Chesapeake Executive Council Publications

Agriculture is a significant source of nutrients entering the Chesapeake Bay, with animal manure and poultry litter contributing about half of the agricultural nutrient load. As animal operations become more concentrated and the acreage of cropland available for manure application is lost to development, the challenge of manure management will only intensify.

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This Directive addresses next steps, each of which will advance Tributary Strategy implementation, and identifies measures to implement several Panel recommendations upon which action can be taken quickly.

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This directive outlines environmental education commitments by the Bay Program, departments of education and interagency education groups in each jurisdiction. These groups will report annually to the Department of Education, and private environmental organization in the Bay region, which also offer nationally-recognized training programs and curriculum. The education initiative also determines convening an Education Summit of the four interagency education groups in 1999 and every two years thereafter.

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The Chesapeake Bay jurisdictions and the Chesapeake Bay commission, respectfully convey this policy agreement to our colleagues in the states and U.S. Congress to stress the critical importance of enhancing support for agricultural conservation.

This resolution urges the Secretary of Agriculture to make the Chesapeake Bay Watershed a priority objective by heightening coordination efforts with other Federal departments and agencies in order to leverage resources available from Federal programs, such as the Farm Bill, the private sector and the States and that they will utilize, where appropriate, the experience of the Chesapeake Bay Program as Farm Bill rules are developed for programs included in Title 2: Conservation; Title 7: Research; Title 8: Forestry; and Title 9: Energy.

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By this agreement, the Executive Committee members commit themselves to continually work to ensure that students have been exposed to concepts in environmental literacy and have examined strategies to foster their restoration and protection.

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An adoption statement signed by the Executive Council to continue the 2004 Oyster Management Plan. The 2004 Oyster Management Plan provides both a general framework and specific guidance for rebuilding and managing the native oyster, Crassostrea virginica, in the Chesapeake Bay.

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Agriculture is a primary economic sector in the region containing 3.2 percent of the nation's farm acreage, yet producing 5.7 percent of the nation's agricultural receipts and contributing 13 percent of region's Gross Domestic Product. Farmers in the watershed have been leaders in the voluntary restoration effort and a national model for cooperation. The next Farm Bill may provide unprecedented opportunity to provide support for many Chesapeake Bay agricultural program. A clear voice from the agriculture community is needed in order to help direct and propel the Chesapeake Bay partnership in a direction that enhances clean up and provides for increased farm viability.

The Chesapeake Bay is dependent upon the actions of every citizen in the watershed, both today and in the future. The Bay's future will soon rest in the hands of its youngest citizens. Our students, future Bay leaders, should be armed with the knowledge and skills need to make informed choices, have a sense of history and excitement about the nation's largest estuary and an understanding of how their individual actions affect this national treasure.

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In 2006, the Chesapeake Executive Council recognized that retaining, expanding, and sustainably managing forest lands is essential to restoring a healthy Chesapeake Bay by signing Directive 06-01. This implementation document responds to Directive 06-1 by identifying specific actions we will take to conserve and restore forests in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

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