By Stephen Smoot
Over 40 years ago, the Chesapeake Bay Program emerged as the foundation of efforts to reduce pollutants in its watershed with the goal of restoring wildlife in the Bay and in streams emptying into it.
Under Governor Cecil Underwood almost 30 years ago, West Virginia joined the coalition of jurisdictions within the watershed, Virginia, New York, Delaware, Maryland, the District of Columbia, and Pennsylvania. In exchange for access to grant funding that has helped, for example, to upgrade sewer systems waste treatment plants, the Mountain State wedded itself to the program and its efforts.
By 2014, the Program included a Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement that established goals, expected outcomes, management practices, and more to “protect, restore, and enhance finfish, shellfish, and other living resources, their habitats, and ecological relationships to sustain all fisheries and provide for a balanced ecosystem in the watershed and Bay.”
This year will see an updated watershed draft agreement come up for approval.
Chesapeake Bay’s watershed includes all normally contiguous bodies of water, approximately 180,000 miles total, that flow towards and into the Chesapeake Bay.
Notably, West Virginia over much of the past decade has outperformed all other states in the program in terms of reducing pollutants from industrial, agricultural, and other sources. At the same time, algae blooms that fed off of pollutants have decreased while populations of blue crab and other species expanded.
The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection and the West Virginia Department of Agriculture had partners in achieving this success. Under Dale Walker and other leaders, the West Virginia Poultry Association worked with members to successfully implement techniques that more precisely deployed manure into fields to reduce runoff into streams eventually feeding the Bay.
All other states followed the United States Environmental Protection Agency recommended punitive laws, regulations, and rules that emphasized punishing polluters, even accidental ones. West Virginia wisely refused the federal advice and has seen its system of incentives, reliance on third-party organizations instead of government agencies, inclusion of cooperating local governments and institutions, and voluntary participation fare much better.
The new draft agreement’s opening statement would seem to reflect that, stating “one of the most important lessons the partners have learned from the past four decades is that although watershed-wide partnerships can help to coordinate and catalyze progress, implementation is locally inspired and driven.”
As other states continue to struggle to meet mandates, West Virginia’s success would seem to be a vital factor in returning populations of wildlife in the Bay to more sustainable levels.
The new agreement looks ahead to a major reassessment milestone, stating that “in 2040, the partnership will come together to formally assess our progress and amend this agreement to ensure work reflects our shared vision.”
As the Program looks to 2040, it will seek to expand some of the mandates and standards that govern the amount of “load” of pollutants that the watershed can carry to the Bay.
The Program lists in both the 2014 and 2025 drafts a number of principles that will guide its activities. Most of them cover the same ground and some build upon ideas stated earlier. For example, in 2014 the Program sought to explore the use of social science techniques to assist with implementation and community reaction.
The 2025 document shares that the Program will integrate social science into administration, outreach, and implementation. In general, the principles are drawn from three categories: science (including social), working with changing environment, social, and government conditions to promote restoration and conservation, and partnerships.
An odd addition to the draft agreement states that it will “include tribal nations in the partnership in a manner that appropriately considers their unique status as independent sovereign nations and as original stewards of the land” without defining precisely what that means under law. It could potentially open the door to vague legal issues involving American Indian nations outside of the lands currently reserved for their use.
Goals and outcomes form the next section of the draft. The first of the four addresses “thriving habitat, fisheries, and wildlife.” Under the overall stated goal of “protect, restore and sustain fisheries and wildlife, as well as the network of land and water habitats they depend on,” the draft lists desired outcomes for a number of different important species in both the Bay and the watershed.
In 2014, the desired outcome for blue crab lay in keeping “a sustainable blue crab population based on the current 2012 target of 215 million adult females. This year and moving forward, the abundance and harvest rate desired outcomes will come from “the most recent benchmark status assessment.”
An outcome aimed more at West Virginia and other mountain areas with cold water streams more than the Bay focuses on brook trout. The Mountain State’s official state fish has seen its habitat and numbers expand in the South Branch Valley and other areas. The book trout focus will be shared in another story published in this edition.
Fish habitats in tidal and non-tidal streams have specific benchmarks to meet. The agreement calls for improvement of “270 miles of waters impaired by acid mine damage,” to “restore passage and connectivity to at least 150 miles of aquatic habitat every two years”, and “improve the health and the ecological integrity of at least an additional 4,340 (approximately three percent) nontidal stream miles every six years.
Other outcomes focused on oyster populations, submerged aquatic vegetation in salt water, and to “restore or create at least 3,000 acres and enhance 15,000 acres” of both tidal and nontidal wetlands by 2040.
Another major goal could affect municipal and public service district wastewater facilities throughout the Chesapeake Bay region. That lies in “reducing excess nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment.”
Town of Franklin administrator Frank Wehrle in recent years has warned residents and elected officials alike that new phosphorus targets would eventually come from the federal government. He and Town of Franklin officials have worked to upgrade Franklin’s wastewater treatment plant to meet or exceed expected standards before the new mandates come into enforcement.
According to the 2025 Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement, “those water quality standards support living resources and protect human health, as required by the Clean Water Act.
By 2030, interim water quality planning targets must be met through “implementation of . . . two-year milestone commitments and other innovative strategies to achieve and maintain reduced levels of nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment.”
In 2030, federal officials will “revise the planning targets approved . . . for nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment incorporating the latest watershed modeling” and also “develop new or amended Watershed Implementation Plans to meet the updated targets by 2040.” In general, the goal is to “maintain or exceed the rate of improvement” seen in the years between 1985 and 2022.
An area in which West Virginia already contributes to good outcomes lies in healthy forests and landscape outcomes. The agreement foresees “a net gain in forests over the long-term by reducing the rate of forest conversion to other land uses by 33 percent” and “planting, maintaining, and managing 202,000 acres of new forests by 2040.
For many years, the Mountain State has seen trees reproducing at twice the rate of cutting and natural death, even as blights laid waste to entire species of trees in parts of eastern West Virginia. It currently ranks as one of the most forested states in the union at just under 80 percent forest coverage.
Other outcomes and goals focused on community relations and similar themes.
