USGS Chesapeake Accomplishments and Highlights for 2022

Role of the USGS in the Chesapeake Bay Program

The USGS Chesapeake Science Strategy for 2021-25 has four themes:

• Theme 1: Develop an integrated understanding of the factors affecting stream health, fish habitat, and aquatic conditions.
• Theme 2: Assess the risks to coastal habitat and migratory waterbirds.
• Theme 3: Characterize land use to assess the vulnerability and resiliency of habitats and healthy watersheds. 
• Theme 4: Integrate science and inform decision making. 

USGS Chesapeake studies are supported by multiple USGS Mission Areas (Ecosystems, Water, Core Science Systems, and Hazards) and programs, collectively providing about $15M for monitoring and studies in Fiscal Year 2022. The integrated, multi-disciplinary projects and monitoring are carried out by scientists in multiple USGS Science Centers. USGS Chesapeake studies also collaborates with and informs work in other critical ecosystems across the country.

Accomplishments and Highlights for 2022

The accomplishments for 2022 reflect selected peer-reviewed results that are published in journals and USGS reports.  While these publications provide the methods and results, Chesapeake studies invests in translating and communicating the findings to be more effectively used by stakeholders to inform critical management decisions. Most of the highlights and accomplishments link directly to science summaries and press releases used to translate the USGS Chesapeake publications.

Fish Populations, Health, and Habitats

• Study of stream fishes provides new framework to monitor climate change in the Chesapeake Bay headwaters

• Assessing the habitat conditions to support freshwater fisheries in the Chesapeake Watershed

• Among the ‘last cold places,’ a fish defies climate change

• Estrogenic activity response to best management practice implementation in agricultural watersheds in the Chesapeake Bay watershed

• The statistical power to detect regional temporal trends in riverine contaminants in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed

Streams and Environmental Change

• Enhanced understanding of factors affecting stream condition can improve restoration outcomes

• Time marches on, but do factors driving instream habitat and biology remain consistent?

• Tracking Status and Trends in Seven Key Indicators of River and Stream Condition in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed

• Chesapeake Bay researchers go with the flow

Nutrients, Sediment, and Flow

• Chesapeake Bay sees smaller than average dead zone in 2022

• Water quality throughout the Chesapeake Bay watershed shows mixed results

• USGS calculates loads and trends through 2021 for the nine major rivers entering Chesapeake Bay

Factors Affecting Water Quality

• Greatest Opportunities for Future Nitrogen Reductions to the Chesapeake Bay Watershed are in Developed and Agricultural Areas

• USGS Chesapeake Publication Receives National Award for Superior Communication Product

• Unique 20-year study assesses ecosystem response to different types of stormwater management

• New study shows importance of streambank erosion and floodplain deposition on sediment, phosphorus, and nitrogen sources and transport in the Chesapeake watershed

Coastal Habitats

• USGS Part of New Federal Effort to Address Climate Change in the Chesapeake Watershed

• Progress Through Partnerships - Chesapeake Bay Vertical Land Motion Project

• A temporary boost to surviving trees in tidal freshwater swamps but steadily increasing salinity associated with sea-level rise ultimately creates ‘ghost forests’

Characterize Land Use and Change

• New high-resolution, land-use and change data improves decision-making in the Chesapeake Bay watershed

Integrate Science and Engage Partners

• A Science-Based Approach for Targeting Resources to Achieve Multiple Chesapeake Outcomes

• Bay Barometer provides progress on Chesapeake restoration effort

• USGS and CBP produce report to enhance Chesapeake Bay and watershed monitoring networks

For more information

• USGS Updates Chesapeake Science Strategy

• New video of USGS Science Strategy

• Sign up for the USGS Chesapeake Newsletter to keep up with our progress and new publications

• See the latest publications

• See our website for more information