Watershed Characterization and Protection

Eighteen USGS coastal scientists from all four coasts of the conterminous United States are working together to advance the understanding of climate change and sea-level rise impacts to coastal wetlands.

As a home to 18 million people and a destination for countless visitors seeking recreational opportunities, the health of the Chesapeake Bay watershed is of critical importance. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is a leading provider of data-driven insights about the condition of the watershed’s lands, waters, fish, and wildlife. These insights and our collaborative work with partners throughout...

USGS is working with federal, state and local partners to develop multiple assessments of stream and river conditions in non-tidal areas of the Chesapeake Bay watershed. These assessments will help managers preserve stream health and improve biological conditions in impaired streams as the human population and climate continue to change in this region.

Issue: The Maryland Healthy Watersheds Assessment (MDHWA) establishes a framework to assess watershed health and vulnerability for Maryland waters and watersheds. The assessment is intended to inform watershed management decision-making to sustain the health of State-identified healthy watersheds, which have been defined in Maryland as the watersheds associated with its designated high-quality...

Issue Informing restoration across the nearly 64,000 square miles of the Chesapeake Bay watershed is an enormous challenge that requires detailed and accessible landscape data. Among the most pressing challenges being addressed by the Chesapeake Bay Program (CBP) partnership are: → Water pollution from agriculture and animal waste, → Conversion of critical habitat like forest and marshes for new...

Issue: The Chesapeake Bay Program (CBP) needs to accelerate progress on multiple outcomes to meet deadlines in the Chesapeake Watershed Agreement. The CBP partnership spends about $1.2B annually on activities toward achieving the Watershed Agreement, with a focus on water-quality improvement. Recent funding increases, including the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, provide additional opportunities to...

Issue: The need for stream mapping The physical shape of streams and floodplains can provide information about how water, sediment, and other matter moves through the landscape. Streams can have deep channels (tall streambanks) disconnected from the floodplain or wide shallow channels that easily spill over the banks into the floodplain during high flows. Mapping where streams fall along this...

Increased acquisition of lidar in the Chesapeake Watershed The Chesapeake Bay Program has a critical need for enhanced land cover and land-use information to better inform restoration and conservation efforts throughout the watershed. An important component of land information is more detailed land elevation data, which are collected using lidar ( light detection and ranging), a remote sensing...