Chesapeake Bay Program

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The Chesapeake Bay Program is the regional partnership that directs and conducts the restoration of the Chesapeake Bay. As a partnership, the Chesapeake Bay Program brings together members of various state, federal, academic and local watershed organizations to build and adopt policies that support Chesapeake Bay restoration. By combining the resources and unique strengths of each individual organization, the Chesapeake Bay Program is able to follow a unified plan for restoration.

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[edit] History

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Congress funded scientific and estuarine research of the Chesapeake Bay, which pinpointed three areas that required immediate attention:

In 1983, the governors of Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania; the mayor of the District of Columbia; and the administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency signed The Chesapeake Bay Agreement of 1983 [1]. From this act the Chesapeake Bay Program was formed.

[edit] Evolution

Since the signing of The Chesapeake Bay Agreement of 1983, the Chesapeake Bay Program has adopted two additional agreements that provide overall guidance for Chesapeake Bay restoration.

  • The 1987 Chesapeake Bay Agreement [2] established the Chesapeake Bay Program's goal to reduce the amount of nutrients--primarily nitrogen and phosphorus--that enter the Chesapeake Bay by 40 percent by 2000. In 1992, the Chesapeake Bay Program partners agreed to continue the 40 percent reduction goal beyond 2000 and to attack nutrients at their source: upstream, in the Chesapeake Bay's tributaries.
  • In June 2000, the Chesapeake Bay Program adopted Chesapeake 2000 [3], an agreement intended to guide restoration activities throughout the Chesapeake Bay watershed through 2010. Chesapeake 2000 also provided the opportunity for Delaware, New York and West Virginia to become more involved in the Chesapeake Bay Program partnership. These headwater states now work with the Chesapeake Bay Program to reduce nutrients and sediment flowing into rivers from their jurisdictions.

[edit] Partners

[edit] Signatories to the Chesapeake Bay Agreement

[edit] Headwater State Partners

[edit] Federal Agency Partners

[edit] Academic Institution Partners

[edit] More Partners