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Executive 

Summary

Executive Order 13508

Strategy for

Protecting and Restoring 

the Chesapeake Bay Watershed

he Chesapeake Bay 

watershed is one of the 

most extraordinary places in 

America. The nation’s largest 

estuary and its network of 

streams, creeks and rivers hold tremendous 

ecological, cultural, economic, historic 

and recreational value for the region and 

its citizens. But the Bay and its tributaries 

remain in poor health, with polluted 

water, low populations of fish and shellfish, 

degraded habitats and landscapes lost to 

development.

May 12, 2009 was a historic day for the 

Chesapeake Bay and its watershed. On that 

date, President Obama issued Executive Order 

13508 on Chesapeake Bay Protection and 

Restoration. In the Executive Order, President 

Obama declared the Chesapeake Bay a “national 

treasure” and ushered in a new era of federal 

leadership, action and accountability. The 

purpose of the Executive Order is “to protect and 

restore the health, heritage, natural resources, 

and social and economic value of the nation’s 

largest estuarine ecosystem and the natural 

sustainability of its watershed.”

To bring the full weight of the federal 

government to address the Chesapeake’s 

challenges, the Executive Order established 

the Federal Leadership Committee (FLC) 

for the Chesapeake Bay, which is chaired by 

the Administrator of the U.S. Environmental 

Protection Agency and includes senior 

representatives from the departments of 

Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Homeland 

Security, Interior and Transportation. The 

Executive Order charged the FLC with 

developing and implementing a new strategy for 

protection and restoration of the Chesapeake 

region.

The Executive Order acknowledges that 

although the federal government should assume 

a strong leadership role in the restoration of 

the Bay, success depends on a collaborative 

effort involving state and local governments, 

businesses, non-governmental organizations and 

the region’s residents. To develop the strategy, 

federal agencies consulted with the six Bay 

watershed states, the District of Columbia and 

the Chesapeake Bay Commission, engaged key 

stakeholders and held public meetings. 

Vision for the Chesapeake

Source: NOAA

As a guiding foundation 

for the strategy, federal 

agencies drafted a vision 

statement that describes 

the desired conditions 

of the Chesapeake 

Bay and its watershed. 

Achieving this vision is an 

important commitment to 

the citizens of today and 

generations of tomorrow.

A Chesapeake watershed with: 

n	clean water that is swimmable and fishable in streams, rivers and the Bay 

n	sustainable, healthy populations of blue crabs, oysters, fish and other wildlife 

n	a broad network of land and water habitats that support life and are resilient to the 

impacts of development and climate change

n	abundant forests and thriving farms that benefit both the economy and environment

n	extensive areas of conserved lands that protect nature and the region’s heritage

n	ample access to provide for public enjoyment

n	cities, towns and neighborhoods where citizens are stewards of nature

D e v e l o p e d b y t h e Fe d e r a l L e a d e r s h i p C o m m i t t e e f o r t h e C h e s a p e a k e B a y
Executive Summary

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Focus of the Strategy

The progress of the past several decades has not 

been sufficient to fully restore and protect the 

Chesapeake Bay watershed. Federal agencies 

recognize the need to fundamentally shift efforts, 

take bold action and increase accountability. The 

strategy includes several areas of focus that will 

lead to greater success.

Launching major initiatives 

& accounting for progress: 

Launching major environmental initiatives:

– Establish rigorous new regulation and 

enforcement to implement all pollution 

controls for clean water.

– Put new agricultural conservation practices 

on 4 million acres of farms.

– Protect 2 million acres of land important to 

environment, farms, forests and people.

– Restore oysters in 20 tributaries.

Short-term action: To accelerate the pace 

of restoration and protection, many actions 

occur in the next few years, and many of the 

actions are “on-the-ground” and “in-thewater” throughout the Chesapeake watershed.

Two-year milestones: To increase 

accountability, federal agencies will establish 

milestones every two years for actions to meet 

environmental goals. These will support and 

complement the states’ two-year milestones 

for water quality.

