A decade ago, states around the Chesapeake Bay signed an ambitious agreement to restore and protect the nation’s largest estuary.
The 2014 agreement outlined dozens of outcomes leaders hoped to achieve by 2025 – many of which the bay partners now agree won’t happen in time.
What happens next is unclear.
With the deadline looming, leaders in Virginia and throughout the watershed are now considering how to move forward with the Bay Agreement, while facing growing threats like climate change.
“It's a good time to take a step back and see where there are areas to improve,” said Jay Ford, Virginia policy director with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.
The nonprofit led a panel discussion in Virginia Beach this week called “Beyond 2025: How the Bay Agreement Can Impact Our Community.”
Ford started it off by noting that the agreement has changed a lot for the better over the last decade.
“It is in many ways one-of-a-kind, and something that has been unique and inspirational to others that are trying to tackle regional challenges for environmental impacts,” he said.
The Chesapeake Bay watershed covers about 64,000 square miles and touches six states and the District of Columbia. The effort to restore and protect the sprawling ecosystem from pollution stretches back decades.
In 2010, in order to settle a legal challenge from the Bay Foundation, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency established a so-called “pollution diet” for the bay, limiting the amount of nutrients that can enter local waterways from sources like farms and sewage plants. (This week, the EPA put out its most recent progress report, noting that most states are behind but catching up to meet these water quality goals.)
Four years later, state and federal partners signed the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement, which incorporated that pollution diet as well as a new list of 31 outcomes to voluntarily achieve by 2025.
A little over half of those outcomes are on track, including the rebound of oysters and blue crabs. But others are far behind, such as boosting wetlands, forests and underwater plants.
It’s not enough to simply extend the deadline, Ford said. Leaders need to be more forward-thinking in the restoration’s next phase.
Over the last decade, for instance, officials have learned a lot more about the science behind the changing climate and the far-reaching impacts it will have on the bay.
“Climate (change) is making it harder for us to hit our bay goals,” Ford said. “These two things are very closely related, and so better integrating climate response into the Bay Agreement has got to be a top priority.”
In December, the Chesapeake Executive Committee — including Gov. Glenn Youngkin — will meet and decide on what’s next.
In the meantime, a 29-member committee developed what they believe should be the path forward – starting with re-committing to the pact.
“This is a voluntary agreement, so it's not necessarily a done deal that all jurisdictions and all partners come back to the table,” Stefanie Taillon, Virginia’s deputy secretary of natural and historic resources and a member of the committee, said at Wednesday’s panel.
“So it's really important that we take the time time to say, ‘Hey, we're all still in this.’”
The committee also recommended that restoration efforts adapt to newer science, improve public communication and prioritize strategies that have multiple benefits in order to be more effective.
For example, planting trees simultaneously provides shade for people, helps prevent pollution and captures carbon dioxide otherwise released in the atmosphere.
The Beyond 2025 steering committee is accepting emailed public comments on its draft report through August 30 at comments@chesapeakebay.net.
