ANNAPOLIS, MD - Governors from Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania gathered with various other officials Tuesday in what the Chesapeake Bay Program says may be the most important meeting for the Program since the 2014 Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement was originally signed a decade ago.
The Chesapeake Executive Council, which includes Governors Wes Moore, Glenn Youngkin, and Josh Shapiro, announced their plans to revise the Watershed Agreement on December 10th. The announcement follows the Chesapeake Bay Program acknowledging many of the goals of the original Watershed Agreement would not be met by the 2025 target date. A draft report was previously issued to adjust the goals of the agreement beyond 2025.
Based on the findings of that report, the Executive Council agreed to revise the Watershed Agreement by the end of the year and signed a directive to form a new Agricultural Advisory Committee. The Committee will serve as a voice for farmers across the Chesapeake Bay watershed and encourage a partnership on agricultural production and conservation, according to the Chesapeake Bay Program.
Martha Shimkin, Director of the Chesapeake Bay Program Office at the EPA has pointed to population growth and agricultural production as playing significant roles in the Program not meeting the 2025 goal.
Wes Moore was unanimously chosen to serve a second term as Chesapeake Executive Council Chair at Tuesday’s meeting. The Executive Council was formed in 1983 as part of the Chesapeake Bay Agreement of 1983.
“Today we laid the foundation for a new future for Chesapeake Bay restoration and strengthened our commitment to partnership,” Moore said. “We’re going to use the latest science to improve shallow water habitat, bolster wildlife populations and create new economic opportunities for all communities throughout the Bay watershed. We face a monumental task, but thanks to the leaders, scientists, workers and volunteers who worked to improve the Bay’s health for the previous four decades, we know what’s left to do and how to do it.”
In September, Maryland lawmakers gathered to address the failure to meet the 2025 goals. Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, Washington, D.C., West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New York are all part of the Chesapeake Executive Council.
And Tuesday, the executive council explained how they are looking 'Beyond 2025'. The 2025 deadline, established in 2014, will not be fully met, but progress has been made, particularly in improving wastewater treatment plants. Maryland’s Department of Natural Resources (DNR) suggested updates to the plan, including creating separate deadlines for individual goals.
“Moving forward over this next year, we’re gonna evaluate every one of these outcomes and we’re gonna say, you know, what about those timelines didn’t work? Where do we need to extend timelines? Where do we actually need to look at smaller bite-size timelines, right? Instead of saying maybe 10 years, well, maybe we reevaluate the outcomes at every four years,” said Josh Kurtz, Maryland’s secretary of natural resources.
The Chesapeake Bay Foundation emphasized challenges in meeting the original goals stemmed from the COVID-19 pandemic and an overemphasis on pollution reduction rather than leveraging successful efforts. They explained the need for a more integrated approach.
“There was a pandemic in the middle of these last set of goals, so a lot of restoration work had to stop. But also, if you look at the current agreement, there are 31 different outcomes. We think going forward, you need to look to see where are the co-benefits between those outcomes. Do we need to have all separate goals, which then can create silos in the work? Or would we be better served, as some people talked about, by focusing the work and looking for efficiencies?” said Alison Prost, vice president of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore highlighted the challenges posed by climate change, which has worsened conditions in the bay by warming waters, raising sea levels, and increasing runoff pollution.
“We know that more success is going to be required in order for us to accomplish our long-term goals. And so, we recognize that this work is more challenging due to climate change. The climate change is warming our waters, it is contributing to rising sea levels, it’s increasing runoff pollution. It’s adding complication to every single aspect of bay recovery,” Moore said.
Part of the updated plan encourages property owners to take steps to mitigate runoff, such as planting vegetative buffers.
“What are things that you can put on your property to slow that runoff? What are things that you can not put on your property that you don’t want going in that water? So, things like fertilizer, we’re thinking about manure containment. We’re thinking about buffers on streams, so trees, shrubs, plants are great absorbers,” said Kristin Reilly, director of the Clean Water Coalition.
Officials hope the new strategies will foster collaboration and accelerate progress in restoring the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem.
