Habitat Goal Implementation Team (GIT 2)
The Habitat Goal Implementation Team works to restore and enhance land and water habitats.
Upcoming Meetings
CANCELED: Wetlands Workgroup Meeting: Tidal - December 2024
Tuesday, December 17, 2024 from 10:00am - 12:00pmCANCELED: Stream Health Workgroup Meeting - December 2024
Friday, December 20, 2024 from 10:00am - 12:00pmHabitat GIT Office Hours - December 2024
Friday, December 20, 2024 from 10:00am - 12:00pmSAV Special Session: Outcome Assessment
Wednesday, January 15, 2025 from 10:00am - 12:00pmWetlands Workgroup Meeting: Tidal & Nontidal - January 2025
Tuesday, January 21, 2025 from 10:00am - 1:00pmBrook Trout Special Session: Outcome Assessment
Wednesday, January 22, 2025 from 10:00am - 12:00pmStream Health Special Session: Outcome Assessment
Friday, January 24, 2025 from 10:00am - 12:00pmStream Health Workgroup Meeting - February 2025
Friday, February 21, 2025 from 10:00am - 12:00pmSAV Workgroup Winter Meeting - February 2025
Wednesday, February 26, 2025 from 12:00pm - 5:00pmScope and Purpose
The Habitat Goal Implementation Team seeks to facilitate the implementation of projects that restore and enhance a network of land and water habitats to support priority species and to afford other public benefits including water quality, recreational uses, and scenic value across the watershed by coordinating the efforts of Chesapeake Bay Program partners. These habitats include tidal and non-tidal wetlands, living shorelines, submerged aquatic vegetation, islands, uplands and forests, and freshwater streams.
Objectives
- PLAN: To advance habitat protection and restoration through integrated planning, targeting of funding and technical assistance, generating and testing hypothesis regarding priority species outcomes, identification of emerging issues likely to impact living resources and their habitats, and brainstorming solutions.
- IMPLEMENT: To provide information and technical assistance needed to accelerate implementation of projects that are strategically placed, innovatively designed or of demonstrated successful design, outcome-oriented, and responsive.
- EVALUATE: To promote and support the collection, synthesis, and trend analysis of monitoring data for Chesapeake Bay living resources to evaluate impacts of habitat management actions.
- COMMUNICATE: To provide a forum for technical information transfer on restoration techniques and consolidation of performance data across various partner agencies and organizations.
- ADAPT: To provide adaptive management recommendations regarding the Bay watershed’s priority habitats to the Chesapeake Bay Program's Management Board. Implementation Strategy
The Habitat GIT and associated workgroups will meet periodically to:
- Align annual work plan with priorities established by the Management Board;
- Collaborate on implementation of on-the-ground habitat activities;
- Track and report performance toward two-year milestones identified in the Chesapeake Action Plan annual progress report;
- Advise Management Board on barriers to progress and recommend policy and administration changes to overcome such barriers.
Projects and Resources
Habitat GIT Strategic Framework
The Habitat GIT Strategic Framework (formerly the Habitat GIT Management Strategy) contains direct and indirect priorities that the HGIT is committed to achieving. This is a living document that is updated and approved by the HGIT workgroup chairs twice a year, and presented to the HGIT membership at the annual Spring and Fall Meetings. The current Strategic Framework can be found below.
Targeted Outreach for Green Infrastructure in Vulnerable Communities
Targeted Outreach for Green Infrastructure (TOGI) was a GIT-funded project between the Habitat GIT and four communities, including Cambridge (MD), Williamsport (PA), and the Upper Mattaponi Tribe and the Mattaponi Indian Tribe (VA). This project involved developing conceptual blueprints that add green infrastructure to communities in order to bring environmental and cultural benefits.
For additional information on this project, please check out the resources below:
- Press Release: Creating green infrastructure with and for vulnerable communities (01/19/2023; LINK)
2022 Restoring the Wetlands of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Workshop
The purpose of this workshop was to bring together key stakeholders to discuss restoration, review barriers, develop strategies and ultimately produce an action plan for accelerating progress towards the Wetlands Outcome identified in the 2014 Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement. The final action plan contains plans from jurisdictions, federal agencies, and non-government organizations, and was presented to the CBP Management Board at the December 2022 Management Board meeting.
