MARYLAND-- The Chesapeake Bay Program has released its annual update on the environmental health and restoration of the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Known as the Bay Barometer, this report offers a science-based snapshot of the latest data concerning the goals and outcomes outlined in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement.
The Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement, signed in 2014, established ten goals and thirty-one outcomes to guide the restoration efforts for the Bay, its tributaries, and the surrounding lands. The Chesapeake Bay Program collaborates with a network of partners to collect and verify data to assess progress towards each outcome. These outcomes are periodically updated as new information becomes available, with updates occurring annually, biennially, or every 3-5 years.
In 2022, the Chesapeake Executive Council conducted an assessment of the 31 outcomes to determine if they were on track or off track in meeting their goals. The assessment revealed that 18 outcomes were on course, 11 were off course, and two remained uncertain pending upcoming data updates. Detailed information about each of these outcomes, including their successes, challenges, and requirements to achieve their targets, can be found in the report titled "Charting a Course to 2025: A Report and Recommendations for the Chesapeake Executive Council on How to Best Address and Integrate New Science and Restoration Strategies Leading Up to 2025."
Martha Shimkin, the director of the Chesapeake Bay Program with the Environmental Protection Agency, remarked, "In December, the Chesapeake Bay Program celebrated 40 years of accomplishments resulting from our many partners working together. Our annual Bay Barometer highlights the progress we continue to make as a collaborative partnership. As the new Director for the Chesapeake Bay Program, I'm privileged to lead during this exciting time as we reflect on our successes and challenges and plan for the next chapter in Bay and watershed restoration."
Here are some highlights from the outcomes that are currently on course to meet their restoration targets:
1. Blue Crab Abundance: The abundance of female blue crabs in the Chesapeake increased by 12%, from 97 million in 2022 to 152 million in 2023, surpassing the minimum sustainable level of 72.5 million.
2. Oysters: Large-scale oyster reef restoration is on track to be completed in 11 tributaries by 2025, with eight sites already completed and 1,389 acres of oyster reefs constructed by the end of 2022.
3. Protected Lands: By the end of 2022, 1.64 million acres of land had been permanently protected from development, achieving 82% of the goal to protect an additional two million acres of land in the watershed by 2025. The total protected land in the watershed now stands at 9.1 million acres.
4. Public Access: In 2022, 11 new public access sites were added, meeting 83% of the goal to add 300 new public access sites by 2025. This brings the total number of public access sites in the watershed to 1,379.
5. Stream Health: Between 2012 and 2017, 67.8% of stream miles in the watershed were considered healthy, marking a 6% increase since the previous assessment period.
Andrew Button, deputy chief for the shellfish management division with the Virginia Marine Resources Commission, expressed excitement about the condition of oyster resources, stating, "There is a lot of excitement around the condition of the oyster resources in the Chesapeake Bay these days. Virginia and Maryland are already looking beyond the 2025 oyster restoration goals, wild and aquaculture oyster harvest is at or near a 35-year high, and in Virginia, the oyster populations in almost all areas continue to increase. This points to a resource that is continuing to head in the right direction."
While some outcomes are currently considered off course in meeting their restoration targets, they have shown promising increases over the past year:
1. Forest Buffers: Partners planted 230.5 miles of forest buffers in 2021, the highest per year since 2016.
2. Submerged Aquatic Vegetation (SAV): Acres of underwater grasses in the Bay and its surrounding tributaries increased by 12% from 2021 to 2022, marking the second year of growth since acreage fell dramatically in 2019.
3. Wetlands: Between 2014-2022, 4,310 acres of wetlands were created or restored across the Chesapeake Bay watershed, and an additional 60,666 acres of wetlands were enhanced. This progress meets 5.1% of the goal to create or restore 85,000 acres of wetlands and 40.4% of the goal to enhance 150,000 acres of wetlands by 2025.
Cindy Dunn, secretary of Pennsylvania's Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, highlighted the steady increase in streamside tree planting, stating, "As we've recommitted to planting streamside trees across Pennsylvania and the watershed with technical assistance and funding, our buffer numbers have been steadily increasing over the past several years. It's a reflection of a growing acceptance among landowners of this proven practice, and the work of many partners on the ground to increase capacity to get buffers planted and maintained that positions us for continued progress. Restoring trees along waterways and in communities helps in so many ways."
The outcomes updated in 2023 provide valuable data and information to help protect the waters and lands in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. The Chesapeake Bay Program's Very High-Resolution Land Use/Land Cover and Change Data were used to update the Land Use Methods and Metrics Outcome, providing data on impervious surfaces throughout the watershed. This data also informed the Tree Canopy Outcome, which tracks the net gain and loss of tree canopy across the watershed. Additionally, the Climate Monitoring and Assessment Outcome offers a regional overview of changes in annual precipitation and air temperature due to climate change.
The Chesapeake Bay Program makes this data and information freely available, benefiting other organizations such as the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Sciences, which use it for their own report cards. As outcome updates become available throughout the year, they can be found on ChesapeakeProgress.com, allowing stakeholders to stay informed about the progress of Chesapeake Bay restoration efforts.