Chesapeake Science Partners Produce Tributary Summaries Completed
Issue
The Chesapeake Bay Program (CBP) partnership is striving to improve water-quality conditions in the Bay and its tidal waters. The partnership needs to understand water-quality conditions in different tributaries to help assess the influence of nutrient-reduction practices and progress toward attaining water-quality standards.
Compilation of Tributary Basin Summaries
Several Chesapeake Bay science partners collaborated to compile tributary basin summaries for 12 major tributaries or tributary groups in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. These documents provide for each tributary:
- how tidal water quality has changed over time, and
- how factors expected to drive those patterns have changed over time.
- a vehicle to generate insights connecting changes in aquatic conditions to their drivers.
The partners who prepared the tributary summaries collaborated through the CBP Integrated Trends Assessment Team and included the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, United States Geological Survey, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, and Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, with additional support from Devereux Consulting.
All the materials for the tributary strategies have been posted on the Chesapeake Assessment Scenario Tool (CAST) Website https://cast.chesapeakebay.net/Home/TMDLTracking#tributaryRptsSection:
- Choptank (includes the Choptank, Little Choptank, and Honga) Summary, Appendix
- Potomac: Summary, Appendices, Story Map
- Maryland Mainstem (includes the five Chesapeake Bay mainstem segments within the Maryland state boundary. Drainage basins include the Susquehanna River and upper Chesapeake Bay shorelines) Summary, Appendix
- Maryland Upper Eastern Shore (includes the Northeast, Bohemia, Elk, Back Creek, Sassafras, and Chester Rivers, the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal, and Eastern Bay) Summary, Appendix
- Maryland Upper Western Shore (includes the Bush, Gunpowder, and Middle rivers) Summary, Appendix
- Maryland Lower Western Shore (includes the Magothy, Severn, South, Rhode, and West rivers) Summary, Appendix
- Patapsco and Back Summary, Appendix
- Patuxent (includes the Western Branch tributary) Summary, Appendix
- Rappahannock (includes the Corrotoman tributary) Summary, Appendices
- York (includes the Mattaponi and Pamunkey tributaries) Summary, Appendices
- James (includes the Appomattox, Chickahominy, and Elizabeth Tributaries) Summary, Appendix
- Lower E. Shore (includes the Nanticoke, Manokin, Wicomico, Big Annemessex, and Pocomoke Rivers, and Tangier Sound) Summary, Appendix
- Virginia Mainstem: Summary not available, Appendices
USGS Prepared Communication Product for the Potomac Tributary Strategy
The USGS prepared a story map to further communicate and illustrate the finding from the Potomac Tributary Summary.
Management Applications
The tributary summaries will help stakeholders understand which portions of their watersheds are affecting tidal waters, and how land use and management of those landscapes has changed. Having the information on changes in both the watershed and estuary in one document will help stakeholders focus management efforts.
The tributary summaries will also provide a valuable compilation that will inform development of new models of the Chesapeake and tidal waters. The CBP watershed and estuary models are used together to simulate response of water-quality to different nutrient reduction scenarios.
For More Information
Contact:
Jeni Keisman, USGS jkeisman@usgs.gov
Rebecca Murphy, UMCES-CBPO rmurphy@chesapeakebay.net
Posted on June 23, 2021
- Overview
Issue
The Chesapeake Bay Program (CBP) partnership is striving to improve water-quality conditions in the Bay and its tidal waters. The partnership needs to understand water-quality conditions in different tributaries to help assess the influence of nutrient-reduction practices and progress toward attaining water-quality standards.Compilation of Tributary Basin Summaries
Several Chesapeake Bay science partners collaborated to compile tributary basin summaries for 12 major tributaries or tributary groups in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. These documents provide for each tributary:
- how tidal water quality has changed over time, and
- how factors expected to drive those patterns have changed over time.
- a vehicle to generate insights connecting changes in aquatic conditions to their drivers.
The partners who prepared the tributary summaries collaborated through the CBP Integrated Trends Assessment Team and included the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, United States Geological Survey, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, and Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, with additional support from Devereux Consulting.
All the materials for the tributary strategies have been posted on the Chesapeake Assessment Scenario Tool (CAST) Website https://cast.chesapeakebay.net/Home/TMDLTracking#tributaryRptsSection:
Sources/Usage: Some content may have restrictions. View Media DetailsCreated by Angie Wei, Chesapeake Bay Program - Choptank (includes the Choptank, Little Choptank, and Honga) Summary, Appendix
- Potomac: Summary, Appendices, Story Map
- Maryland Mainstem (includes the five Chesapeake Bay mainstem segments within the Maryland state boundary. Drainage basins include the Susquehanna River and upper Chesapeake Bay shorelines) Summary, Appendix
- Maryland Upper Eastern Shore (includes the Northeast, Bohemia, Elk, Back Creek, Sassafras, and Chester Rivers, the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal, and Eastern Bay) Summary, Appendix
- Maryland Upper Western Shore (includes the Bush, Gunpowder, and Middle rivers) Summary, Appendix
- Maryland Lower Western Shore (includes the Magothy, Severn, South, Rhode, and West rivers) Summary, Appendix
- Patapsco and Back Summary, Appendix
- Patuxent (includes the Western Branch tributary) Summary, Appendix
- Rappahannock (includes the Corrotoman tributary) Summary, Appendices
- York (includes the Mattaponi and Pamunkey tributaries) Summary, Appendices
- James (includes the Appomattox, Chickahominy, and Elizabeth Tributaries) Summary, Appendix
- Lower E. Shore (includes the Nanticoke, Manokin, Wicomico, Big Annemessex, and Pocomoke Rivers, and Tangier Sound) Summary, Appendix
- Virginia Mainstem: Summary not available, Appendices
USGS Prepared Communication Product for the Potomac Tributary Strategy
The USGS prepared a story map to further communicate and illustrate the finding from the Potomac Tributary Summary.
Management Applications
The tributary summaries will help stakeholders understand which portions of their watersheds are affecting tidal waters, and how land use and management of those landscapes has changed. Having the information on changes in both the watershed and estuary in one document will help stakeholders focus management efforts.
The tributary summaries will also provide a valuable compilation that will inform development of new models of the Chesapeake and tidal waters. The CBP watershed and estuary models are used together to simulate response of water-quality to different nutrient reduction scenarios.
For More Information
Contact:
Jeni Keisman, USGS jkeisman@usgs.gov
Rebecca Murphy, UMCES-CBPO rmurphy@chesapeakebay.netPosted on June 23, 2021