Measureable environmental goals: Actions 

are designed to accomplish specific and 

measureable improvements in water quality, 

habitat recovery, fish and wildlife protection 

and land conservation. 

Partnering with communities:

For the entire region: The strategy is about 

much more than the Chesapeake Bay. It is 

about restoration and protection needed 

in communities around the 64,000-squaremile watershed, across the landscape and in 

thousands of streams, creeks and rivers. The 

natural resources of the Chesapeake region 

are important to the lives and livelihood of 

17 million people.

Supporting local efforts: Local communities 

have the greatest interest in and ability to 

impact conservation of their local environment. 

The strategy is designed to directly support 

the restoration activities of local governments, 

watershed groups, county conservation 

districts, landowners and citizens. 

Benefiting economies and jobs: Many 

federal actions will provide economic benefits 

for communities, citizens and the region, 

including conservation of working farms 

and forests, expanded oyster aquaculture, 

support for conservation corps programs and 

green jobs, and development of an innovative 

environmental marketplace for selling, buying 

and trading credits for pollution reductions.

Deepening the federal commitment: 

Unprecedented level of activity: The 

strategy reflects an unprecedented depth 

and breadth of federal actions and resources 

dedicated to the Chesapeake region. 

Targeting of resources: Agencies will be 

aggressively targeting resources where they 

can have the most impact – areas with the 

most pollution and potential for runoff, with 

the highest potential for restoring fish and 

wildlife, and with habitats and lands most in 

need of protection. 

Federal leadership by example: The federal 

government is one of the largest landowners 

in the region (owning 5.3 percent of land in 
Strategy for Protecting and Restoring the Chesapeake Bay Watershed 3

the watershed). The federal government will 

lead by example by restoring water quality, 

habitats, fish and wildlife, conserving lands, 

and increasing public access on its properties.

A comprehensive approach: The 

Chesapeake Bay watershed is an ecosystem 

– a network that includes people, plants, fish 

and wildlife and the places they live, each one 

related to and connected to the other. The 

strategy recognizes this interdependence, 

and the actions included in the strategy are 

designed to benefit the entire ecosystem. 

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Regional Strategy Reflects 

National Initiatives

In developing the Chesapeake strategy, federal 

agencies have incorporated cornerstone principles 

from several major national initiatives that are 

guiding overall environmental improvement in the 

United States, including the Ocean Policy Task 

Force, the America’s Great Outdoors Initiative, 

and the Interagency Climate Change Adaptation 

Task Force. Reflecting national policy in a regional 

strategy further illustrates that solutions in the 

Chesapeake Bay watershed can serve as a model 

for restoring ecosystems elsewhere in the country. 

Federal agencies will be able to share the lessons 

learned in the Chesapeake with partners on other 

national initiatives. 

Presidential actions that have also shaped this 

strategy include the Executive Order on Federal 

Leadership in Environmental, Energy and 

Economic Performance; the memorandum on 

Transparency and Open Government; and the 

Executive Order on Environmental Justice, 

which calls for the fair treatment and meaningful 

involvement of all people regardless of race, color, 

national origin, or income with respect to the 

development, implementation, and enforcement of 

environmental laws, regulations, and policies. 

Ecosystem-based management is also among the 

most significant overarching principles included 

in this strategy. This approach recognizes the 

interdependence of all aspects of an ecosystem, 

including water, fish and wildlife, habitats and 

land-use. Management actions are guided by 

this scientific understanding and aim to protect, 

maintain and restore overall environmental 

functioning to achieve long-term sustainability 

of ecosystems and the human communities that 

depend on them.

Structure of the Strategy

The Executive Order directed federal agencies to 

“define environmental goals for the Chesapeake 

Bay and describe milestones for making 

progress toward attainment of these goals.” 

