State of the Chesapeake Bay Program

Nick DiPasquale, CBP Director, EPAExecutive Council Annual Meeting

June 16, 2014

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Topics for today

Highlights 2012-14

Funding update

Increased collaboration

Aligning of goals/outcomes

Restoration Progress

Looking Ahead

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• FY13 ($54 mil) FY14 ($70 mil)• State Grants

• Almost 80% of increase going to state grants

• Local government “set-aside” for implementation ($5 million)

• Increase for New Agreement

− Headwaters states

− Signatory states

• Restore monitoring funding to FY12 levels

FY2014 EPA’s CBP Budget

www.chesapeakebay.net

$20

$30

$40

$50

$60

$70

$80

2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

Enacted

President's Budget Request

Chesapeake Bay Program Funding(in millions)

E.O. 13508

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FY2014 EPA’s CBP Budget (cont’d)

• Other Investment Areas• Goal Implementation Team Support

− Management Strategy Development

− Implementation Projects & Tools

• BMP Expert Panels

• BMP Verification Programs

• CAST/FAST Tools

• Climate Change

• Citizen Monitoring Initiative

• FY2015 - $73 million Presidential Budget Request

Increased Collaboration Internally across issues/Goal Teams

- Fisheries – bringing habitat into the work- Habitats – providing info to all on “services” offered by various habitats- Water Quality – a foundation for habitats and creatures- Healthy Watersheds – identifying healthy sub- watersheds and educating teams about them- Stewardship – connecting people, places and science

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Increased Collaboration - Example

GIT Collaboration: Harris Creek Oyster Restoration Efforts

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Alignment

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Stage 1: Align Interests, Priorities, & Efforts

Stage 2: Develop Negotiation Protocols for Establishing New Agreement

Stage 3: Negotiate New AgreementStage 4: Implement New Agreement

Four-stages over last 2 yrs

The New Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement

Clarity• Clearer goals and more well

defined outcomes than previous agreements

Flexibility• Allow us to adapt our thinking and

management decisions to adjust to changing conditions and circumstances

Transparency & Accountability• Partners set priorities & commit

resources through management strategies

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Accomplishm

ents

Communicating partners’ work – in print

Accomplishm

ents

• 5,000,000 = views of website since 2012• 5,000 = single day high for views• 3,800+ = views of 6 blog posts on indicators of

Bay health and restoration successes• 9000 = views of top three videos in 2013

Social media reach grew 54% on average in 2013

- Facebook alone grew 145% !

Communicating partners’ work

www.chesapeakebay.net

(Bay 101 & Unscripted Series - most viewed by teachers, students, others)

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Accomplishm

ents

2012-13Health

&Restoration

At A Glance

Accomplishm

ents – Overall

• Crabs are not overfished

• Shad show a positive return

• Bay grasses challenged & resilient

• Chemical contaminants a concern

• Water quality still challenged

Accomplishm

ents-- Science

Accomplishm

ents – Partners’ Efforts

CBP partners progress to reduce Nitrogen – 2013 estimate

Accomplishm

ents-- Partners’

Efforts

28% of N target achieved

Approximately 262.38 million pounds nitrogen delivered to Bay in 2013, down from 282.66 in 2009

Improving locally, long term

Flow adjustedmonitoring

trends(1985-2012)

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= Less N flowing in / improving trend

ian.umces.edu/link/newinsights

Accomplishm

ents

A collaborative project

Science-based evidence of water quality

improvements, challenges and opportunities

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Looking Forward New Climate Change Coordinator• Will work across all issues/GITs• Brings climate change lens to all the partnership’s efforts

Toxics • Strengthen our research efforts• Identify BMPs that can also reduce toxics• Consider additional policies, programs, practices

ChesapeakeStat• Redesign underway • Will focus on Agreement implementation & tracking progress

Development of Management Strategies• More than 20 strategies to be developed in the next year• Implementation has already begun in some cases• Commitment to openness, transparency & public input