Healthy Watersheds. Many small watersheds in the Bay region are currently healthy but also at risk of degradation as the demand for local lands and resources increases. Promoting the long- term conservation and protection of healthy watershed systems through stakeholder engagement, collaboration and education is critical to the health of the larger ecosystem. GOAL: Sustain state-identified healthy waters and watersheds recognized for their high quality and/or high ecological value. 🡒 Healthy Watersheds Outcome 100 percent of state-identified currently healthy waters and watersheds remain healthy. 9
Healthy Watersheds. Many small watersheds in the Bay region are currently healthy but are at risk of degradation as the demand for local lands and resources increases. Promoting the long-term conservation and protection of healthy watershed systems through stakeholder engagement, collaboration and education is critical to the health of the larger ecosystem. Goal: Sustain state-identified healthy waters and watersheds, recognized for their exceptional quality and/or high ecological value. Healthy Waters Outcome: By 2025, 100% of state-identified currently healthy water and watersheds remain healthy. Goals and Outcomes: Land Conservation The landscapes around the Bay and its tributaries are ecologically, culturally, historically and recreationally valuable to the people and communities of the region. Stimulating, renewing and expanding commitments to conserve priority lands for use and enjoyment is an integral part of furthering the watershed’s identity and spirit. Goal: Conserve landscapes treasured by citizens in order to maintain water quality and habitat; sustain working forests, farms and maritime communities; and conserve lands of cultural, indigenous and community value. Protected Lands Outcome: By 2025, protect an additional two million acres of lands throughout the watershed currently identified as high-conservation priorities at the federal, state or local level, including 225,000 acres of wetlands and 695,000 acres of forest land of highest value for maintaining water quality. (2010 baseline year)
Healthy Watersheds. Many small watersheds in the Bay region are currently healthy but are at risk of degradation as the to the health of the larger ecosystem. Comment [cpb8]: NEW: Intro developed by GIT Staff. EB edited this and all GIT intro text for consistency of voice and structure. All intros now state issue, offer solution that supports reason for Goal Goal: Sustain state-identified healthy waters and watersheds, recognized for their exceptional quality and/or high ecological value. demand for local lands and resources increases. Promoting the long-term conservation and protection of healthy watershed systems through stakeholder engagement, collaboration and education is critical • Healthy Waters Outcome: By 2025, 100% of state-identified currently healthy water and watersheds remain healthy. Land Conservation part of furthering the watershed’s identity and spirit. Comment [cpb9]: NEW: Intro developed by GIT Staff. EB edited this and all GIT intro text for consistency of voice and structure. All intros now state issue, offer solution that supports reason for Goal The landscapes around the Bay and its tributaries are ecologically, culturally, historically and recreationally valuable to the people and communities of the region. Stimulating, renewing and expanding commitments to conserve these important lands for use and enjoyment is an integral Goal: Conserve landscapes treasured by citizens in order to maintain water quality and habitat; sustain working forests, farms and maritime communities; and conserve lands of cultural, indigenous and community value. • Protected Lands Outcome: By 2025, protect an additional two million acres of lands throughout the watershed currently identified as high conservation priorities at the federal, state or local level; including 225,000 acres of wetlands and 695,000 acres of forest land of highest value for maintaining water quality. (2010 baseline year)
Healthy Watersheds. Many small watersheds in the Bay region are currently healthy but are at risk of degradation as the demand for local lands and resources increases. Promoting the long-term conservation and protection of healthy watershed systems through stakeholder engagement, collaboration and education is critical to the health of the larger ecosystem. Goal: Sustain state-identified healthy waters and watersheds, recognized for their exceptional high quality and/or high ecological value. Healthy Waters Outcome: By 2025, 100% of state-identified currently healthy water and watersheds remain healthy. Stewardship [Introductory language] Goal: Increase the number and diversity of local citizen stewards and local governments that actively support and carry out the conservation and restoration activities that achieve healthy local streams and a vibrant Chesapeake Bay.