For the strategy, federal agencies have focused 

on achieving the most essential priorities for a 

healthy Chesapeake ecosystem: 

n	Restore Clean Water

n	Recover Habitat

n	Sustain Fish and Wildlife

n	Conserve Land and Increase Public Access 

Federal agencies also developed 12 key 

environmental outcomes that will be achieved 

through expanded federal actions described in the 

strategy and ongoing state activities, and will reflect 

progress toward attainment of the overall goals. 

The strategy also features supporting strategies 

that provide invaluable cross-cutting support 

to achieving environmental goals or are critical 

complementary efforts in the restoration and 

protection of the Chesapeake Bay and watershed. 

The supporting strategy chapters are: 

n	Expand Citizen Stewardship 

n	Respond to Climate Change

n	Develop Environmental Markets 

n	Strengthen Science
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Restore Clean Water

Goal: Reduce nitrogen, phosphorus, sediment and other pollutants to meet Bay water 

quality goals for dissolved oxygen, clarity, chlorophyll-a and toxic contaminants. 

Why It’s Important 

Clean water is one of the most precious resources 

to people and communities throughout the region 

and is essential for healthy habitats, wildlife and fish, 

from the most remote streams in the watershed to 

the depths of the Chesapeake Bay. It is vital to have 

water that is not polluted, has enough oxygen to 

support fish, crabs and other aquatic life, and is clear 

enough for sunlight to reach underwater grasses. 

In 2009, however, water quality in the Bay was 

extremely poor, meeting only 24 percent of goals 

established by the Chesapeake Bay Program. Stream 

quality in the watershed was also degraded, with 52 

percent of the streams having a rating of poor or 

very poor (based on the index of biological integrity). 

Significant reductions in nitrogen, phosphorous, 

sediment and chemical contaminants are needed to 

achieve water quality goals throughout the Bay and 

its watershed. 

Action Overview

The water quality chapter contains a 

comprehensive range of actions to achieve this 

goal, including EPA’s establishment and, in 

partnership with the Bay jurisdictions and other 

federal agencies, implementation of the Chesapeake 

Total Maximum Daily Load or TMDL (a rigorous 

pollution diet for the Bay and region’s waterways), 

rulemaking for expanded regulation of stormwater 

and concentrated animal feeding operations, a 

stronger emphasis on enforcement and compliance 

activities, and increased grant funding for state 

regulatory programs. The U.S. Department 

of Agriculture (USDA) will aggressively target 

its financial resources and technical assistance 

to priority watersheds, help states meet twoyear milestones for implementing agriculture 

conservation practices, accelerate the development 

of new conservation technologies, and develop a 

system for improving the reporting of conservation 

practices. EPA will coordinate the effort to reduce 

stormwater pollution from federal facilities and 

lands and to implement federal land management 

practices that protect forests, wetlands and 

waterways. EPA, DOI and NOAA will expand the 

understanding of the toxic contaminant problem in 

the Bay and its watershed and develop contaminant 

reduction outcomes and strategies.

OUTCOMES

Water Quality Meet water quality standards for 

dissolved oxygen, clarity/underwater grasses and 

chlorophyll-a in the Bay and tidal tributaries by 

implementing 100 percent of pollution reduction 

actions for nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment 

no later than 2025, with 60 percent of segments 

attaining water quality standards by 2025. (Current 

condition: 89 of the 92 segments of the Bay and its 

tidal waters are impaired.)

Stream Restoration: Improve the health of streams 

so that 70 percent of sampled streams throughout 

the Chesapeake watershed in a condition of fair, 

good or excellent as measured by the Index of Biotic 

Integrity by 2025. (Current condition: 45 percent of 

sampled streams rated fair, good or excellent.)

Agriculture Conservation: Work with producers to 

apply new conservation practices on 4 million acres of 

working agricultural lands in high priority watersheds 

by 2025 to improve water quality in the Chesapeake 

Bay and its tributaries. (Current condition: Of the 

approximately 8 million acres of agricultural working 

lands in high-priority watersheds, approximately 4 

million acres are identified as having soils with the 

highest potential for leaching and runoff, which may 

affect water quality. The 4-million-acre target is to 

apply or expand conservation treatment on virtually all 

of the most vulnerable agricultural lands.)

