Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee Publications
A Path Forward in Considering Future Environmental Scenarios in Chesapeake Bay Restoration Efforts
Publication date:STAC Workshop Report
The STAC Workshop, "CBP Climate Change Modeling III: Post-2025 decisions," convened May 2024 to refine and expand existing climate modeling efforts for the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem. This workshop, the third in a series over the past eight years, aimed to advance modeling frameworks to better assess climate change impacts, in preparation for the reconsideration of the Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) Planning Targets in 2027
Understanding Genetics for Successful Conservation and Restoration of Resilient Chesapeake Bay Brook Trout Populations
Publication date:STAC Workshop Report
The STAC Workshop, "Understanding Genetics for Successful Conservation and Restoration of Resilient Chesapeake Bay Brook Trout Populations," convened September 2021 to bring together experts in the field of fish and Brook Trout genetics with fishery managers and practitioners to share general knowledge of fish genetics and recent scientific advances. The main objectives were to: 1. communicate the importance of genetic information for Brook Trout management and review key conservation genetics concepts, and 2. explore available genetics datasets and explain how they can be used to support management.
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.
Using Carbon to Achieve Chesapeake Bay (and Watershed) Water Quality Goals and Climate Resiliency: The Science, Gaps, Implementation Activities and Opportunities
Publication date:This report summarizes the proceedings of a workshop to evaluate and translate biochar research for integration into Chesapeake Bay protocols.
Achieving Water Quality Goals in the Chesapeake Bay: A Comprehensive Evaluation of System Response (CESR)
Publication date:This report evaluates why progress toward the Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load and water quality standards has been slower than expected and offers options for how progress can be accelerated.
Evaluating an Improved Systems Approach to Wetland Crediting: Consideration of Wetland Ecosystem Services
Publication date:This report summarizes the proceedings of a workshop to explore the wetland accounting system and provide insight on improved approaches to promote wetland projects.
Using Ecosystem Services to Increase Progress Toward, and Quantify the Benefits of Multiple CBP Outcomes
Publication date:This report summarizes the proceedings of a workshop to shape a framework for identifying impactful and durable ways to embed ecosystem services considerations in decision-making.
Using Local Monitoring Results to Inform the Chesapeake Bay Program’s Watershed Model
Publication date:The workshop, “Using Local Monitoring Results to Inform the Chesapeake Bay Program’s Watershed Model”, was held in March 2023 to provide insight on the scope of local water quality monitoring efforts within and outside of the Bay watershed that could be used to inform the CBWM. Scientists and managers developed recommendations that could be used by modelers for either calibration or knowledge generation to inform the Phase 7 version of the CBWM currently under development for a 2028 decision by the CBP, recommendations for how local monitoring efforts could be designed or altered to better inform the CBWM, and recommendations for how monitored trends could be used in management. The preliminary presentations for the workshop provided essential background information on the CBWM and data used to parameterize it. This information was the foundation for discussions on existing data gaps, the importance of current local monitoring networks, and best practices for developing future monitoring networks.
Best Management Practices to Minimize Impacts of Solar Farms on Landscape Hydrology and Water Quality
Publication date:As solar energy becomes a lower cost and more efficient source of renewable energy, major utility-scale solar panel installations, or solar farms, are being proposed and installed around the Mid-Atlantic region. These solar farms constitute a major land transformation. This transformation is particularly of interest because there can be substantial alteration of land characteristics in the development process, and solar farms also create a unique land cover with impervious surface over pervious surface, generating potential changes in hydrologic and water quality processes. There is currently wide variability in guidance and understanding of best practices relating to the land development and management of solar farms in the Chesapeake Bay region. Thus, a STAC-led workshop gathered speakers and participants from universities, industry, non-governmental organizations, and multiple levels of government across the Chesapeake Bay watershed to address the following questions in April 2023:
Improving Understanding and Coordination of Science Activities for Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed
Publication date:Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have been manufactured and used in a variety of industries in the United States since the 1940s. PFAS are ubiquitous and persistent in the environment and have the potential to have adverse human and ecological health effects. There are more than 12,000 unique compounds, making analysis and reporting difficult. A STAC workshop gathered speakers from Chesapeake Bay jurisdictions, federal agencies, and academic institutions, including representatives from across the Nation, to better understand the state of the science, improve science coordination, and propose approaches to improve our knowledge of PFAS. The workshop was designed to (1) summarize current understanding of sources, occurrence, and fate of PFAS, (2) identify current efforts and approaches to inform the potential effects on fish and wildlife, and their consumption by humans, (3) consider study designs, and comparable sampling and analysis methods, for a more coordinated PFAS science effort, (4) determine and prioritize knowledge gaps, and (5) provide actionable scientific recommendations for monitoring and research.