The Wetland Workgroup, Habitat Goal Implementation Team (GIT 2), and other CBP working groups will be implementing and prioritizing actions from this plan moving forward. Additional resources will be uploaded here as projects are completed.
Publications
Factors Influencing the Headwaters, Nontidal, Tidal, and Mainstem Fish Habitat Function
Final report from the STAC workshop held April 25-26, 2018 in Richmond, VA. The workshop’s objective was to identify the necessary information and analytical approaches needed to assess the condition and vulnerability of fish habitat in the Watershed.
View details2017 Technical Addendum Ambient Water Quality Criteria for Dissolved Oxygen, Water Clarity and Chla
Published on November 28, 2017A total of seven addendum documents have been published by EPA since April 2003. Four addenda were published documenting detailed refinements to the criteria attainment and assessment procedures (U.S. EPA 2004a, 2007a, 2008, 2010) previously published in the original April 2003 Chesapeake Bay water quality criteria document (U.S. EPA 2003a). One addendum published Chesapeake Bay numerical chlorophyll a criteria (U.S. EPA 2007b). Three addenda addressed detailed issues involving further delineation of tidal water designated uses (U.S. EPA 2004b, 2005, 2010) building from the original October 2003 tidal water designated uses document (U.S. EPA 2003b). Finally, one addendum documented the 92-segment Chesapeake Bay segmentation scheme (U.S. EPA 2008) after refinements to the Chesapeake Bay Program analytical segmentation schemes were documented (U.S. EPA 2005) building from the original U.S. EPA 2004 document (U.S. EPA 2004b). This 2017 addendum is the eight addendum document developed through the Partnership and published by EPA.
View detailsChesapeake Bay Living Resources - 1998
Published on November 1, 1998The Living Resources Subcommittee (LRSc) is committed to the restoration, enhancement, protection and management of the living resources of the Chesapeake Bay. Living resources include fish, shellfish, birds and waterfowl, as well as the submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV), wetlands, and other shoreline and riverine systems important to water quality and fish and wildlife habitats. In cooperation with Bay Program partners, the LRSc supports the restoration of streams, wetlands, Bay grasses (SAV) and aquatic reefs, and the opening of stream blockages for migratory fish passage. The subcommittee also guides the development of Chesapeake Bay-specific fish management plans. LRSc-directed policies and projects have enhanced fish and shellfish populations, helped improve water quality and increased wildlife habitat in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Ongoing biological monitoring and ecosystem modeling programs contribute significantly to the understand of the Chesapeake Bay's living resource and their relationships with each other, as well as the land and water.
View detailsWatershed Agreement
Vital Habitats Goal
Members
Bill Jenkins (Chair), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency - Region 3
Gina Hunt (Chair), Maryland Department of Natural Resources
Chris Guy (Coordinator), Habitat Goal Implementation Team Coordinator, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS)
Hadijah (Dede) Lawal (Staffer), Habitat Goal Implementation Team Staffer, Chesapeake Research Consortium
1750 Forest Drive Suite 130
Annapolis, Maryland 21401
Email: lawal.dede@epa.gov
Phone: (410) 267-5745
Nick Staten (Staffer), Habitat Goal Implementation Team Staffer, Chesapeake Research Consortium
Alan Weaver, Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources
4010 West Broad Street
Richmond, Virginia 23230
Email: alan.weaver@dgif.virginia.gov
Phone: (804) 367-6795
Alicia Berlin, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)
Gwen Brewer, Maryland Department of Natural Resources
580 Taylor Avenue
Annapolis, Maryland 21401
Email: gbrewer@dnr.state.md.us
Phone: (410) 260-8558
David Norris, Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources
3801 John Tyler Memorial Highway
Charles City, Virginia 23030
Email: david.norris@dgif.virginia.gov
Phone: (804) 641-6698
Steve Strano, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)
