Chesapeake Bay Activities works with Mission Areas, Programs, Science Centers

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By Chesapeake Bay Activities April 13, 2018

The collaboration with USGS programs and mission areas provides the resources for USGS Chesapeake Bay studies. USGS Chesapeake Bay studies interact with multiple USGS programs where there is mutual benefit for the programs to meet their respective missions through funding projects that also meet the goals of Chesapeake Bay studies. USGS national programs fund both Bay-specific projects and national or regional projects where some of the activities are carried out within the Bay watershed and can help address the Watershed Agreement goals. Below is a summary of collaboration between USGS mission areas, programs, and Chesapeake Bay studies.

Ecosystem Mission Area

Terrestrial, Freshwater, and Marine Environments (TFME) Program—This program focuses on understanding the factors that control ecosystem structure, function, conditions, and provision of goods and services. Information from ecosystem research guides the design and evaluation of scientifically based strategies to manage and restore ecosystems and landscapes. Through collaboration with USGS Chesapeake Bay studies, the goals of this program are met by addressing the factors affecting the conditions of major aspects of the Bay ecosystem—fish, wildlife, habitats, and water quality—and using an adaptive management approach to target, monitor, and evaluate strategies for conservation and restoration.

Priority Ecosystem Science (PES) is part of the TFME Program—This activity coordinates USGS efforts to provide science for management and restoration of priority ecosystems in the Nation. The PES funds are focused on Chesapeake Bay-specific projects to address the needs of the Chesapeake Bay Program partners and are used to co-fund projects with other USGS National Programs.

Fisheries: Aquatic and Endangered Resources Program (FAER)—The FAER Program focuses on the study of aquatic organisms and aquatic habitat from the molecular genetics level to species and population interactions with the environment. Through collaboration with USGS Chesapeake Bay studies, the FAER mission is met by focusing on several research areas, including identifying the factors (disease, contaminants, and change of habitat) that affect the health of fish populations in the Bay watershed and the study of brook trout and their associated habitat.

Wildlife: Terrestrial and Endangered Species Program—This program supports research on diverse natural resource topics involving wildlife and their habitats, marine mammals, threatened and endangered species, and pollinators and plants. The mission of the program is met by research on factors affecting the decline, and potential approaches for restoration of selected migratory bird populations, including black ducks and their habitats.

Cooperative Research Units (CRU) Program—The CRU Program was established to enhance graduate education in fisheries and wildlife sciences and to facilitate research between natural resource managers and universities on topics of mutual concern. The mission of the CRU is met through studies of brook trout and other key fish and wildlife species in the Bay watershed.

Climate and Land-Use Change Mission Area

Land Change Science Program—The mission of this program is to understand the patterns, processes, and consequences of changes in land use, land condition, and land cover at multiple spatial and temporal scales, resulting from the interactions between human activities and natural systems. Through collaboration with USGS Chesapeake Bay studies, the program mission is met by research to understand and forecast the impact of human activities on the land surface, including the impact on water quality and habitat in the Bay watershed, and development and enhancement of land-change forecasting models and decision-support tools for resource managers.

Land Remote Sensing (LRS) Program—The LRS Program operates the Landsat satellites and provides the Nation's portal to the largest archive of remotely sensed land data in the world, supplying access to current and historical images. Through collaboration with USGS Chesapeake Bay studies, the goal of this program is met by providing land-cover characterization and change information for the Bay watershed.

U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) climate centers are being established to provide integrated climate models and research. USGS Chesapeake Bay studies will explore collaboration with proposed climate centers in the northeastern United States to address common topics in the Bay watershed.

Water Mission Area

Cooperative Water Program—The mission of the Cooperative Water Program is to provide reliable, impartial, and timely information needed to understand the Nation's water resources through a program of shared efforts and funding. The program has several high-priority issues that match issues in the Chesapeake Bay (water quality, data networks, water availability and use, wetlands and estuaries, and water resources in coastal zones). Through collaboration with USGS Chesapeake Bay studies, the program mission is met through enhanced surface-water monitoring, analysis, and modeling to document the occurrence, transport, and trends of sediment and nutrients in the streams of the Bay watershed and their delivery to the estuary.

National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program—The goal of the NAWQA Program is to develop long-term, consistent, and comparable information on streams, groundwater, and aquatic ecosystems to support sound management and policy decisions. Through collaboration with USGS Chesapeake Bay studies, the goal of the Cycle 3 of the program mission is met by applying regional SPARROW models to the Bay watershed, monitoring and understanding the factors affecting nutrients and sediment in major settings, and forecasting potential change(s) in water-quality conditions within the Bay watershed. The Program goals will also be addressed through the development of methods to backcast land-use conditions to better characterize historical changes in nutrients and sediment.

Groundwater and Streamflow Information Program—The USGS Groundwater and Streamflow Information Program supports the collection and (or) delivery of both streamflow and water-level information for more than 8,500 sites and water-level information alone for more than 1,700 additional sites. The data are served online—most in near realtime—to meet many diverse needs.

Energy and Minerals, and Environmental Health Mission Area

Contaminants Biology Program—This program investigates the effects of and exposure to environmental contaminants on the Nation's living resources, particularly those under the stewardship of the DOI. In collaboration with USGS Chesapeake Bay studies, the goal of the program is being addressed through study of the potential role of emerging contaminants and endocrine-disrupting compounds affecting the reproductive system of fish in the Bay watershed and birds in the watershed. (Energy and Minerals, and Environmental Health)

Toxic Substances Hydrology (Toxics) Program—The Toxics Program provides objective scientific information to improve characterization and management of contaminated sites, to protect human health, and to reduce potential future contamination problems. Through collaboration with USGS Chesapeake Bay studies, the goal of the program is met through study of the occurrence and fate of emerging contaminants that are impacting the reproductive systems of fish and birds.

Hazards Mission Area

Coastal and Marine Geology (C&M) Program—The C&M Program conducts research on changes in the coastal and marine environment, whether naturally occurring or human-induced. Through collaboration with USGS Chesapeake Bay studies, the C&M Program mission is being met by studying the impacts of direct groundwater delivery of nutrients to the estuarine waters of the Bay.

Core Science Systems Mission Area

National Geospatial Program (NGP)—The NGP organizes, maintains, and publishes the geospatial baseline of the Nation's topography, natural landscape, and built environment. The baseline is The National Map, a set of databases of map data and information from which customers can download data and derived map products and use Web-based map services. Through collaboration with USGS Chesapeake Bay studies, the mission of NGP is being achieved through improved management of core information and by improving data-sharing agreements between Federal, State, and local partners involved with the Chesapeake Bay Program.