Rising Watershed and Bay Water Temperatures - Ecological Implications and Management Responses
Publication date:This workshop examined the drivers and effects of rising water temperatures and sought to determine what the Chesapeake Bay Program partnership might do to prevent, mitigate or adapt to adverse consequences.
Overcoming the Hurdle: Addressing Implementation of Agricultural Best Management Practices (BMPs) Through a Social Science Lens
Publication date:The agricultural sector is a key part of the solution for achieving long-term water quality goals established by the Chesapeake Bay Program (CBP) partnership. Current levels of best management practice (BMP) adoption on agricultural lands are not sufficient to meet pollutant reduction goals across the Chesapeake Bay watershed (CBW). In this workshop, agricultural service providers across public and private sectors were invited to propose and discuss ideas on BMP adoption and implementation garnered from their own experiences.
Assessing the Water Quality, Habitat, and Social Benefits of Green Riprap
Publication date:Shoreline alterations in the Chesapeake Bay have led to a loss of native tidal and shallow water habitats throughout the waterways of the Bay. Efforts to reduce the proliferation of shoreline hardening through the use of Living Shorelines and similar restoration practices have slowed the loss of native habitats, but do not address areas that have already been hardened. Green Riprap is a low cost, simple restoration technique to improve the water quality, habitat, and aesthetics of shorelines previously hardened with rock revetments by planting marsh vegetation in the voids between riprap rocks. However, Green Riprap techniques are new to the Chesapeake Bay and before widespread use is encouraged, a synthesis of the science and identification of research gaps are needed. This workshop was developed to provide the foundation to evaluate the state of the science on Green Riprap and its potential for providing enhanced water quality, increased near shore biodiversity, and improved aesthetic functions of previously hardened tidal shorelines.
Incorporating Freshwater Mussels into the Chesapeake Bay Restoration Efforts
Publication date:Freshwater mussels were chosen as a focus for this workshop to consider ecosystem services, document biodiversity, outline intersections with Chesapeake Bay issues and to explore their potential to engage partners. The workshop brought diverse expertise together from across the watershed including mussel biologists, nutrient dynamics experts and water quality managers to provide recommendations which are summarized in this report.
Chesapeake Bay Program Climate Change Modeling 2.0
Publication date:The Chesapeake Bay Program Climate Change Modeling 2.0 workshop was held in late 2018 to give guidance and expert advice on the models and the assessment framework used to assess the effect of climate change on the TMDL. Scientists and managers developed recommendations that could be implemented to support assignment of any additional load reductions in 2021 and made recommendations on longer-term modeling goals for the partnership. Although a full workshop report is only now being published, several recommendations on near-term model revisions have already been implemented and have supported policy decisions made by the CBP Principals Staff Committee. The longer-term model revisions recommended here will be useful in guiding the partnership regarding future projections of climate change impacts on the attainment of the Bay TMDL and water quality standards.
View document [PDF, 932.7 KB] Chesapeake Bay Program Climate Change Modeling 2.0
Linking Soil and Watershed Health to In-Field and Edge-of-Field Water Management
Publication date:Improving soil health has gained traction within the farming community because of its importance to long-term crop production and watershed health. To date, management focuses on in-field crop management practices such as reducing tillage, following 4R nutrient stewardship guidelines, and maximizing vegetative cover throughout the year. Guidelines do not address agricultural water management, despite that soil moisture primarily drives underlying soil health processes. In January 2020, STAC partnered with the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research, West Virginia University’s Institute of Water Security and Science, The Nature Conservancy, and the Transforming Drainage partnership and convened experts to explore the importance of agricultural water management to achieving soil and watershed restoration goals.
