Local Government Advisory Committee

1. Local Government Advisory Committee March 24-25, 2016 Carin Bisland, Associate Director Chesapeake Bay Program Office

2. Order of Topics • General Updates and Highlights • Budget • Bay Barometer

3. Updates and Highlights • Public comment period for workplans ended • Local Leadership Contract • Principals’ Staff Committee Meeting • Supreme Court Reaffirms Bay TMDL • Draft 2 year milestones • Chesapeake Progress Website. • EPA and other local Funding

4. Updates and Highlights • STAC Report on Roadside Ditches • Lower Susquehanna River Watershed Assessment • NOAA releases Harris Creek Oyster Report • Environmental Literacy State Cabinet Meeting

5. FY 2015 – 2017 EPA CBP Budget Highlights • FY 2015 - $73 million • FY 2016 - $73 million • FY 2017 (PresBud) - $70 million

6. FY 2016 EPA CBP Budget Highlights • $73 Million Total • $6 million - Innovative Nutrient and Sediment Reduction Grants • $6 million - Small Watershed Grants • $29.3 million - State Implementation and Accountability Program Grants • $12.6 million - Chesapeake Bay Implementation Grants (CBIG) • $11.2 million - Chesapeake Bay Regulatory and Accountability Grants (CBRAP) • $5.0 million - Local Government Assistance Grants • $4.9 million - State Tidal and Non-Tidal Monitoring Grants

7. FY 2016 EPA CBP Budget Highlights • $385,000 - SAV Monitoring Aerial Survey • $400,000 - Citizen Monitoring Network • $250,000 - High Resolution Land Cover Data • $285,000 - EFC Financing Workshops • $500,000 - State WIP Assistance Funds • $350,000 - BMP Expert Panels • $900,000 - Goal Team Funding for Workplan Implementation

8. How’s the Bay Doing?Challenges & Opportunities 2014-2015 Bay Barometer www.Chesapeakebay.net

9. At a Glance…

10. Water quality, watershed-wide 3 aspects to consider: • Results of CBP partners effort to improve water quality by reducing nitrogen, phosphorus, sediment (estimated data) • Rivers: Actual nitrogen, phosphorus, sediment in rivers (monitoring data) • Bay: Actual water quality in tidal Bay(monitoring data)

11. Restoration efforts: Reducing Nitrogen & Phosphorus 2014 estimates of CBP partners’ progress (2015 data expected spring 2016) Decreased by 18% to 15.8 million lbs Decreased by 6% to 266.8 million lbs

12. Restoration efforts: Reducing Sediment Decreased by 4% to 8.35 million lbs 2014 estimates of CBP partners’ progress (2015 data expected spring 2016)

13. River data Precipitation affects river flow (blue line) and the amount of nutrients and sediment that wash downstream 2014 river flow was average

14. Bay (tidal) Water Quality 34% for 2012-14 period(up from 29% in 2011-13) • 92 segments of tidal Bay evaluated using: • 3 pieces of monitoring data for each: • Dissolved oxygen • Chlorophyll a (algae) • Water clarity as measured by underwater grass abundance

15. Underwater Grasses 2014 - 75,835 acres in the Bay an increase of more than 16,000 acres from 2013

16. Blue Crabs(abundance of adult spawning age females) 2015 – 101 million 2014 – 68.5 million This number is above the 70 million overfishing threshold but below both the 215 million target abundance. 

17. Shad 2014 – 44% of goal Increase from 41% in 2013 Data from the James, Potomac, Rappahannock, Susquehanna and York rivers

18. 2014 & 2015 CBP partner conservation & restoration watershed-wide

19. 2014 & 2015 CBP partner conservation & restoration watershed-wide

20. Questions?

21. 2014-2015 BB Highlights • Abundant Life: Habitats • Between 2012 and 2015, 817 stream miles were opened to fish passage, including almost 300 miles in Virginia and more than 500 miles in Pennsylvania. This marks an 82 percent achievement of the 1,000-mile goal. • Between 2013 and 2014, the abundance of underwater grasses in the Chesapeake Bay rose 26 percent , from 59,711 to 75,835 acres. This marks an achievement of 41 percent of our 185,000-acre goal. • Abundant Life: Fish and Shellfish • Between 2014 and 2015, the abundance of adult female blue crabs in the Chesapeake Bay rose 47 percent, from 68.5 million to 101 million. This number is below the 215 million target but above the 70 million overfishing threshold. • Between 2000 and 2014, the abundance of American shad as measured in five Chesapeake Bay tributaries increased from 11 percent to 44 percent of the goal. The Potomac River has shown the most consistent rise in returning shad. • Clean Water • Between October 2013 and September 2014, nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment loads were below the long-term average: approximately 285 million pounds of nitrogen, 17.5 million pounds of phosphorus and 3.62 million tons of sediment reached the Chesapeake Bay. • During the 2012 to 2014 assessment period, 34 percent of the water quality standards for dissolved oxygen, water clarity or underwater grasses, and chlorophyll a for the Chesapeake Bay and its tidal tributaries were met. While this is below the 100 percent attainment needed for a healthy Bay, it marks a 17 percent rise from the percentage of clean water criteria attained during the previous assessment period.

22. 2014-2015 BB Highlights • Protected Lands • Between 2010 and 2013, close to 572,000 acres of land in the Chesapeake Bay watershed were permanently protected from development. This marks an achievement of 29 percent of the goal to protect an additional two million acres from the 2010 baseline, and brings the total amount of protected land in the watershed to 8.37 million acres. • Engaged Communities • Between 2010 and 2014, 86public access sites were opened in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, bringing the total number of access sites in the region to 1,225. Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania have seen the biggest increases in access sites during this time, at 40, 20 and 16 new sites, respectively. The cumulative watershed-wide total marks a 29 percent achievement of the goal to add 300 new access sites to the region.