U.S. Department of the Interior

U.S. Geological Survey

Fact Sheet 2010–3081

Ver. 1.0.1, February 1, 2011

USGS Science for the Chesapeake Bay Restoration

Printed on recycled paper

Potential future development pressure in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. 

[The USGS will focus its efforts to strengthen science in the Bay watershed 

to address the goals of the President’s Chesapeake Bay EO and the national 

priorities of the DOI and USGS. One of the USGS activities is to improve its 

Chesapeake Land Change model to help identify areas for conservation and 

forecast the combined impacts of climate and land-use change on streams, 

water quality, and critical habitats for fish and wildlife.]

The President’s Executive Order 

I

n May 2009, the President issued Executive Order (EO) 

13508 for Chesapeake Bay Protection and Restoration. For 

the first time since the creation of the Chesapeake Bay Program 

(CBP) in 1983, the full weight of the Federal Government will be 

used to address the challenges facing the Chesapeake Bay. The 

EO directs the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI), represented 

by the National Park Service (NPS), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife 

Service (USFWS), and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), to 

increase its efforts and leadership to restore the Bay and its watershed. A Federal Leadership Committee (FLC) was established to 

ensure coordination of Federal activities and consult with States 

and stakeholders to align restoration efforts. 

The New Federal Strategy

In May 2010, the FLC released the new Strategy for 

Chesapeake Bay Watershed Restoration and Protection. The 

strategy has four essential goals and associated outcomes:

• restore clean water 

• recover habitat

• sustain fish and wildlife 

• conserve land and increase public access 

Four supporting strategies will help achieve the goals: 

• expand citizen stewardship 

• develop environmental markets 

• respond to climate change 

• strengthen science 

USGS Role 

The USGS has been given the lead responsibility, in collaboration with the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric 

Administration (NOAA), for two critical supporting strategies: 

to strengthen science and respond to climate change. The USGS 

and its partners will use ecosystem-based adaptive management, 

which will provide science to improve the efficiency and 

accountability of CBP activities. The three main elements are to: 

(1) improve models to help partners target restoration and protection activities, (2) enhance monitoring to assess progress toward 

environmental outcomes, and (3) evaluate the effectiveness of 

restoration and protection actions and policies. The findings will be 

used by NPS, USFWS, and other CBP partners to improve water 

quality, habitat, fish and wildlife, and to conserve lands. 

The USGS Chesapeake activities to address the EO can be 

grouped into four major themes: 

• Promote adaptive management and decision support to 

enhance ecosystem management. 

• Assess and explain water-quality conditions and change. 

• Document the status and change of the health of fish, wildlife, and critical habitats. 

• Forecast and assess impacts of climate and land-use change. 

USGS Chesapeake Activities: Addressing USGS and 

DOI National Priorities 

The USGS Chesapeake activities, working with USFWS 

and NPS, provide a place for USGS and DOI to carry out their 

national priorities. The Chesapeake activities address several DOI 

priorities: 

America’s Great Outdoors—the Chesapeake activities will 

develop an approach to land conservation that will be a model for 

national DOI efforts. 

Climate Change—the Chesapeake activities will help achieve the 

DOI goal to address the impacts of climate change on America’s 

land, water, wildlife, cultural-heritage, and tribal resources.

Water Challenges—the Chesapeake activities will address the 

DOI goal to help communities improve conservation and increase 

water availability, restore watersheds, and resolve longstanding 

water conflicts. 

The Chesapeake activities will address USGS science 

directions including ecosystems, climate variability and land-use 

change, water resources; energy, minerals, and environmental 

health; hazards, and core science systems.
Planned USGS Activities 

To help fulfill its responsibilities under the EO, the USGS has prepared a Chesapeake Study Plan for 2011–2016 that identifies planned 

activities and opportunities to work with USGS programs and CBP partners to carry out the actions needed to meet the EO goals.

Promote adaptive management and decision support to 

enhance ecosystem management.

The USGS will provide leadership to strengthen the 

use of science and promote adaptive management among 

Federal, State, regional, and local partners. 

Planned USGS activities

• Synthesize science and explain management 

implications in targeted communication products.

• Establish decision-support specialists. 

• Enhance tools to apply science—Chesapeake Online 

Adaptive Support Toolkit (COAST) and ChesapeakeStat 

(online decision tools).

• Coordinate Federal activities to increase CBP science 

efforts for adaptive management through improved 

models, monitoring, and evaluation of restoration and 

conservation activities.

EO topic addressed: Strengthen Science

• Key Federal partners: NOAA and USEPA 

Forecast and assess impacts of climate and land-use 

change. 

USGS research will identify vulnerable lands and 

habitats and assess the risks posed by climate change and 

population growth. 

Planned USGS activities 

• Develop tools to prioritize land conservation.

• Assess vulnerability of land through improved landchange model forecasting.

• Forecast impacts of land and climate change on coastal 

wetlands and water quality and habitat in the watershed.

• Enhance monitoring of climate and land-use change.

• Provide key findings and interact with CBP partners to 

consider climate adaptation strategies for restoration 

and protection activities.

• Improve coordination of regional climate activities. 

EO topics addressed: Conserve Lands and Address 

Climate Change

• Key Federal partners: NPS, USFWS, and NOAA

Assess and explain water-quality conditions and change. 

To help restore clean water, the USGS will increase 

efforts to model, monitor, and explain changes in nutrients 

and sediment in the watershed so that the 

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), the 

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the six CBP 

States can more effectively implement actions, and 

evaluate progress, toward improving water quality in the 

Bay and its watershed. 

Planned USGS activities

• Enhance models of nutrients, sediment, and groundwater 

to help target management actions.

• Improve regional water-quality monitoring to assess 

progress toward water-quality goals.

• Establish monitoring in small urban and agricultural 

watersheds to assess the effects of restoration activities.

• Explain water-quality changes and the effects of basinwide Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) implementation.

EO topic addressed: Restore Water Quality

• Key Federal partners: USEPA and USDA 

Document the status and change of the health of fish, wildlife, and critical habitats.

To improve conditions for fish and wildlife, the USGS, 

working with USFWS, will conduct research and monitoring 

on the multiple factors causing die offs and poor health of 

fish and wildlife in the watershed and coastal areas. 

Planned USGS activities

• Improve scientific information on conditions of, and 

factors affecting, the health of fish and wildlife in the Bay 

watershed.

• Determine the extent and sources of endocrinedisrupting chemicals and other toxic contaminants that 

impact selected fish and wildlife species. 

• Develop monitoring to evaluate new strategies to reduce 

contaminants and improve the health of fish and wildlife. 

• Improve information on habitat conditions and food 

sources for migratory waterfowl. 

EO topics addressed: Sustain Fish and Wildlife, Recover 

Habitats, and Restore Water Quality (Toxic Contaminants)

• Key Federal partners: USFWS and USEPA

For more information, contact Scott Phillips, USGS Chesapeake Bay Coordinator (swphilli@usgs.gov) 

or visit the USGS Chesapeake Bay Web site at: http://chesapeake.usgs.gov/.