Land Use, Change, and Forecasting
Land Use, Change, and Forecasting
Human activities and their associated impact on the landscape have significantly affected the condition of the Chesapeake Bay and its watershed. The USGS monitors land-cover change and simulates potential future development to help partners reduce the effects on water quality and habitats and to protect critical lands.
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Projecting stream conditions under future land-use and climate scenarios
Issue: Global change, particularly changes in land use and climate, is dramatically altering stream conditions throughout the world. Healthy streams are important for freshwater fisheries, wildlife, and public recreation. The Chesapeake Bay Program (CBP) has a goal of improving the health of streams throughout the Chesapeake Bay watershed, which includes an outcome of improving the condition of 10...
Videos Highlighting USGS Chesapeake Bay Activities
A list of Chesapeake Bay Program videos highlighting USGS Chesapeake Bay Activities.
USGS 3D Elevation Program Supports Science Activities in the Chesapeake Watershed
Increased acquisition of lidar in the Chesapeake Watershed The Chesapeake Bay Program has a critical need for enhanced land cover and land-use information to better inform restoration and conservation efforts throughout the watershed. An important component of land information is more detailed land elevation data, which are collected using lidar ( light detection and ranging), a remote sensing...
USGS develops novel approach to assess efficiency of stormwater management practices
Issue: Urban stormwater runoff is a rapidly increasing source of pollutants to Chesapeake Bay. It contributes on average 16 percent of the nitrogen, 16 percent of the phosphorus, and 25 percent of the sediment load to the bay annually. Urban stormwater best management practices (BMPs) (fig. 1) have been used in an effort to reduce the volume and improve the quality of stormwater runoff entering...
Temperature changes affecting brook trout populations
By the Numbers: 23 The maximum temperature, in degrees Celsius, that brook trout can tolerate.
Land Change Monitoring and Modeling
The USGS leads the effort through collaboration with Chesapeake Partners to monitor land change that can be used to assess the impacts land conversion on water quality, healthy watersheds, and communities
Stream temperature rising throughout the Chesapeake Bay region
U.S. Geological Survey research, published in the journal Climatic Change
Human development leads to a decline in stream health
Changes in stream flow and pollution have altered plant, insect and fish communities across the nation.