Source: NPS
Strategy for Protecting and Restoring the Chesapeake Bay Watershed 5

Recover Habitat

Goal: Restore a network of land and water habitats to support priority species and to afford other 

public benefits, including water quality, recreational uses and scenic value across the watershed. 

Why It’s Important 

Wetlands, forests, fields, streams, underwater 

grasses and mudflats in the Chesapeake watershed 

provide thousands of species of plants, fish 

and wildlife with the places they need to find 

food, shelter, reproduce and rear their young. 

Chesapeake habitats also provide “habitat 

highways” for Atlantic Coast fish populations 

and birds migrating along the Atlantic Flyway. 

These habitats play an important role in filtering 

pollution before it enters waterways. Wetlands 

serve as holding tanks and water filters for coastal 

storm surge and heavy rainfall and help prevent 

costly flood damage. Forest buffers along streams 

and shorelines provide shade to keep streams 

cool, food for aquatic organisms and corridors 

for wildlife movement. Streams are the arteries 

that connect the watershed and provide not only 

passage for fish but also a physical connection 

from every local community to the Bay.

Action Overview

The habitat chapter includes a variety of actions 

by federal agencies including the U.S. Fish and 

Wildlife Service (FWS), the National Oceanic 

and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the 

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and 

USDA that will restore and protect habitats. 

For wetlands, this includes actions to sustain 

the most important marshes, increase incentives 

for restoration on private land, combat invasive 

species and strengthen federal coordination on 

permits with direct impacts on marshes. Efforts 

to restore vital island habitats in the Bay itself 

will expand. Forest buffers that benefit stream 

health will be expanded through increased 

targeting of restoration and accelerated 

application of the Conservation Reserve 

Enhancement Program. Streams will be 

prioritized and barriers removed to allow fish 

to return to historical migration routes. The 

U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) 

will work with partner agencies to encourage 

ecosystem-level planning for mitigation of 

highway impacts on habitat.

OUTCOMES

Wetland Restoration: Restore 30,000 acres 

of tidal and non-tidal wetlands and enhance the 

function of 150,000 additional acres of degraded 

wetlands by 2025. (Current condition: 1 million 

acres of tidal and non-tidal wetlands estimated 

to be available in the Chesapeake watershed for 

restoration or enhancement. Between 1998 and 

2008, 18,217 acres of wetlands were restored 

and 97,738 acres were enhanced.)

Forest Buffers: Restore riparian forest buffers 

to 63 percent, or 181,440 miles, of the total 

riparian miles (streambank and shoreline miles) in 

the Bay watershed by 2025. (Current condition: 

58 percent of the 288,000 total riparian miles in 

the Bay watershed has forest buffers in place.)

Fish Passage: Restore historical fish migratory 

routes by opening an additional 1,000 stream 

miles by 2025, with restoration success indicated 

by the presence of River herring, American 

shad and/or American eel. (Current condition: 

Approximately 1,924 stream miles in the 

Chesapeake Bay watershed have been opened 

and are accessible for fish migration. Projects are 

currently being ranked and prioritized through a 

collaborative federal and state process designed 

to strategically target priority projects.)

Source: NOAA
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Sustain Fish and Wildlife

Goal: Sustain healthy populations of fish and wildlife, which contribute to a resilient ecosystem 

and vibrant economy. 

Why It’s Important 

The Chesapeake Bay is one of the premier fish 

production areas for the East Coast. More than 250 

fish species, both resident and migratory, use the Bay 

and tributaries for some portion of their life cycles. 

American and hickory shad, river herring, striped 

bass, eel, weakfish, bluefish, flounder, oysters, and 

blue crabs hold tremendous ecological, commercial, 

and cultural value. More than 300 migratory bird 

species can be found in the watershed. During the 

fall, the skies come alive as one million ducks, geese, 

and swans return to overwinter on the Chesapeake. 

Managing Bay fisheries and wildlife is critical to 

restoring and protecting the population of these 

species and their important place in the ecosystem. 