Exploring Satellite Image Integration for the Chesapeake Bay SAV Monitoring Program
Publication date:The workshop convened technical and management personnel to consider pathways to achieve the aforementioned goals. Acquiring CSI at no cost is an option under the NextView License agreement between the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) and Maxar (previously DigitalGlobe, Inc). The NextView License was developed by the NGA to accommodate United States Government (USG) agencies, contractors, partners, and other entities that require CSI to support USG interests. The basic premise of the agreement is that any federal agency that requires satellite imagery from contracted commercial sources can request and obtain said imagery at no cost to the local agency. As 2017 updates to the Water Resource Development Act, which amends Section 117 of the Clean Water Act, called for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to carry out an annual SAV survey in Chesapeake Bay. This makes it theoretically feasible for the EPA to now request and obtain the high-resolution CSI necessary for the annual SAV assessment.
Assessing the Environment in Outcome Units (AEIOU): Using Eutrophying Units for Management
Publication date:The Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) sets goals for total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), and total sediment reduction by political jurisdiction and by river basin in order to restore aquatic habitat. However, using total nitrogen and phosphorus rather than specific species of these nutrients, can mask processes that ultimately determine restoration success in terms of supporting fish communities and human safety, among other outcomes. For example, in some areas of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, the proportion of phosphorus entering in a bio-available dissolved form (ortho P) is increasing, despite or even as a side effect of management efforts. A growing body of scientific evidence indicates that the speciation of nutrients influences algal biomass and the extent of hypoxia, which are reflected in water quality standards. Yet nutrient species effects are not factored into targeting TMDL effort nor the crediting system that tracks progress of jurisdictions towards their goals.
Increasing Effectiveness and Reducing the Cost of Nonpoint Source Best Management Practice (BMP) Implementation: Is Targeting the Answer?
Publication date:As the Chesapeake Bay Program (CBP) passes the mid-point assessment, major point source discharges will have achieved (or nearly achieved) their final Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) waste load allocations. Jurisdictions, however, still need to achieve substantial nutrient and sediment reductions from agricultural and urban nonpoint sources (NPS). Based on current understanding and modeling, the CBP estimates that agriculture and urban NPS need to achieve an additional 35 million and 12 million pounds of reductions, 1.3 and 0.6 million pounds of P reductions, and 941 and 594 million pounds of sediment, respectively to meet TMDL goals. State and local governments are poised to spend hundreds of millions of additional dollars to meet these goals, primarily by installing agricultural and urban nonpoint source best management practices (BMPs). Thus, BMP implementation stands at the center of CBP efforts to meet TMDL requirements. Yet, water quality monitoring suggests that the link between BMP implementation and load reductions is tenuous. In a recent STAC review, Keisman et al (2018) state “current research suggests that the estimated effects of conservation practices have not been linked to water quality improvements in most streams.” The Chesapeake Bay Watershed Model estimates substantial reductions in NPS loads, but monitoring data suggests little to no change in these loads between 1992-2012 (Keisman et al, 2018). A critical question is why? Potential explanatory factors include inadequate BMP coverage, poor implementation/maintenance, lag times between implementation and pollutant load reductions, pollutant transport and transformation processes that are incompletely understood, and inability to target BMPs to critical pollutant source areas. The purpose of this workshop was to make recommendations as to how the CBP can develop and integrate mechanisms to target BMPs to areas of the watershed producing disproportionate nutrient and sediment loads.
Integrating Science and Developing Approaches to Inform Management for Contaminants of Concern in Agricultural and Urban Settings
Publication date:A wide range of contaminants of agricultural, human, and industrial origin have degraded water quality, and pose a threat to the health of fish and wildlife populations, in the Chesapeake Bay and its watershed. A May 2019 STAC workshop brought together researchers and water quality managers working in urban and agricultural settings to synthesize the current knowledge on contaminants of concern and discuss opportunities for their reduction.