Chesapeake Bay Riparian Forest Initiative Fact Sheet
Through the efforts of the U.S. Forest Service and its partners in the Forestry Workgroup, a riparian forest initiative has brought more focus on the need to better manage riparian areas and to recognize forests along waterways as a resource important to the Chesapeake Bay.
Authors
- U.S. Forest Service
Description
The restoration of water quality and its living resources are the principal goals of the 1987 Chesapeake Bay Agreement. To achieve these goals, it was agreed to reduce nutrients entering the Chesapeake Bay 40 percent by the year 2000 and sustain this level thereafter. In 1992, efforts were expanded to restore water quality and living resources in the tributaries as well as the Bay through development of river-specific pollution reduction plans. In 1993, commitments to living resources were strengthened by goals for removing fish blockages and restoring hundreds of miles of migratory fish habitat through an ecosystem-based habitat strategy.
Through the efforts of the USDA Forest Service, Northeastern Area, and its partners in the Forestry Workgroup, a riparian forest initiative has brought more focus on the need to better manage riparian areas and to recognize forests along waterways, or "riparian forests," as a resource important to the Chesapeake Bay. Specific actions have been taken to demonstrate the role of riparian forests for habitat in the ecosystem, as buffers for water quality enhancement in agricultural and developing areas, and in the landscape, as components of overall watershed health and resilience.
Category: Fact Sheet