Habitat loss as a result of poor water quality, land use 

and urbanization, climate change, and other human 

activities is threatening the sustainability of fish and 

wildlife species. Oyster populations are less than one 

percent of historic levels. Over 5,000 miles of fish 

spawning habitat on Bay tributaries remain blocked 

by man-made obstructions. Key fish and shellfish 

species have declined dramatically in abundance or 

productivity.

Action Overview

For the purpose of tracking progress in the Bay and 

headwaters, this strategy focuses on four species 

(oysters, blue crab, brook trout and black duck) 

because they reflect the overall health of their 

habitat and hold great ecological, commercial and 

recreational significance. The importance of other 

species is clearly recognized, and a prioritization 

framework is described. For oysters, NOAA and 

USACE will launch a Bay-wide restoration strategy 

in collaboration with Maryland, Virginia and the 

Potomac River Fisheries Commission that focuses 

on priority tributaries, supports expansion of 

commercial aquaculture and bolsters research on 

oyster stock, habitat and restoration progress. For 

blue crabs, NOAA will enhance the science used 

to support interjurisdictional management and 

restoration. Along with partners, NOAA will revise 

the long-term goal for blue crab abundance. For 

brook trout, FWS will restore key stream habitats, 

establish a monitoring program in the watershed 

and consider the impact of climate change in 

selecting stream habitats for restoration.

OUTCOMES

Oysters: Restore native oyster habitats and 

populations in 20 out of 35 to 40 candidate 

tributaries by 2025. (Current condition: 0 tributaries 

with fully restored oyster populations; several 

tributaries with successful living oyster reef habitat.)

Blue Crabs: Maintain sustainable blue crab 

interim rebuilding target of 200 million adults (1+ 

years old) in 2011 and develop a new population 

target for 2012 through 2025. (Current condition: 

2007-2008: 131 million; 2008-2009: 223 million; 

2009-2010: 315 million.)

Brook Trout: Restore naturally reproducing brook 

trout populations in headwater streams by improving 

58 sub-watersheds from “reduced” classification 

(10-50 percent of habitat loss) to “healthy” (less 

than 10 percent of habitat loss) by 2025. (Current 

condition: 388 of 1,294 sub-watersheds in the 

Chesapeake Bay currently classified as “reduced” 

for brook trout.)

Black Duck: Restore a three-year average 

wintering black duck population in the Chesapeake 

Bay watershed of 100,000 birds by 2025. (Current 

condition: Recent mid-winter aerial surveys estimate 

the 2007-2009 rolling three-year average at 37,158 

black ducks in the Chesapeake Bay.)

Source: Ben Fertig/IAN Image Library
Strategy for Protecting and Restoring the Chesapeake Bay Watershed 7

Conserve Land and Increase Public Access

Goal: Conserve landscapes to maintain water quality, habitat, sustainable working forests, farms 

and maritime communities; and cultural, community and indigenous values. It will also expand 

public access to the Bay and its tributaries through existing and new federal, state, and local parks, 

refuges, reserves, trails and partner sites.

Why It’s Important 

At the heart of the Chesapeake region are the 

landscapes alongside the Bay and its major 

tributaries. These treasured landscapes are 

the special places we revere as individuals, as 

communities and as a people for their ecological, 

cultural, historical, economic and recreational 

values. Yet, many of the Chesapeake’s treasured 

landscapes are threatened. Poorly planned 

development increasingly pressures both 

natural and cultural lands. Forests in the region 

are converted to other land uses at the rate 

of 100 acres each day. Cropland and pasture 

land in the Chesapeake Bay watershed have 

also been influenced by alternative land uses, 

with approximately 100 acres a day lost to 

development between 1982 and 2003. Public 

access to the Bay and its tributaries is also limited. 

