1. Local Government Advisory Committee
March 24-25, 2016
Carin Bisland, Associate Director
Chesapeake Bay Program Office

2. Order of Topics
General Updates and Highlights
Budget
Bay Barometer

3. Updates and Highlights
Public comment period for workplans ended
Local Leadership Contract
Principals’ Staff Committee Meeting
Supreme Court Reaffirms Bay TMDL
Draft 2 year milestones
Chesapeake Progress Website.
EPA and other local Funding

4. Updates and Highlights
STAC Report on Roadside Ditches
Lower Susquehanna River Watershed Assessment
NOAA releases Harris Creek Oyster Report
Environmental Literacy State Cabinet Meeting

5. FY 2015 – 2017 EPA CBP Budget Highlights
FY $73 million
FY $73 million
FY 2017 (PresBud) - $70 million

6. FY 2016 EPA CBP Budget Highlights
$73 Million Total
$6 million - Innovative Nutrient and Sediment Reduction Grants
$6 million - Small Watershed Grants
$29.3 million - State Implementation and Accountability Program Grants
$12.6 million - Chesapeake Bay Implementation Grants (CBIG)
$11.2 million - Chesapeake Bay Regulatory and Accountability Grants (CBRAP)
$5.0 million - Local Government Assistance Grants
$4.9 million - State Tidal and Non-Tidal Monitoring Grants

7. FY 2016 EPA CBP Budget Highlights
$385,000 - SAV Monitoring Aerial Survey
$400,000 - Citizen Monitoring Network
$250,000 - High Resolution Land Cover Data
$285,000 - EFC Financing Workshops
$500,000 - State WIP Assistance Funds
$350,000 - BMP Expert Panels
$900,000 - Goal Team Funding for Workplan Implementation

8. How’s the Bay Doing? Challenges & Opportunities
Bay Barometer
What do I mean by story?
Story in our case could also be called:
Creative non fiction
Narrative non fiction
and many other things
For purposes of our discussion today, I’m referring to writing and speaking that is based in facts and uses the tools of “storytelling” to engage people to listen more intently, engage and respond – in short, telling factual stories that connect and build the army.

9. At a Glance…

10. Water quality, watershed-wide
3 aspects to consider:
Results of CBP partners effort to improve water quality by reducing nitrogen, phosphorus, sediment (estimated data)
Rivers: Actual nitrogen, phosphorus, sediment in rivers (monitoring data)
Bay: Actual water quality in tidal Bay (monitoring data)
First, we’ll be looking at 3 different components of water quality to give an overall picture of how are waters are doing across the region.

11. Restoration efforts: Reducing Nitrogen & Phosphorus
2014 estimates of CBP partners’ progress
(2015 data expected spring 2016)
ESTIMATES (MODELING DATA) of pollution reductions as a result of restoration efforts reported by CBP partners
28% decrease from 1985 – 201; another 22% to go to meet Bay TMDL and WIPs
Decreased by 6%
to million lbs
Decreased by
18%
to 15.8 million lbs

12. 2014 estimates of CBP partners’ progress
Restoration efforts:
Reducing
Sediment
Decreased by 4%
to 8.35 million lbs
2014 estimates of CBP partners’ progress
(2015 data expected spring 2016)
ESTIMATES (MODELING DATA) of pollution reductions as a result of restoration efforts reported by CBP partners
28% decrease from 1985 – 201; another 22% to go to meet Bay TMDL and WIPs

13. River data
Precipitation affects river flow (blue line) and the amount of nutrients and sediment that wash downstream
2014 river flow was average
Water quality MONITORING DATA from 9 monitoring stations in major rivers
Long term – pollution flow to rivers and downstream was below long-term average. Average river flows (rain/runoff) from rivers means less N, P, S flowing downstream in rivers and to the Bay.

