Submerged Aquatic Vegetation (SAV) Workgroup Projects

This guidance, developed as a product of the SAV Workgroup’s January 2025 Mitigation and Monitoring Workshop, provides SAV mitigation and monitoring guidance to improve consistency across Bay jurisdictions and strengthen ecological outcomes—while emphasizing avoidance and minimization of SAV impacts first and foremost.  

The SAV Workgroup is leading a GIT-funded project to develop a Chesapeake Bay Shallow Water Habitat Sentinel Site Program. This program will monitor climate impacts on the functional value of shallow water habitats in Chesapeake Bay as well as the effectiveness of management measures taken by the Chesapeake Bay Program (CBP) partnership beyond 2025. A scoping workshop to develop a Chesapeake Bay Shallow Water Habitat Sentinel Site Program was held September 17th and 18th.

This project, conducted by Tetra Tech, evaluates how best management practices (BMPs) implemented across the Chesapeake Bay watershed influence the health of submerged aquatic vegetation—a vital habitat that supports water quality, stabilizes sediment and provides refuge for fish and invertebrates.

This project modeled the impact of climate change on underwater grasses in the Chesapeake Bay.

This project supported the development of a comprehensive resource for those interested in directly restoring submerged aquatic vegetation in the tidal waters of the Chesapeake Bay.

This 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.

These resources include a regulatory review for submerged aquatic vegetation in the Chesapeake Bay and a database of relevant statutes, regulations and policies.

These social marketing materials promote the stewardship of submerged aquatic vegetation.