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Latest Chesapeake Bay Barometer Tells Cautionary Success Story About Bay Restoration

By Rachel Felver, Chesapeake Bay Program

On April 2, thee Chesapeake Bay Program released its annual science-based snapshot, Bay Barometer: Health and Restoration in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed 2017-18 which continues to report encouraging signs of resilience throughout the ecosystem, but reminds us that we still have a long way to go in meeting our ultimate restoration goals.

The Barometer reports Pennsylvania in particular has fallen short on each of its 2017 pollution reduction targets-- no surprise.

Now, for the first time, this assessment also tracks the impact that a changing climate has on the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

This year’s Bay Barometer tells a story of resilience—the highest water quality score since monitoring began more than 30 years ago and a record-breaking abundance of underwater grasses—but there still remains a lot of work to do.

Falling Short

Where we’re falling short:

-- Stream Health: While thousands of samples have been taken from streams around the watershed, 54 percent of these waterways are not reflected in the indicator for stream health due to insufficient or absent data. Those samples that were included, showed that only 25 percent of our streams are in fair, good or excellent condition.

-- Toxic Contaminants: In 2016, 83 percent of the Chesapeake Bay and its tidal tributaries were found to be partially or fully impaired by toxic contaminants. This percentage has continued to increase since 2010.

-- Wetlands: With a goal of restoring or creating 85,000 acres of wetlands, specifically 83,000 acres of them on agricultural lands, the Bay Program achieved 11 percent of this outcome in 2017, a total of 9,103 acres.

-- Forest Buffers: In 2017, 56 miles of forest buffers were planted along the rivers and streams throughout the Chesapeake Bay watershed. The per-year target for buffers is 900 miles, which marks this as the lowest restoration total of the last 22 years at six percent achieved.

Pennsylvania

Here are some of key indicators reported in the Barometer for Pennsylvania--\

-- Overall: Between 2009 and 2017 have lowered nitrogen loads 11 percent, phosphorus loads 21 percent and sediment loads 10 percent. In Pennsylvania, pollution controls have lowered nitrogen loads five percent, phosphorus loads 16 percent and sediment loads 10 percent. The Commonwealth has fallen short of each of its 2017 pollution reducing targets.

-- Forest Buffers: Between 2010 and 2017, 1,391 miles of forest buffers were planted along rivers and streams in Pennsylvania: during this time a total of 8,500 miles of forest buffers were planted across all watershed jurisdictions.

-- Wetlands: Between 2010 and 2017, 52 acres of wetlands were restored on agricultural lands in Pennsylvania: a total of 9,103 acres of wetlands were restored on agricultural lands across all watershed jurisdictions.

-- Protected Land: Of the more than 1.3 million acres of permanently protected land in the Bay Watershed since 2010, 317,000 acres are in Pennsylvania.

-- Fish Passage: Between 2012 and 2017, 1,236 additional miles were opened across the watershed, marking a 124 percent achievement of our 1,000- mile goal. Of this, 52 percent (648 miles) are in Pennsylvania.

-- Environmental Literacy Planning: In 2017, the Chesapeake Bay Program issued its second survey to measure environmental literacy preparedness in public schools. Of the 132 responding school districts, 29 identified as well-prepared and 76 identified as somewhat prepared to deliver high-quality environmental literacy programming to their students. Sixteen “somewhat prepared” school districts are located in Pennsylvania.

-- Student Meaningful Watershed Educational Experiences: In 2017, the Chesapeake Bay Program issued its second survey to measure the extent of MWEEs in public schools. Of the school districts that responded to this survey, 39 percent reported providing system-wide MWEEs to their elementary school students, 43 percent reported providing system-wide MWEEs to their middle school students and 31 percent reported providing system-wide MWEEs to their high school students. Five Pennsylvania school districts reported providing systemwide MWEEs to their elementary school students, five reported doing so for their middle school students and 10 reported doing so for their high school students. (Pennsylvania is home to 193 school districts in the watershed.)

