollutants which could otherwise enter streams and other larger bodies of water.

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Number of Hectares of SAV in 1999 and 2000 and Percent Change for Chesapeake Bay Segments and Zones

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The distribution of submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) in Chesapeake Bay, its tributaries, and the coastal bays of the Delmarva Peninsula, was mapped from 2,033 black and white aerial photographs. These were taken between May and October 2000, at a scale of 1:24,000, encompassing 173 flight lines covering 2,340 miles of shoreline.

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Through the efforts of the USDA Forest Service, Northeastern Area, and its partners in the Forestry Workgroup, a riparian forest initative has brought more focus on the need to better manage riparian areas and to recognize forests along waterways.

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Bay grasses are a unique yardstick for measuring the progress of Chesapeake Bay restoration efforts because they are not under harvest pressure and their health is closely linked to water quality. In recent years both the health and diversity of bay grass communities have been severely threatened, and in 1984 SAV surveys could find only 38,000 acres of grasses throughout the Bay. To help the ailing estuary, the Chesapeake Bay Program partners recently adopted a bold, new goal to restore bay grasses to 185,000 acres in the Chesapeake and its tidal tributaries by 2010.

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Bay scientists believe that underwater bay grasses, also called submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV), once blanketed nearly 200,000 acres in the shallow waters along the shoreline of the Chesapeake Bay. The Chesapeake Bay Program partners recently adopted a bold, new goal to restore bay grasses to 185,000 acres in the Chesapeake and its tidal tributaries by 2010. It is important to restore Bay grasses because they provide essential food and habitat for many Bay species of waterfowl, fish, shellfish and invertebrates; remove suspended sediments from the water; protect shorelines from waves and erosion; and reoxygenate the waters of the Bay. Nutrients, such as nitrogen and phosphorus, as well as sediment in the water have choked the growth of SAV in many areas, and have contributed to declines in grass acreage throughout the Bay.

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Under Governor Kaine’s leadership, the Chesapeake Executive Council adopted in May 2009 a new transparent accountability system – two-year milestones for reducing nitrogen and phosphorus – for Bay restoration efforts by the six Bay watershed states and the District of Columbia.

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Backgrounder: Underwater Bay Grasses in the Chesapeake Bay and Rivers in 2008

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The Chesapeake Bay Small Watershed Grants Program provides grants to organizations working on a local level to protect and improve watersheds in the Chesapeake Bay basin, while building citizen-based resource stewardship. Under the 2004 program, 93 projects from across the Bay watershed have been selected to receive nearly $3 million in funding. Primary support for these projects is provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; additional support for this year’s program has been provided by the USDA Forest Service, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Department of the Interior’s Office of Surface Mining, the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, Altria, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

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