14. Bay (tidal) Water Quality
34% for period (up from 29% in )
MONITORING DATA
Evaluated in 3 year increments to see overall picture. (Rather than annually, where numbers could be skewed by things like one very bad storm.)
The period decrease is attributed to the decline in Bay’s underwater grasses in – when heavy storms, rain and unfavorable conditions during the growing season knocked abundance back. (See next slide)
92 segments of tidal Bay evaluated using:
3 pieces of monitoring data for each:
Dissolved oxygen
Chlorophyll a (algae)
Water clarity as measured by underwater grass abundance

15. an increase of more than 16,000 acres from 2013
Underwater Grasses
Tropical Storm Lee and Hurricane Irene contributed to poor growing conditions in In 2012, unseasonably warm water temperatures during the peak growing season added to the downward trend in abundance.
STILL thorugh all of this, we saw signs of resilience, especially in the large grass bed known as Susquehanna Flats, at the head of the Bay. As we can see in the 2014 year, favorable conditions are helping the Bay-wide grass beds return. k.
,835 acres in the Bay
an increase of more than 16,000 acres from 2013

16. Blue Crabs (abundance of adult spawning age females)
2015 – 101 million
2014 – 68.5 million
This number is above the 70 million overfishing threshold but below both the 215 million target abundance. 
Blue crabs are an area of concern for Experts are unsure of the reason for the drop in numbers, which is below the minimum number we’d like to see in the Bay. What they DO know is that the drop is NOT from overfishing but from other factors – ie: predation on juveniles/larvae y large fish (red drum) or environmental conditions

17. Shad 2014 – 44% of goal Increase from 41% in 2013
Data from the James, Potomac, Rappahannock, Susquehanna and York rivers
Data is compiled for Bay-wide shad figures from returning shad in five major rivers.
The Potomac River has seen the most consistent increase of returning shad, reaching 129 percent of that river’s target – and is the main driver for this increase.
Rappahannock = 89%
York River’s shad abundance = 23 percent of the target,
Lower James = 13%
Upper James = < 1%
Susquehanna < 1%

18. CBP partner conservation & restoration
2014 & 2015
CBP partner conservation & restoration
watershed-wide

19. CBP partner conservation & restoration
2014 & 2015
CBP partner conservation & restoration
watershed-wide

20. Questions?

21. 2014-2015 BB Highlights Abundant Life: Habitats
Between 2012 and 2015, 817 stream miles were opened to fish passage, including almost 300 miles in Virginia and more than 500 miles in Pennsylvania. This marks an 82 percent achievement of the 1,000-mile goal.
Between 2013 and 2014, the abundance of underwater grasses in the Chesapeake Bay rose 26 percent , from 59,711 to 75,835 acres. This marks an achievement of 41 percent of our 185,000-acre goal.
Abundant Life: Fish and Shellfish
Between 2014 and 2015, the abundance of adult female blue crabs in the Chesapeake Bay rose 47 percent, from 68.5 million to 101 million. This number is below the 215 million target but above the 70 million overfishing threshold.
Between 2000 and 2014, the abundance of American shad as measured in five Chesapeake Bay tributaries increased from 11 percent to 44 percent of the goal. The Potomac River has shown the most consistent rise in returning shad.
Clean Water
Between October 2013 and September 2014, nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment loads were below the long-term average: approximately 285 million pounds of nitrogen, 17.5 million pounds of phosphorus and million tons of sediment reached the Chesapeake Bay.
During the 2012 to 2014 assessment period, 34 percent of the water quality standards for dissolved oxygen, water clarity or underwater grasses, and chlorophyll a for the Chesapeake Bay and its tidal tributaries were met. While this is below the 100 percent attainment needed for a healthy Bay, it marks a 17 percent rise from the percentage of clean water criteria attained during the previous assessment period.

22. 2014-2015 BB Highlights Protected Lands
Between 2010 and 2013, close to 572,000 acres of land in the Chesapeake Bay watershed were permanently protected from development. This marks an achievement of 29 percent of the goal to protect an additional two million acres from the 2010 baseline, and brings the total amount of protected land in the watershed to million acres.
Engaged Communities
Between 2010 and 2014, 86 public access sites were opened in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, bringing the total number of access sites in the region to 1,225. Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania have seen the biggest increases in access sites during this time, at 40, 20 and 16 new sites, respectively. The cumulative watershed- wide total marks a 29 percent achievement of the goal to add 300 new access sites to the region.