A group of people on a research vessel examining some underwater grasses.
Marine biologists examine a species of SAV. (Photo by Chesapeake Bay Program)
The Habitat Goal Implementation Team works to restore and enhance land and water habitats—including wetlands, living shorelines, underwater grasses, islands, forests and streams—to support key species and benefit water quality, recreational use and scenic value.

Upcoming Meetings

Scope 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

2017 Technical Addendum Ambient Water Quality Criteria for Dissolved Oxygen, Water Clarity and Chla

A 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.

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Chesapeake Bay Living Resources - 1998

The 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.

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Watershed Agreement

Workgroups and Action Teams

Members

Bill Jenkins (Chair), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency - Region 3
Address:
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Email:  jenkins.bill@epa.gov
Phone:  (215) 814-2911
Gina Hunt (Chair), Maryland Department of Natural Resources
Address:
580 Taylor Ave
Annapolis, Maryland 21401

Email:  gina.hunt@maryland.gov
Chris Guy (Coordinator), Habitat Goal Implementation Team Coordinator, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS)
Address:
1750 Forest Drive Suite 130
Annapolis, Maryland 21401

Email:  chris_guy@fws.gov
Hadijah (Dede) Lawal (Staffer), Habitat Goal Implementation Team Staffer, Chesapeake Research Consortium
Address:
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
Address:
1750 Forest Drive Suite 140
Annapolis, Maryland 21401

Email:  staten.nick@epa.gov
Alan Weaver, Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources
Address:
4010 West Broad Street
Richmond, Virginia 23230

Email:  alan.weaver@dgif.virginia.gov
Phone:  (804) 367-6795
Alicia Berlin, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)
Address:
12100 Beech Forest Road
Laurel, Maryland 20708

Email:  aberlin@usgs.gov
Phone:  (301) 497-5730
Gwen Brewer, Maryland Department of Natural Resources
Address:
580 Taylor Avenue
Annapolis, Maryland 21401

Email:  gbrewer@dnr.state.md.us
Phone:  (410) 260-8558
David Norris, Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources
Address:
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)
Address:
PO Box 269
LaPlata, Maryland 20646

Email:  steve.strano@md.usda.gov
Phone:  (443) 482-2928
Dave Davis, Virginia Department of Environmental Quality
Address:
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
Address:
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
Address:
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
Address:
10545 Mackall Road
Saint Leonard, Maryland 20685

Email:  thomas.ihde@morgan.edu
Callie McMunigal, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS)
Address:
400 East Main Street
White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia 24986

Email:  callie_mcmunigal@fws.gov
Patrick Devers, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS)
Address:
11410 American Holly Drive
Laurel, Maryland 20708

Email:  patrick_devers@fws.gov
Rebecca Golden, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
Address:
580 Taylor Avenue
Annapolis, Maryland 21401

Email:  rebecca.golden@noaa.gov
Brooke Landry, Maryland Department of Natural Resources
Address:
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)
Address:
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)
Address:
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)
Address:
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)
Address:
2145 Key Wallace Drive
Cambridge, Maryland 21613

Email:  matt_whitbeck@fws.gov
Phone:  (410) 228-2692
Mark Hoffman, Chesapeake Bay Commission
Address:
60 West Street
Suite 406
Annapolis, Maryland 21401

Email:  mhoffman@chesbay.us
Phone:  (410) 263-3420
Benjamin Lewis, Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources
Address:
3801 John Tyler Memorial Hwy.
Charles City, Virginia 23030

Email:  ben.lewis@dwr.virginia.gov
Neely Law, Fairfax County (VA)
Address:
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
Address:
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)
Address:
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
Address:
7870 Villa Park Drive
Henrico, Virginia 23228

Email:  clinton.morgeson@dgif.virginia.gov
David Thorne, West Virginia Division of Natural Resources
Address:
738 Ward Road
Elkins, West Virginia 26241

Email:  david.w.thorne@wv.gov
Mike Slattery, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS)
Address:
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)
Address:
1750 Forest Drive Suite 130
Annapolis, Maryland 21401

Email:  Katherine.Brownson@usda.gov
Jeff Trollinger, Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources
Address:
7870 Villa Park Dr #400
Henrico, Virginia 23228

Email:  jeff.trollinger@dgif.virginia.gov
Alison Santoro, Maryland Department of Natural Resources
Address:
580 Taylor Ave.
Annapolis, Maryland 21401

Email:  alisona.santoro@maryland.gov
Sara Weglein, Maryland Department of Natural Resources
Address:
580 Taylor Avenue C-2
Annapolis, Maryland 21401

Email:  sara.weglein@maryland.gov
Phone:  (410) 260-8621
Katie Ombalski
Address:
Woods and Waters Consulting, LLC
PO Box 719
Boalsburg, Pennsylvania 16827

Email:  katie@woodswaters.com
Chris Moore, Chesapeake Bay Foundation
Address:
3663 Marlin Bay Drive
Virginia Beach, Virginia 23454

Email:  cmoore@cbf.org
Phone:  (757) 622-1964
Matt Meyers, Fairfax County (VA)
Address:
12000 Government Center Parkway
Suite 449
Fairfax, Virginia 22035

Email:  matthew.meyers@fairfaxcounty.gov
Ray Li, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS)
Address:


Email:  ray_li@fws.gov
Jim Thompson, Maryland Department of Natural Resources
Address:
580 Taylor Avenue
Annapolis, Maryland 21401

Email:  jim.thompson@maryland.gov
Phone:  (410) 260-8269
Daniel Goetz, Maryland Department of Natural Resources
Address:


Email:  danielb.goetz@maryland.gov
Tess Danielson, District of Columbia Department of Energy & Environment (DOEE)
Address:


Email:  tess.danielson@dc.gov
Nancy Schumm, City of Gaithersburg (MD)
Rese Cloyd, District of Columbia Department of Energy & Environment (DOEE)
Address:
1200 First St. NE,
Fifth Floor
Washington, District of Columbia 20002

Email:  rese.cloyd@dc.gov
Phone:  (202) 997-9607