Healthy Watersheds Forest Retention Studies (Phases I, II and III)

Description

This forest retention study is a Virginia-led, multi-year, landscape-scale effort begun in 2015. The goal of this project was to research and pilot alternative methods for forest and agricultural land conservation through three separate phases. Phase I modeled and tested alternative land use growth scenarios in a portion of the Rappahannock River Basin as a proxy for the Chesapeake Bay watershed by employing the methodology used by EPA TMDL modelers and using real land use data from the localities in the test area to determine the potential value of a BMP in the TMDL model for retaining forestland. In Phase II, Pennsylvania partnered with Virginia to determine what from the perspective of local leaders were the economic and policy incentives needed to prioritize forestland retention as a land use planning option. Phase III developed and piloted the community policy and financial infrastructure necessary to facilitate high quality forest and agricultural land conservation/retention on a sustainable, landscape-scale basis.