Identification of Lands Important for Protecting Water Quality and Watershed Integrity in the Chesapeake Bay

"Restoring the Chesapeake Bay is an enormous challenge. Aggressive efforts are underway to restore critical areas and reduce or mitigate pollution sources.  The Chesapeake 2000 Agreement offered a new blueprint for restoration that brought unprecedented focus on the need for conservation of valuable lands in order to meet long-term water quality and living resource goals. Resource lands (forests, farms, and wetlands) are under stress from both land use change and environment conditions.  The Chesapeake Bay Program was charged with identifying the resource lands in the Chesapeake Bay watershed that have the highest water quality, habitat, cultural and economic values and are the most vulnerable to loss. 

To identify the forests and wetlands most important for protecting and maintaining water quality and watershed integrity, a GIS-based model was developed to integrate various data sources (e.g., slope, soils, floodplains, potential wetland function, impervious surface, etc.), map the coincident areas that are directly or indirectly related to protecting or maintaining water quality (e.g., steep slopes, highly erodible soils, etc.), and highlight the areas that are a priority for conservation management.  A total of 12 variables were mapped and assessed in this model, with seven being analyzed at a 30 meter cell resolution and four being summarized by 11-digit watershed.  The variables were broken down into classes based on their influence on water quality and weighted for emphasis.  All variables were summed and mapped, highlighting important lands to conserve for the protection of water quality and maintenance of watershed integrity in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.  Vulnerability was determined using a combination of housing unit and impervious surface change extended by relative commuting distance from nodes or "hot spots" of change." [Abstract from Conference Program and Book of Abstracts]

[Concurrent Session I-G: Water Quality]

[Presented at "Emerging Issues Along Urban/Rural Interfaces: Linking Science and Society", a conference held March 13-16, 2005 in Atlanta, GA (US)]