Action Overview 

The land conservation chapter contains 

numerous actions to achieve this goal, including 

DOI’s plans to launch a Chesapeake Treasured 

Landscape Initiative, expand land conservation 

through coordinating federal funding and 

community assistance, and use strategic 

geographic information systems in setting 

conservation priorities. USDA will contribute 

in collaboration with states and federal partners 

through a watershed-wide strategy to reduce 

the loss of farms and forests. NPS will develop 

a plan and prioritize funding for expanding 

public access. NOAA will support exploration 

of land-water conservation priorities. All of 

these actions will involve a high degree of 

collaboration, directly engaging state and local 

government, communities, non-governmental 

organizations and other federal agencies. DOT, 

working through its Partnership for Sustainable 

Communities with EPA and the Department of 

Housing and Urban Development, will provide 

technical assistance to communities that undertake 

development of integrated transportation, housing 

and water infrastructure plans.

OUTCOMES

Land Conservation: Protect an additional 2 

million additional acres of lands throughout the 

watershed currently identified as high conservation 

priorities at the federal, state or local level by 2025 

including 695,000 acres of forest land of highest 

value for maintaining water quality.

Public Access: Increase public access to the Bay 

and its tributaries by adding 300 new public access 

sites (40 percent increase) by 2025. (Current 

condition: 761 public access sites providing access 

to Bay and its tributaries exist in DC, MD, PA, VA. 

Data on existing access sites in NY, DE and WV will 

be collected in the future.)

Source: NOAA
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Supporting Strategies

The strategy also features four chapters on supporting strategies that provide invaluable cross-cutting 

support to achieving environmental goals or are critical complementary efforts in the restoration and 

protection of the Chesapeake Bay and watershed. The supporting strategy chapters are:

Expand Citizen Stewardship

Objective: Foster a dramatic increase in the number of citizen stewards of every age who support and carry 

out local conservation and restoration.

Why it’s Important 

People tend to protect the places they understand 

and care about. Regional residents increasingly seek 

opportunities to reconnect with the outdoors. For 

citizens of the watershed, the places where people 

experience the Chesapeake – parks, waterways, 

refuges, nature centers, museums, etc. – and the 

places where people spend most of their time – their 

homes, schools and neighborhoods – provide venues 

for further engagement and action. Ultimately, 

meeting the water quality, habitat restoration and 

land conservation goals described in this strategy 

depends on engaged citizens who both support 

stewardship in the larger community and take 

personal action to carry it out.

Action Overview 

Expanding citizen stewardship is a multi-pronged 

approach that begins with engaging adults through an 

expansion of Chesapeake conservation corps workforces 

and the master watershed stewards program, as well 

as prioritization of citizen stewardship programs in 

awarding of grants. The U.S. Department of the 

Interior (DOI) will also build stewardship by enhancing 

visitor experiences and messaging at Chesapeake 

sites and trails and by building partnerships with 

communities and citizens. NOAA will develop 

stewards of the next generation by expanding handson experiences and creating a more robust and 

comprehensive elementary and secondary school 

environmental literacy initiative.

Develop Environmental Markets

Objective: Working collaboratively, USDA, EPA, bay states and other federal partners will develop environmental 

markets for the Chesapeake Bay, including the management infrastructure for measuring, reporting and verifying 

environmental performance for a suite of ecosystem services.

Why it’s Important

Environmental markets are an innovative approach 

to natural resource management that can accomplish 

environmental protection goals, encourage new 

technologies, improve efficiencies, reduce costs and help 

manage growth. The basic premise of environmental 

markets is that an entity that needs to reduce impacts 

to the environment buys credits representing an 

equivalent or greater amount of environmental 

improvement from a provider of that improvement. 

