SAV Workgroup
The SAV Workgroup seeks to protect and restore underwater grasses in the Chesapeake Bay, increasing the habitat and ecosystem benefits of submerged aquatic vegetation, or SAV.
Meetings
SAV Workgroup Summer Meeting - August 2026
SAV Workgroup Fall Meeting - November 2026
SAV Workgroup Spring Meeting - May 2026
SAV Workgroup Winter Meeting - February 2026
Shallow Water Sentinel Site Program Workshop #2
About
The SAV Workgroup serves the broader Chesapeake Bay community by guiding managers on the protection and restoration of SAV. The workgroup carries out its mission by providing technical expertise and applying research findings to issues impacting SAV in the Bay.
Monitoring SAV
The Chesapeake Bay Program uses a three-tiered hierarchical monitoring approach for SAV. To learn more about the effort, visit our SAV Monitoring Program webpage.
Projects
Shallow Water Habitat Sentinel Site Program Development Workshop
In ProgressThe Chesapeake Bay Shallow Water Habitat Sentinel Site Program will monitor climate impacts on the functional value of shallow water habitats in the Chesapeake Bay as well as the effectiveness of management measures taken by the Chesapeake Bay Program partnership beyond 2025.
SAV Mitigation and Monitoring Guidance for the Chesapeake and Atlantic Coastal Bays
CompleteThe January 2025 SAV Mitigation and Monitoring Workshop produced guidance that clarifies expectations for minimizing the impact of near-shore activities on SAV, and ensuring compensatory mitigation is meaningful, consistent across jurisdictions and designed for the greatest chance of ecological success.
Protecting SAV Given Changing Hydrologic Conditions: Priority SAV Area Identification and Solutions Development
CompleteUsing a novel prioritization framework and machine learning models trained on environmental and BMP data, this project explores how BMPs influence the health of underwater grasses, and highlights those practices that are most effective at promoting SAV persistence.
Modeling the Past to Predict the Future: Forecasting the Relative Role of Climate Change and Habitat Management on SAV
CompleteThis project modeled the impact of climate change on underwater grasses in the Chesapeake Bay.
Tributary-specific SAV Fact Sheets
CompleteThis synthesis of multiple long-term datasets determined the influence of human populations on the distribution of submerged aquatic vegetation and whether management actions implemented by the Chesapeake Bay Program partnership have benefited SAV habitat.
Publications
SAV Annual Aerial Survey: Evaluating SAV Satellite Imagery Acquisition and Interpretation in Comparison to Aerial Imagery
Publication date:This study sought to determine whether high-resolution commercial satellite imagery could reliably support the mapping of underwater grasses in the Chesapeake Bay.
Chesapeake Bay SAV: A Third Technical Synthesis
Publication date:The third Chesapeake Bay SAV technical synthesis reviews advancements in our knowledge and understanding of submerged aquatic vegetation, or SAV, ecosystem dynamics as they relate to SAV habitat requirements, but also genetics, the effects of land-use and shoreline alterations on SAV, climate change impacts and ecosystem services and their potential monetary value.
View document [PDF, 2.7 MB] Chesapeake Bay SAV: A Third Technical Synthesis
Chesapeake Bay SAV: A Second Technical Synthesis
Publication date:The second Chesapeake Bay SAV technical synthesis provides an integrated approach for defining and testing the suitability of shallow water habitats in terms of the minimum light requirements for the survival of submerged aquatic vegetation, or SAV.
View document [PDF, 9.8 MB] Chesapeake Bay SAV: A Second Technical Synthesis
Chesapeake Bay SAV Habitat Requirements and Restoration Targets: A Technical Synthesis
Publication date:The first Chesapeake Bay SAV technical synthesis sought to establish the quantitative levels of relevant water quality parameters necessary to support the continued survival, propagation and restoration of submerged aquatic vegetation, or SAV.
Our Watershed Agreement Goals & Outcomes
Thriving Habitat, Fisheries & Wildlife Goal
Our Members
- Brooke Landry (Chair)
Maryland Department of Natural Resources Brooke.Landry@maryland.gov - Erin Shields (Vice Chair)
Chesapeake Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (CBNERR) - Virginia eshields@vims.edu - Chris Guy (Coordinator)
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) chris_guy@fws.gov