USGS Contributes to New Chesapeake Bay Barometer
Issue: The Chesapeake Bay Program (CBP) released the 2019-2020 Bay Barometer, an annual report on progress made toward the goals and selected outcomes of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement. The Watershed Agreement, which was signed in 2014, has 10 and 31 outcomes, most with a target date of 2025. This year’s Bay Barometer has highlights for all 10 goals and reported progress on 12 outcomes.
USGS Contributions to the Bay Barometer
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and other science providers contribute the long-term monitoring data, analysis, and new science findings for each Bay Barometer. Some of items highlighted in the 2019-2020 Bay Barometer where USGS has played an important role include:
Fisheries: The USGS summarized the existing scientific literature on how two introduced species affect native brook trout, particularly focusing on competition for resources, disease and climate change interactions.
Vital Habitat: The USGS is leading an effort for the Stream Health Workgroup to investigate what stressors impact the health of a stream, which will inform mitigation efforts.
Toxic Contaminants: Studies by the USGS suggest that toxic contaminants are compromising the immune systems of fish, making them more susceptible to disease and other factors degrading their health.
Water Quality: The USGS updated trends from Non-Tidal Monitoring Network data for water years 2009-2018 (October 1 – September 30). Results showed nitrogen pollution to be decreasing at 41% of stations across the watershed, increasing at 40% and the remaining 19% see no trend. For phosphorus, 44% of stations show a decrease, one-third are increasing, and the remainder show no trend. Sediment pollution is decreasing at 20% of stations, whereas it is increasing at 42% and the remainder show no trend.
Healthy Watersheds: The USGS oversaw development of the Chesapeake Healthy Watersheds Assessment, and provided guidance on a web-based tool that summarizes a series of metrics (landscape condition, hydrology, geomorphology, habitat, biological condition and water quality) into an overall watershed health index. These data also consider some vulnerabilities (climate change, wildfire risk, land use change and water use), and when factored together, can help detect signals of change, providing information useful to support strategies to protect and maintain watershed health.
Land Protection: The USGS contributed to the emergence of new technologies and resources to assess land change. An update is currently underway for the Chesapeake Bay High-Resolution Land Cover Project, which provides one-by-one-meter resolution land cover data for the entire watershed. Additionally, the recently-launched Chesapeake Data Dashboard contains a module on Land Policy and Conservation that provides information on how to assess the potential for growth and development, explore management options related to smart growth and land conservation practices, identify geographic areas that have the potential to implement smart growth or conservation measures and how to target or prioritize areas for management actions based on the likelihood of growth and potential for conservation.
Climate Resiliency: USGS contributed to development of five indicators to track the impact of changing climatic conditions on the physical environment.
Selected Findings from the Bay Barometer
The progress for selected outcomes in the 2019-2020 Bay Barometer, according to the Chesapeake Bay Program, include the following:
Outcomes with improvements from previous assessment period
Blue Crab Management: An estimated 17% of female blue crabs were harvested in 2019. For the 12th consecutive year, this number is below the 25.5% target and 34% overfishing threshold. The blue crab stock in the Bay is not being depleted or overfished.
Oysters: Ten tributaries have been selected for large-scale oyster restoration and are in various stages of progress. As of 2019, Maryland has completed 788, and Virginia 539 acres of oyster reefs.
Protected Lands: Data collected between 2016 and 2018 show that nearly 1.36 million acres of land in the Chesapeake Bay watershed have been permanently protected since 2010. This marks an achievement of 68% of the outcome and brings the total amount of land protected in the watershed to 9.16 million acres.
Outcomes with decreases from previous assessment period
Blue Crab Abundance: Between 2019 and 2020, the abundance of adult (age 1+) female blue crabs in the Chesapeake Bay decreased 26% from 191 million to 141 million. Despite the decrease, this number remains above the 70 million threshold which is considered a sustainable level for female blue crabs in the Bay.
Forest Buffers: Between 2018 and 2019, 83 miles of buffers were planted, falling short of the annual target by 817 miles. Overall, 9,190 miles of buffers have been planted across the watershed since 2010.
Underwater Grasses: In 2019, 66,684 acres of underwater grasses were mapped in the Bay; achieving 52% of the target of 185,000 acres. This is a 38% decrease from 2018 when it was estimated that the Bay may have supported up to 108,078 acres of underwater grasses.
2025 Watershed Implementation Plans: As of 2019, conservation practices to reduce pollution are in place to achieve 39% of nitrogen reductions, 49% of phosphorus reductions and 100% of sediment reductions needed to attain applicable water quality standards when compared to the 2009 baseline established in the Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load.
Water Quality Standards Monitoring and Attainment: Thirty-eight percent of the Bay and its tidal tributaries met water quality standards during the 2016-2018 assessment period. This is a 4% decrease from the previous assessment period of 2015-2017.
For more information:
View the 2019-2020 Bay Barometer.