Private landowners will be a major provider of these 

credits because of their vast land holdings and their 

ability to install cost effective conservation practices that 

result in needed environmental improvement. These 

credits can be verified through standardized scientific 

metrics to represent a certain level of measurable 

environmental improvement and may be registered 

and traded much like any other commodity. Resulting 

environmental markets have the potential to increase 

the efficiency, reduce the cost and increase the quality 

of environmental solutions. The strategy will expand 

the current suite of environmental market potential to 

increase pace and scope of conservation by coordinating, 

and conforming where appropriate, federal and state 

regulatory requirements to develop a robust market in 

the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

Action Overview 

In partnership with Bay states, EPA will issue guidance 

concerning credits for nutrient and sediment reduction 

to accompany the Chesapeake Bay TMDL, which is 

expected to be final in December of 2010. EPA will 

work with the newly formed Environmental Market 

Team to assure that tools and protocols developed by 

the team are reflected in this and subsequent guidance 

to greatest extent possible. On a parallel track, USDA 

will lead, in coordination with EPA and other federal 

agencies (including DOC, DOI, DOT, DOD, 

USACE, CEQ and OMB), an interdepartmental 

Environmental Market Team to establish the 

broader infrastructure for an effective environmental 

market in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. This 

team will address a wide range of issues including 

defining environmental performance of conservation 

practices; evaluating tools for measuring conservation 

practice performance; establishing protocols for 

setting baselines, developing registries and designing 

certification processes; creating opportunities for 

stacking and bundling ecosystem services; and 

exploring options for insurance mechanisms.
Strategy for Protecting and Restoring the Chesapeake Bay Watershed 9

Respond to Climate Change

Objective: Improve information on the communities, habitats and resources at risk from the impacts of 

climate change and develop products to increase knowledge and capacity to plan for and implement 

adaptation projects.

Why it’s Important 

Climate change is one of the most significant 

challenges to successful restoration and protection 

of the Chesapeake Bay and its watershed. Although 

there is still some uncertainty surrounding specific 

climate change projections, and impacts at the scale 

of the Chesapeake Bay, expected impacts to the Bay 

and watershed include sea-level rise; increases in water 

temperature, acidity and salinity; changing rainfall 

patterns and increases in rainfall intensity; and changes 

to freshwater flows with corresponding significant 

impacts to water quality and habitats. Many of the 

region’s major cities and significant ecosystems are 

in low-lying areas that are particularly vulnerable to 

sea-level rise and storm surge. The impacts of climate 

change extend to infrastructure, habitat, fish and 

wildlife populations, stream flow, water quality, and 

valued Bay landscapes and waters. Climate change 

threatens past restoration gains and the effectiveness 

of future actions. Adapting to the impacts of climate 

change involves maintaining or enhancing the 

resiliency and reducing the vulnerability of the 

Chesapeake Bay and its watershed.

Action Overview 

The climate change chapter contains a host of 

actions to adapt to the rising challenge of the 21st 

century. Led by NOAA and the U.S. Geological 

Survey (USGS), these actions include conducting 

comprehensive research to identify vulnerable 

communities and habitats throughout the watershed 

and assessing the risks posed by the impacts of 

climate change. This work also involves prediction 

of changes in pollution loads and monitoring actual 

climate impacts in the watershed. These agencies 

will develop tools and training to provide states, 

local communities and resource managers with 

effective climate adaptation resources. Agencies will 

ensure that vulnerable habitats are protected and 

public infrastructure on federal lands is planned and 

implemented to increase resiliency to climate change 

impacts.

Strengthen Science

Objective: Strengthen science to support ecosystem-based adaptive management, to more effectively 

prioritize, implement, monitor and evaluate the actions and policies needed, and to identify new threats to the 

health of the Chesapeake Bay and its watershed. 

Why it’s Important 

Restoration and protection of the Chesapeake 

Bay watershed requires strengthening science and 

implementing ecosystem-based management. This 

will require improved monitoring, computer models 

and research to enhance decision making for all the 

goals in the strategy. The strategy outlines actions 

to strengthen science to promote ecosystem-based 

adaptive management – which will more effectively 

prioritize, implement, monitor and evaluate the actions 

and policies needed – and provide early warning about 

new threats to the health of the Chesapeake Bay and its 

watershed. 

