A special Riparian Forest Buffer Panel will begin meeting in April to develop recommendations and set goals for a new Bay Program policy aimed at restoring streamside forests in the watershed.
Riparian forests protect water quality by stabilizing river banks and reducing nutrient runoff.
They also provide food and shelter for many forms of aquatic life. Forests are the natural streamside environment for almost all of the Bay's drainage basin, as they once covered more than 95 percent of the Chesapeake watershed. Today, about 60 percent of the watershed is forested. Recommendations from the panel are to be completed in time for the council's 1996 meeting. Aided by a technical team of scientists and others with expertise in related issues, the panel will gather information about the current status of streamside conditions throughout the watershed and examine trends in streamside land use.