-- Citizen Stewardship Outcome: In 2017, residents of the Chesapeake Bay region scored a 24 out of 100 on the Citizen Stewardship Index: the first comprehensive survey of stewardship actions and attitudes in the watershed. Residents of Pennsylvania also scored a 24. To score a 100 on the Citizen Stewardship Index, everyone in the region would need to do everything they could in their daily lives to improve water quality and environmental health.

Click Here for a Pennsylvania fact sheet.

Progress On Outcomes

While this is sobering, there is also good news to share about the 31 outcomes in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement. There are areas where we are seeing progress that is exceeding our expectations.

-- Oyster Restoration: Nine tributaries have been selected in Virginia and Maryland for oyster restoration. Of these, eight are in different levels of progress, and two, Harris Creek and the Lafayette River, have reached their restoration target.

-- Fish Passage: Bay Program partners have exceeded the goal to open 1,000 miles of historical fish migration routes. Between 2012 and 2017, 1,236 miles were opened to fish passage, marking a 124 percent achievement of the goal.

-- Underwater Grasses: In 2017, the highest acreage of underwater grasses was noted throughout the Bay since monitoring began over 30 years ago. At 104,843 acres, this marks a 57 percent achievement toward the restoration goal of 185,000 acres and is the first-time total abundance has exceeded 100,000 acres.

-- Protected Lands: Approximately 1,364,000 acres of land throughout the Chesapeake Bay watershed has been permanently protected from development since 2010. The Bay Program committed to protect an additional two million acres of lands throughout the watershed by 2025 and have already achieved 68 percent of the outcome.

Climate Change

Determining the health of the Chesapeake Bay is as complex as the ecosystem itself. Across the watershed, rainfall, temperature and other extreme weather can vary from month to month and year to year.

In 2018, record rainfall fell across the entire watershed and we are only starting to realize these results now. And we now have even more indicators to really help understand how the changing climate can make an impact.

For the first time ever, the Chesapeake Bay Program is tracking how the climate is impacting the watershed.

This year’s Bay Barometer contains three climate monitoring and assessment indicators, and there is more data and information to be found on Chesapeake Progress, the website for tracking progress toward the outcomes of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement.

While this news isn’t the best—decades of data show that air and stream temperatures are growing increasingly warmer and the Bay is rising at a rate of one-eighth to approximately one-sixth of an inch each year—the positive is that we now have this information and are tracking and updating it on a regular basis.

This data will allow Bay Program experts to better understand how these shifting environmental conditions can influence our ability to protect the Bay.

“Chesapeake Bay Program partners are embracing science, pollution prevention and community resilience as the climate impacts of warmer, wetter and wilder weather intensify,” said Ben Grumbles, chair of the Bay Program’s Principals’ Staff Committee. “It’s more important than ever to measure our progress and treasure our assets, with steady stewardship and innovation.”

Click Here to learn more in this year’s Bay Barometer.

Reaction

The Chesapeake Bay Foundation's Beth McGee, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation's Director of Science and Agricultural Policy, issued this statement on the Barometer--

"The resilience we have seen over the last few years is one sign that progress is being made to reduce pollution. The Chesapeake Bay Clean Water Blueprint is working. But the recovery is fragile. With 58 percent of the Bay's waters still designated as impaired, there is still a long way to go.

"The Bay Barometer points out the successes that have been achieved, including improved water quality, but also where the state/federal partnership has fallen short. Forest buffer plantings, one of the most cost-effective practices to improve the quality of water and habitats in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, are far short of the mark. Forest buffer plantings are being hurt even further because USDA's Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (a key funding source for forest buffers) has been closed since September 2018 and is not expected to open until the fall.

"Monitoring environmental health and progress is just one of the many critical roles EPA's Chesapeake Bay Program plays in the historic federal/state cleanup. Now is not the time to gut EPA's Bay Program funding, as the Trump administration has proposed. Only by working together to accelerate efforts will we reach the 2025 goal, especially as climate change is making finishing the job that much harder. And where there are shortfalls, EPA must hold the states accountable."

(Reprinted from the Chesapeake Bay Program Blog.)

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