USGS Chesapeake Accomplishments for 2021

The CBP consists of the Federal Government, six states, and the District of Columbia, to make progress toward achieving the goals in the Chesapeake Watershed Agreement (2014-25). The agreement goals range from sustaining fisheries, improving water quality, recovering habitats, conserving healthy watersheds and vital lands, engaging citizens, and addressing climate resiliency.  USGS Chesapeake studies also collaborates with and informs work in other critical ecosystems across the country.

USGS revised Chesapeake Science Strategy for 2021-25 around four themes:

• Theme 1: Develop an integrated understanding of the factors affecting stream health, fish habitat, and aquatic conditions.

• Theme 2: Assess the risks to coastal habitat and migratory waterbirds.

• Theme 3: Characterize land use to assess the vulnerability and resiliency of habitats and healthy watersheds. 

• Theme 4: Integrate science and inform decision making. 

USGS Chesapeake studies are supported by multiple Mission Areas (Ecosystems, Water, Core Science Systems, and Hazards), collectively providing about $15M in 2021. The integrated, multi-disciplinary projects and monitoring are carried out by scientists in multiple USGS Science Centers.

Selected highlights during 2021 include:

Fish Habitat, Populations, and Health

• Effects of introduced species on native brook trout: a guide to the scientific literature

• New Virus Identified in Melanistic Skin Lesions on Smallmouth Bass from the Chesapeake Bay Watershed

• Land-use influences on estrogenic-endocrine disruption in fish within the Chesapeake Bay watershed

Stream Health

• Altered flow affects the biological health of streams in the Chesapeake Bay watershed

• New Review of Sediment Science Informs Choices of Management Actions in the Chesapeake

Toxic Contaminants 

• USGS Releases First-of-its-Kind Survey of PFAS in Pennsylvania Surface Waters

• Perfluoroalkyl Substances in Plasma of Smallmouth Bass from the Chesapeake Bay Watershed

• Mercury in Freshwater Fish of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed

• USGS Integrates Findings about Endocrine-Disrupting Compounds in the Chesapeake Watershed

• USGS Contributes to Revised Plans for Chesapeake Water-Quality and Toxic Contaminant Goal

Nutrients and Sediment

• Greatest Opportunities for Future Nitrogen Reductions to the Chesapeake Bay Watershed are in Developed and Agricultural Areas

• Summarizing findings to inform nutrient and sediment decisions

• Updated 2020 Nutrient and Sediment Trends for the Nine Major Rivers Entering the Chesapeake Bay

• Atmospheric nitrogen deposition in the Chesapeake Bay watershed: A history of change

• Fact Sheet Summarizes Nutrient Trends and Drivers in the Chesapeake Watershed

• Chesapeake Science Partners Produce Tributary Summaries

• Story map for the Potomac Tributary Summary

Coastal Habitats

• USGS Conducts Assessment to Inform Black Duck Habitat Decisions

• USGS Releases Nationwide Marsh Vulnerability Maps

• USGS Responding to High Water Caused By Ida Across Multiple States

Characterize Land Use and Change

• USGS contributes to Chesapeake Healthy Watersheds Assessment

• USGS helps develop new High-res Land Use Change Viewer

Integrate Science and Engage Partners

• USGS Updates Chesapeake Science Strategy

• Chesapeake Bay Newsletter

• Addressing Administration and USGS Priorities in the Chesapeake

For more information

• The accomplishments for 2021 are based on the Chesapeake-related journal articles and reports produced by USGS and a complete list can be found under Publications.

• More information on the multiple USGS Science Centers where the studies are conducted can be found at https://www.usgs.gov/centers/cba/locations.

Posted December 10, 2021