Draft Strategy for Protecting and Restoring the Chesapeake Bay

The draft strategy for the Chesapeake Bay just came out today and although I haven't read all 99 pages yet the summary version gave some good insights into what might be in the full draft. For those of you who haven't heard about this, in May 2009 President Obama released an executive order stating that the Chesapeake Bay is a priority for the federal government. The strategy for the bay is very comprehensive and supports three main areas:

• Restore Clean Water
• Conserve treasured places and restore habitats, fish, and wildlife
• Adapt to the impacts of climate change

These actions will be achieved through the following means:

• Empower local efforts
• Decision-making through science
• New era of federal leadership

The main strategy is to develop a TMDL for the entire bay that will set pollutant limits for N, P, and sediment. Agriculture will play a big part in the restoration of the bay and will likely face greater pressure to reduce N, P, and sediment contributions to local waterways. It is unclear what the new world might look like for agriculture, but the more proactive we can be the better. Below is a link to the Chesapeake Bay Executive Order web site that has the full report and a shorter summary. There is a 60 day comment period on this report so get involved.

http://executiveorder.chesapeakebay.net/