The Upper Chester River watershed: Lessons learned from a focused, highly partnered, voluntary approach to conservation

Abstract

T he Chesapeake Bay has been the focus of restoration efforts for the past 30 years. The Chesapeake Bay watershed is 168,000 km2 (64,000 mi2) and is shared among six states—Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Delaware, West Virginia, and New York—and Washington, DC. In 2009, President Obama issued an Executive Order to Protect and Restore the Chesapeake Bay, outlining specific directives intended to meet water quality goals by 2025. Among other things, it directed the establishment and implementation of the Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL), often referred to as a “pollution diet,” which sets limits on nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment and divides those loads into individual states and watersheds. Each of the Chesapeake Bay states developed Watershed Implementation Plans (WIPs), detailing how they would meet the TMDLs for the watersheds in their states. The WIPs addressed all of the different sources of pollution that contributed to their nutrient and sediment loads and set specific goals for a set of Best Management Practices (BMPs) that would reduce the load to the TMDL levels by 2025. Further, the plans were divided into two-year milestones, so that the states could periodically measure their progress. The Executive Order strategy also established three showcase watersheds in…