Dave Davis, Virginia Department of Environmental Quality
629 East Main Street
Richmond, Virginia 23218
Email: dave.davis@deq.virginia.gov
Phone: (804) 698-4105
Angie Sowers, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers - Baltimore District
10 S. Howard Street
Baltimore, Maryland 21203
Email: angela.sowers@usace.army.mil
Phone: (410) 962-7440
Christopher Spaur, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers - Baltimore District
CENAB-PL, Attn: Christopher Spaur, P.O. Box 1715
Baltimore, Maryland 21203-1715
Email: christopher.c.spaur@usace.army.mil
Tom Ihde, Morgan State University Patuxent Environmental & Aquatic Research Laboratory
Callie McMunigal, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS)
400 East Main Street
White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia 24986
Email: callie_mcmunigal@fws.gov
Patrick Devers, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS)
Rebecca Golden, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
Brooke Landry, Maryland Department of Natural Resources
580 Taylor Avenue
Annapolis, Maryland 21401
Email: Brooke.Landry@maryland.gov
Phone: (410) 260-8629
Bruce Vogt, Ecosystem Science Manager, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
200 Harry S. Truman Parkway Suite 460
Annapolis, Maryland 21401
Email: Bruce.Vogt@noaa.gov
Phone: (240) 628-4812
Mitch Hartley, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS)
300 Westgate Center Drive
Hadley, Maine 01035
Email: mitch_hartley@fws.gov
Phone: (413) 253-8779
Genevieve LaRouche, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS)
177 Admiral Cochrane Drive
Annapolis, Maryland 21401
Email: Genevieve_LaRouche@fws.gov
Phone: (410) 573-4573
Matt Whitbeck, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS)
2145 Key Wallace Drive
Cambridge, Maryland 21613
Email: matt_whitbeck@fws.gov
Phone: (410) 228-2692
Mark Hoffman, Chesapeake Bay Commission
60 West Street
Suite 406
Annapolis, Maryland 21401
Email: mhoffman@chesbay.us
Phone: (410) 263-3420
Benjamin Lewis, Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources
Neely Law, Fairfax County (VA)
12000 Government Center Parkway
Suite 449
Fairfax, Virginia 22035
Email: Neely.Law@fairfaxcounty.gov
Phone: (410) 461-8323
Kevin DuBois, U.S. Department of the Navy
1510 Gilbert Street
Bldg N26, Room 3300
Norfolk, Virginia 23511
Email: kevin.dubois@navy.mil
Phone: (757) 341-0424
Pam Mason, Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS)
1375 Greate Road
P.O. Box 1346
Gloucester Point, Virginia 23062
Email: mason@vims.edu
Phone: (804) 684-7158
Clint Morgeson, Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources
David Thorne, West Virginia Division of Natural Resources
Mike Slattery, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS)
US FWS Maryland Fishery Resource Office
178 Admiral Cochrane Dr.
Annapolis, Maryland 21401
Email: michael_slattery@fws.gov
Phone: (410) 573-4571
Katie Brownson, Watershed Specialist, U.S. Forest Service (USFS)
Jeff Trollinger, Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources
Alison Santoro, Maryland Department of Natural Resources
Sara Weglein, Maryland Department of Natural Resources
580 Taylor Avenue C-2
Annapolis, Maryland 21401
Email: sara.weglein@maryland.gov
Phone: (410) 260-8621
Katie Ombalski
Woods and Waters Consulting, LLC
PO Box 719
Boalsburg, Pennsylvania 16827
Email: katie@woodswaters.com
Chris Moore, Chesapeake Bay Foundation
3663 Marlin Bay Drive
Virginia Beach, Virginia 23454
Email: cmoore@cbf.org
Phone: (757) 622-1964
Matt Meyers, Fairfax County (VA)
12000 Government Center Parkway
Suite 449
Fairfax, Virginia 22035
Email: matthew.meyers@fairfaxcounty.gov
Ray Li, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS)
Jim Thompson, Maryland Department of Natural Resources
580 Taylor Avenue
Annapolis, Maryland 21401
Email: jim.thompson@maryland.gov
Phone: (410) 260-8269
Daniel Goetz, Maryland Department of Natural Resources
Tess Danielson, District of Columbia Department of Energy & Environment (DOEE)
Nancy Schumm, City of Gaithersburg (MD)
Rese Cloyd, District of Columbia Department of Energy & Environment (DOEE)
1200 First St. NE,
Fifth Floor
Washington, District of Columbia 20002
Email: rese.cloyd@dc.gov
Phone: (202) 997-9607