Best Management Practices (BMP) Verification Committee

Upcoming Meetings

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Scope and Purpose

The Best Management Practices (BMP) Verification Committee is charged with responsibility for developing all the elements of a basinwide BMP verification framework— BMP verification principles, protocols, review panel, and other verification related procedures (e.g., eliminating double counting, clean up of historical databases)—working in tandem with the Chesapeake Bay Program Partnership's pollutant source sector and habitat restoration workgroups.
The BMP Verification Framework includes:

  • Verification principles – Partnership agreement on principles to guide the jurisdictions’ development and implementation of BMP verification programs
  • Source sector- and habit-specific verification protocols – Developed through the Water Quality Goal Implementation Team's source sector workgroups — Agriculture, Forestry, Stormwater, and Wastewater — and Vital Habitat GIT’s habitat workgroups — Wetlands and Streams — and approved by the Partnership
  • Verification review panel – Regional and national verification experts charged by the Partnership to review/make recommendations on the seven jurisdictions’ proposed verification programs

Goals and Priorities

Priority work tasks include the following:

  • Review, comment on, and modify a working draft approach to preventing double counting BMPs developed by USGS working with the six states and NRCS.
  • Review, comment on, and modify a working draft approach to cleaning up historical BMP databases developed by EPA Chesapeake Bay Program Office staff.
  • Synthesize the various source sector workgroups and accounting workgroups/teams recommended verification protocols, feedback on the principles, etc. into an initial BMP verification framework for presentation to the WQGIT and then the other GITs for feedback and direction.
  • Take the individual and collective feedback from the six GITs and the three advisory committees and revise the BMP verification framework prior to presentation to the Management Board.
  • Take the feedback from the Management Board and work with the appropriate workgroups and GITs to address the concerns and specific direction from the Management Board.
  • Let the Management Board know when all the components of the partnership’s overall BMP verification framework are ready for presentation to the Principals’ Staff Committee for review and adoption.

BMP Verification Program Plan Documentation

Please visit the following webpage for access to the jurisdictions' draft BMP Verification Program Plans, initial feedback reports on the draft Verification Program Plans submitted on June 30, 2015, as well as other useful resources related to the BMP Verification effort.

www.chesapeakebay.net/about/programs/bmp/additional_resources

Projects and Resources

Basinwide BMP Verification Framework Document

Revised final draft of the Chespeake Bay Basinwide BMP Verification Framwork document, updated in August 2014 for review by the Management Board. Supporting documentation provided as Appendices A-U.

Integrating Federal and State data records to report progress

Integrating Federal and State data records to report progress in establishing agricultural conservation practices on Chesapeake Bay farms. The final published report and appendices are available online via USGS: http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2013/1287/

Citation:

Hively, W.D., Devereux, O.H., and Claggett, Peter, 2013, Integrating Federal and State data records to report progress in establishing agricultural conservation practices on Chesapeake Bay farms: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2013–1287, 36 p., http://dx.doi.org/10.3133/ofr20131287.

Existing State and USGS 1619 Data Sharing Agreements

Maryland, New York, Virginia and West Virginia as well as the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) currently have signed 1619 data sharing agreements with U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and Farm Services Agency (FSA). As part of the collaborative work on larger BMP Verification Framework, the jurisdictional partners are working closely with NRCS and FSA to ensure all six states have consistent, comprehensive data sharing agreements in place. The objective is to ensure each jurisdiction has equal and full access to all federally cost shared data needed to fully credit producers for their implementation conservation practices. These agreements ensure that full access to data while maintaining the business confidentiality of the individual producers information and data. The USGS’s 1619 data sharing agreements with NRCS and FSA were put into place to assist the six states in: getting full access to the federal cost shared data; enhancing their existing tracking and reporting systems; and developing and fully implementing procedures to eliminate any double counting of individual practices funded by two (or more) state/federal cost share programs.

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Publications

BMP Verification Principles

Published on December 6, 2012

Developed by the BMP Verification Committee and Water Quality Goal Implementation Team, these principles were adopted by the Principals' Staff Committee to guide the jurisdictions’ development and implementation of BMP verification programs.

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Related Links

CAST Documentation

The Chesapeake Assessment Scenario Tool (CAST) is an online nutrient and sediment load estimator tool. The documentation provides definitions and information about Best Management Practices (BMPs).