For more information on the Bay Barometer, contact Rachel Felver, Communications Director for the CBP, rfelver@chesapeakebay.net
A CBP press release is available: 2019-2020 Bay Barometer shows an ecosystem in mixed recovery
Posted on April 9, 2021
Issue: The Chesapeake Bay Program (CBP) released the 2019-2020 Bay Barometer, an annual report on progress made toward the goals and selected outcomes of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement. The Watershed Agreement, which was signed in 2014, has 10 and 31 outcomes, most with a target date of 2025. This year’s Bay Barometer has highlights for all 10 goals and reported progress on 12 outcomes.
USGS Contributions to the Bay Barometer
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and other science providers contribute the long-term monitoring data, analysis, and new science findings for each Bay Barometer. Some of items highlighted in the 2019-2020 Bay Barometer where USGS has played an important role include:
Fisheries: The USGS summarized the existing scientific literature on how two introduced species affect native brook trout, particularly focusing on competition for resources, disease and climate change interactions.
Vital Habitat: The USGS is leading an effort for the Stream Health Workgroup to investigate what stressors impact the health of a stream, which will inform mitigation efforts.
Toxic Contaminants: Studies by the USGS suggest that toxic contaminants are compromising the immune systems of fish, making them more susceptible to disease and other factors degrading their health.
Water Quality: The USGS updated trends from Non-Tidal Monitoring Network data for water years 2009-2018 (October 1 – September 30). Results showed nitrogen pollution to be decreasing at 41% of stations across the watershed, increasing at 40% and the remaining 19% see no trend. For phosphorus, 44% of stations show a decrease, one-third are increasing, and the remainder show no trend. Sediment pollution is decreasing at 20% of stations, whereas it is increasing at 42% and the remainder show no trend.
Healthy Watersheds: The USGS oversaw development of the Chesapeake Healthy Watersheds Assessment, and provided guidance on a web-based tool that summarizes a series of metrics (landscape condition, hydrology, geomorphology, habitat, biological condition and water quality) into an overall watershed health index. These data also consider some vulnerabilities (climate change, wildfire risk, land use change and water use), and when factored together, can help detect signals of change, providing information useful to support strategies to protect and maintain watershed health.
Land Protection: The USGS contributed to the emergence of new technologies and resources to assess land change. An update is currently underway for the Chesapeake Bay High-Resolution Land Cover Project, which provides one-by-one-meter resolution land cover data for the entire watershed. Additionally, the recently-launched Chesapeake Data Dashboard contains a module on Land Policy and Conservation that provides information on how to assess the potential for growth and development, explore management options related to smart growth and land conservation practices, identify geographic areas that have the potential to implement smart growth or conservation measures and how to target or prioritize areas for management actions based on the likelihood of growth and potential for conservation.
Climate Resiliency: USGS contributed to development of five indicators to track the impact of changing climatic conditions on the physical environment.
Selected Findings from the Bay Barometer
The progress for selected outcomes in the 2019-2020 Bay Barometer, according to the Chesapeake Bay Program, include the following:
Outcomes with improvements from previous assessment period
Blue Crab Management: An estimated 17% of female blue crabs were harvested in 2019. For the 12th consecutive year, this number is below the 25.5% target and 34% overfishing threshold. The blue crab stock in the Bay is not being depleted or overfished.
Oysters: Ten tributaries have been selected for large-scale oyster restoration and are in various stages of progress. As of 2019, Maryland has completed 788, and Virginia 539 acres of oyster reefs.
Protected Lands: Data collected between 2016 and 2018 show that nearly 1.36 million acres of land in the Chesapeake Bay watershed have been permanently protected since 2010. This marks an achievement of 68% of the outcome and brings the total amount of land protected in the watershed to 9.16 million acres.
Outcomes with decreases from previous assessment period
Blue Crab Abundance: Between 2019 and 2020, the abundance of adult (age 1+) female blue crabs in the Chesapeake Bay decreased 26% from 191 million to 141 million. Despite the decrease, this number remains above the 70 million threshold which is considered a sustainable level for female blue crabs in the Bay.
Forest Buffers: Between 2018 and 2019, 83 miles of buffers were planted, falling short of the annual target by 817 miles. Overall, 9,190 miles of buffers have been planted across the watershed since 2010.
Underwater Grasses: In 2019, 66,684 acres of underwater grasses were mapped in the Bay; achieving 52% of the target of 185,000 acres. This is a 38% decrease from 2018 when it was estimated that the Bay may have supported up to 108,078 acres of underwater grasses.
2025 Watershed Implementation Plans: As of 2019, conservation practices to reduce pollution are in place to achieve 39% of nitrogen reductions, 49% of phosphorus reductions and 100% of sediment reductions needed to attain applicable water quality standards when compared to the 2009 baseline established in the Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load.
Water Quality Standards Monitoring and Attainment: Thirty-eight percent of the Bay and its tidal tributaries met water quality standards during the 2016-2018 assessment period. This is a 4% decrease from the previous assessment period of 2015-2017.
For more information:
View the 2019-2020 Bay Barometer.
For more information on the Bay Barometer, contact Rachel Felver, Communications Director for the CBP, rfelver@chesapeakebay.net
A CBP press release is available: 2019-2020 Bay Barometer shows an ecosystem in mixed recovery
Posted on April 9, 2021