Stream Health Workgroup

The Stream Health Workgroup seeks to improve and protect stream health and function, using the best available science to inform land management, planning and conservation.

Meetings

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About

The Stream Health Workgroup aims to affect overall positive change on streams in the Chesapeake Bay watershed by determining the biological health of the region's streams, coordinating expert input on restoration techniques, providing a venue for sharing scientific findings and tracking progress toward the Stream Health Outcome. The workgroup has also researched how stream restoration practices and pollution-reducing best management practices (BMPs) can best maximize biological uplift.

What Makes a Stream Healthy?

Stream health is defined by a stream's biological health as measured by the Chesapeake Benthic Index of Biotic Integrity, or Chessie BIBI. The Chessie BIBI is a measure of benthic invertebrates in streams, which serve as the base of the food chain and determine the likelihood a stream can support higher-level wildlife such as fish, waterbirds and amphibians.

Explore the most recent Chessie BIBI data release from our partner, the Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin.

Limitations of the Chessie BIBI

While the Chessie BIBI is an excellent indicator of a stream's biotic community, it does not necessarily capture local improvements in hydraulics, geomorphology or physicochemical qualities, which drive ecological uplift of stream restoration projects and other watershed BMPs. In addition, the Chessie BIBI is derived from data collected over six-year increments, which means it can take a long time for the impacts of management interventions to be visible in the data. And the Chessie BIBI alone cannot identify the cause of stream biotic communities impairments that may be addressed with targeted management actions.

Due to these limitations, the Stream Health Workgroup is exploring including other non-biological metrics and their data availability throughout the watershed to complement the Chessie BIBI.

Projects

Non-Biotic Stream Health Indicators

In Progress

The Stream Health Workgroup is exploring additional stream corridor metrics to allow analysis at a whole watershed-scale, a more rapid reporting timeframe and the ability to attribute causes of biological impairment to inform management interventions.

Publications

The State of the Science and Practice of Stream Restoration in the Chesapeake: Lessons Learned to Inform Better Implementation, Assessment, and Outcomes

Publication date:

This report summarizes the proceedings of a workshop that reviewed and distilled lessons learned from past stream corridor restoration projects to improve future restoration outcomes.

View document [PDF, 2.6 MB] The State of the Science and Practice of Stream Restoration in the Chesapeake: Lessons Learned to Inform Better Implementation, Assessment, and Outcomes

Our Watershed Agreement Goals & Outcomes

Thriving Habitat, Fisheries & Wildlife Goal

Our Members