Visit link‍

Watershed Implementation Plan (WIP) Tools

The Chesapeake Bay Program's WIP Tools page provides links to modeling documentation and information about BMPs. Disclaimer: some links may be outdated. See CAST/VAST/MAST for updated documentation.

Visit link‍

Workgroups and Action Teams
Ad Hoc BMP Verification Transparency Subgroup BMP Verification Review Panel

Members
Whitney Ashead (Staffer), Water Quality Goal Staffer, Chesapeake Research Consortium
Address:
410 Severn Ave
Annapolis, Maryland 21403

Email:  asheadw@chesapeake.org
Ann Swanson, Chesapeake Bay Commission
Address:
60 West Street
Suite 406
Annapolis, Maryland 21401

Email:  aswanson@chesbay.us
Phone:  (410) 263-3420
Aaron Ristow, Upper Susquehanna Coalition
Address:
1771 Hanshaw Road
Ithaca, New York 14850

Email:  aaronristow@tcswcd.org
Phone:  (607) 257-2340
Beth McGee, Chesapeake Bay Foundation
Address:
6 Herndon Ave
Annapolis, Maryland 21403

Email:  bmcgee@cbf.org
Phone:  (410) 268-8816
Bill Angstadt, Delaware Maryland Agribusiness Association
Address:
P.O. Box 377
Reading, Pennsylvania 19607

Email:  angstadtconsult@aol.com
Phone:  (610) 334-3390
George Onyullo, District of Columbia Department of Energy & Environment (DOEE)
Address:
1200 First St. NE
5th Floor
Washington, District of Columbia 20002

Email:  george.onyullo@dc.gov
John Rhoderick, Maryland Department of Agriculture
Address:
50 Harry S Truman Parkway
Annapolis, Maryland 21401

Email:  JohnCRhoderick@gmail.com
Matt Monroe, West Virginia Department of Agriculture-Regulatory and Environmental Affairs Division
Address:
60B Moorefield Industrial Park Rd
Moorefield, West Virginia 26836

Email:  mmonroe@wvda.us
Phone:  (304) 538-2397
Patricia Buckley, Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection
Address:
Rachel Carson State Office Building
400 Market Street
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 17101

Email:  pbuckley@state.pa.us
Phone:  (717) 772-1675
Roy Hoagland, HOPE Impacts, LLC
Address:
14507 Sailview Court
Midlothian, Virginia 23112

Email:  royhoagland@hopeimpacts.com
Phone:  (804) 221-0404
Russ Baxter, Virginia Office of Natural Resources
Address:
1111 E. Broad Street
Suite 4066
Richmond, Virginia 23219

Email:  russ.baxter@governor.virginia.gov
Phone:  (804) 786-0044
Susan Marquart, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS)
Address:
1 Credit Union Place
Suite 340
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 17110

Email:  susan.marquart@pa.usda.gov
Phone:  (717) 237-2237
Hank Zygmunt, Resource Dynamics, Inc
Address:
344 Saly Rd
Yardley, Pennsylvania 19067

Email:  Hankzyg@gmail.com
Phone:  (215) 428-9655
Valerie Frances, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Office of Environmental Markets
Address:
1400 Independence Ave SW
South Bldg Rm 4058
Washington, District of Columbia 20250

Email:  vfrances@oce.usda.gov
Phone:  (202) 401-0965
Nona McCoy, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS)
Address:
1400 Independence Ave
Washington, District of Columbia 20250

Email:  nona.mccoy@wdc.usda.gov
Jennifer Volk, University of Delaware
Address:
69 Transportation Circle
Dover, Delaware 19901

Email:  jennvolk@udel.edu
Phone:  (302) 730-4000
Jack Frye, Chesapeake Bay Commission
Address:
General Assembly Building
910 Capitol Street, Room 270
Richmond, Virginia 23219

Email:  jfrye@chesbay.us
Phone:  (804) 786-4849
Melanie Frisch, U.S. Department of the Navy
Address:
1500 Gilbert Street
Bldg N26, 3rd Floor, Room 3300
Norfolk, Virginia 23511

Email:  melanie.frisch@navy.mil
Phone:  (757) 341-0450
James Martin, Soil and Water Conservation District Division Director, Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation
Address:
600 E. Main St
Suite 1104
Richmond, Virginia 23219

Email:  james.e.martin@dcr.virginia.gov
Phone:  (804) 786-2291