Action Overview 

The science chapter and text throughout the strategy 

chapters outline actions to increase science support 

for the Chesapeake Bay restoration effort. USGS and 

NOAA are working with federal, state and academic 

partners to expand their scientific capabilities in 

concert with the Chesapeake Bay Program. New 

decision-support tools and an expanded set of models 

will allow for better prioritization and adjustment of 

management activities. USGS and NOAA will lead the 

establishment of a Chesapeake Monitoring Alliance 

and Data Enterprise to improve documentation of 

changes in ecosystem conditions and progress toward 

environmental goals.
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Implementation and Accountability

The final chapter of the strategy focuses on 

implementation and accountability. This chapter 

outlines the role and responsibilities of the 

Federal Leadership Committee in implementing 

the strategy, as well as the federal government’s 

commitment to increase accountability by 

establishing milestones every two years for taking 

action. The final chapter also outlines a series of 

accountability tools and processes to promote 

transparency in the planning, tracking, reporting, 

evaluating and adapting of restoration activities. 

These tools include:

Federal Two-Year Milestones: Federal 

agencies will join the states in establishing 

two-year milestones with many federal efforts 

designed to support the states and District in 

meeting their current and future water quality 

milestones. But federal agencies will also 

develop appropriate two-year milestones for 

the other outcomes outlined in this strategy, 

beyond those for water quality.

Annual Action Plan: The action plan will 

identify the protection and restoration 

activities FLC agencies will undertake in 

the following year to carry out the actions 

and move toward the goals outlined in this 

strategy.

Annual Progress Report: The annual 

progress report will assess the success of the 

federal agencies’ efforts in implementing 

the actions identified in the preceding year’s 

action plan.

Independent Evaluation: The FLC 

will arrange for thorough and ongoing 

independent evaluation of the implementation 

of the strategy’s protection and restoration 

actions, including progress toward 

environmental goals. 

Adaptive Management: The FLC will adopt 

an adaptive management process built on the 

cycle of: set goals, plan actions, implement, 

monitor, evaluate and adjust.

Greater transparency and integration of 

federal, state and local actions will be greatly 

enhanced through ChesapeakeStat, a web-based 

tool designed to provide performance data and 

information in a format that allows a range of 

audiences to understand the work being done in 

the Chesapeake watershed. Over time, this tool 

will increase accountability by providing greater 

access to data. When combined with sciencebased analysis explaining the effectiveness of 

management actions, it will inform decisions and 

facilitate adaptive management of efforts. Visitors 

to the ChesapeakeStat website will have the ability 

to view information about specific restoration 

activities, spending and progress toward goals and 

milestones.

Source: Jane Thomas/IAN Image Library
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Strategy for Protecting and Restoring the Chesapeake Bay Watershed 11

In Conclusion

Restoring and protecting the Chesapeake Bay and 

its watershed is a significant challenge, as the last 

several decades have shown. The wide spectrum of 

serious environmental problems, combined with 

the sheer size of the Bay and its 64,000-squaremile watershed, magnify the challenge. Success 

will depend on an unprecedented level of 

engagement and collaboration among all levels 

of government, the private sector, nonprofit 

organizations and especially the 17 million 

residents of the watershed.

But the increased investment of resources in 

the Chesapeake Bay and regional landscape 

– including the thousands of streams, creeks 

and rivers – will yield a priceless return for the 

environment, for local and regional economies, 

for the cultural and historic heritage, and, most 

importantly, for communities in cities, suburbs 

and rural areas.

The Executive Order emphasizes the urgency and 

need for renewed commitment to restoration. 

The pieces for success are in place around the 

watershed in the form of leadership, science 

and public interest. Restoring clean water and 

protecting nature throughout the region is a 

duty to the millions of people who call this 

place home. The generations that come after 

us will point to this time as a defining moment 

for reviving the integrity and splendor of the 

Chesapeake Bay and its watershed.

The Chesapeake Bay Program provides a partnership in which 

federal agencies, states, local governments and citizens work 

together to identify and address the most critical challenges 

facing Bay protection and restoration.

Source: NOAA
EPA-903-S-10-001

May 2010

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