Chesapeake Bay Watershed - Protecting the Chesapeake Bay and its rivers through science, restoration, and partnership

General Information Product 142
Prepared in cooperation with The Chesapeake Bay Program
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Abstract

The Chesapeake Bay, the Nation's largest estuary, has been degraded due to the impact of human-population increase, which has doubled since 1950, resulting in degraded water quality, loss of habitat, and declines in populations of biological communities. Since the mid-1980s, the Chesapeake Bay Program (CBP), a multi-agency partnership which includes the Department of Interior (DOI), has worked to restore the Bay ecosystem. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has the critical role of providing unbiased scientific information that is utilized to document and understand ecosystem change to help assess the effectiveness of restoration strategies in the Bay and its watershed. The USGS revised its Chesapeake Bay science plan for 2006-2011 to address the collective needs of the CBP, DOI, and USGS with a mission to provide integrated science for improved understanding and management of the Bay ecosystem. The USGS science themes for this mission are: Causes and consequences of land-use change; Impact of climate change and associated hazards; Factors affecting water quality and quantity; Ability of habitat to support fish and bird populations; and Synthesis and forecasting to improve ecosystem assessment, conservation, and restoration.

Study Area

Publication type Report
Publication Subtype USGS Numbered Series
Title Chesapeake Bay Watershed - Protecting the Chesapeake Bay and its rivers through science, restoration, and partnership
Series title General Information Product
Series number 142
DOI 10.3133/gip142
Year Published 2012
Language English
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Publisher location Reston, VA
Contributing office(s) Eastern Geographic Science Center
Description 1 p.
Country United States
State Delaware, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia
Other Geospatial Chesapeake Bay Watershed
Online Only (Y/N) Y
Google Analytic Metrics Metrics page
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