Healthy Watersheds. Outcome: 100 percent of state-identified currently healthy waters and watersheds remain healthy. Progress: Each of the six watershed states and the District of Columbia have different definitions of healthy waters and watersheds in which they use to track and support protection. Implementing these conservation practices: • Agricultural forest buffers. • Forest conservation. • Urban forest buffers. • Urban growth reduction. • Urban stream restoration. Will also benefit these outcomes! • Protected lands. • Biodiversity habitat. • Xxxxx xxxxx. • Stream health. • Fish habitat. • Forage fish. • Flood mitigation. • Recreation. What should I know about healthy watersheds? • It’s important to know where the healthy watersheds in your community and state are located. • Designing conservation practices to reduce vulnerability to healthy waters can lessen land use change, offset future urban growth, increase land protection and reduce water demand and withdrawals. • Conservation practices that protect healthy watersheds provide several co- benefits. Protected Lands Outcome: By 2025, protect an additional two million acres of lands throughout the watershed – currently identified as high conservation priorities at the federal, state or local level – including 225,000 acres of wetlands and 695,000 acres of forest land of highest value for maintaining water quality. Progress: As of 2015 – 2016, fifty percent of the outcome had been achieved. Implementing these conservation practices: • Agricultural forest buffers. • Forest conservation. • Urban forest buffers. Also benefit these outcomes! • Biodiversity and habitat. • Wetlands. • Healthy watersheds. • Land use metrics and methods. • Fish habitat. • Climate adaption. • Forest buffers. • Recreation. What should I know about protected lands? • Preserving lands increase the economic benefits generated by the outdoor recreation industry and improves human health and well-being through regularity of spending time in nature. • Local economies are buoyed by tourism to preserve historic, cultural and heritage sites and landscapes. • The Chesapeake Bay Program is perfecting for the first time a set of new “Conservation Plus Best Management Practices” with estimated pollution load reductions for the retention of high quality forests, agricultural lands, and growth management. These new conservation practices will be available for localities projected to experience future growth and development to consider in preparing their Phase I...
Healthy Watersheds. The Healthy Watersheds Goal and Outcome seem to be limited to an anti-degradation approach for current healthy and exemplary watersheds. There is also a need for goals and outcomes to increase the health of watersheds that have lost their former exceptional quality and high ecological value. Again, to achieve such goals, strategies will be needed to prioritize related efforts for optimal cost-benefits. State Water Quality Advisory Committee – August 7, 2013 GIT 4 RESOLVED GIT-approved recommendation: No change. The healthy watersheds goal and outcome, focused as they are on protection of currently healthy resources, complement other proposed restoration goals and outcomes, especially those proposed for stream restoration While goal statements are generally broad, the underlying outcomes are typically very narrowly focused and not sufficient to meet the stated goals The Healthy Watersheds goal and outcome are particularly narrowly focused and would better be identified as one of many strategies to achieve the Water Quality and Land Conservation Goals. VIMS, 8-15-13 GIT 4 RESOLVED GIT-approved recommendation: No change. The healthy watersheds goal and outcome, focused as they are on protection of currently healthy resources, complement other proposed restoration goals and outcomes, including water quality restoration. Also, the view of the Goal Team is that protected healthy watersheds have an intrinsic value of their own sufficient to justify a separate goal and outcome in the new Bay Agreement. Healthy Waters Outcome: By 2025 100% of state-identified currently healthy waters and watersheds remain healthy.” I think this is a partial goal only and could lead to a great loss in cost effectiveness of restoration efforts. Current methods to assess stream health are statistical, sampling only a fraction of streams. However, these are also the means of identifying healthy waters for maintaining high quality, implying that many high quality waters are unidentified. Restoration efforts are expensive while preservation efforts cost nearly nothing: just don’t increase impervious surface area. Failure to identify and preserve all high quality waters means that expensive restoration efforts must be greater for Xxxxx Xxxxxx, 8- 14-13 GIT 4 RESOLVED GIT-approved recommendation: no change. The proposal to assess unassessed waters is a good one, states have programs to extend monitoring programs to unassessed waters as budgets allow and those programs will, presumably, add...
Healthy Watersheds. Many small watersheds in the Bay region are currently healthy but are at risk of degradation as the demand for local lands and resources increases. Promoting the long-term conservation and protection of healthy watershed systems through stakeholder engagement, collaboration and education is critical to the health of the larger ecosystem. Goal: Sustain state-identified healthy waters and watersheds, recognized for their exceptional high quality and/or high ecological value. • Healthy Waters Outcome: By 2025, 100% of state-identified currently healthy water and watersheds remain healthy. [April 13-14: PSC approved edits]
Healthy Watersheds. Sustain state-identified healthy waters and watersheds, recognized for their high quality and/or high ecological value.
Healthy Watersheds. Sustain state-identified healthy waters and watersheds, recognized for their exceptional quality and/or high ecological value. Healthy Waters Outcome: 100% of state-identified healthy waters & watersheds remain healthy. Land Conservation Conserve landscapes treasured by citizens in order to maintain water quality and habitat; sustain working forests, farms and maritime communities; and conserve lands of cultural, indigenous and community value. Protected Lands Outcome: By 2025, protect an additional two million acres of lands identified as high- conservation priorities at the federal, state or local level, including highest value for water quality.
