Partners of the Chesapeake Bay Program will meet in Annapolis on Thursday, October 16 for an intensive working session to expand use of the Chesapeake Action Plan (CAP) as a tool to guide restoration and protection of the Bay and its watershed. The CAP was completed in July and now partners will focus on how to best utilize its components, such as the database of funding and projects and the system for adaptive management.

During the upcoming session, partners will be asked to envision how the information in the CAP can be used. Questions will be posed, including:

• What insights can be gained from the information in CAP?
• How will the information help management of the Bay Program?
• How might discussions, decisions and actions change as this information is used?
• Where do the partners want to be in use of the CAP in one year? In five years?

The meeting will also include a discussion of the reorganization of the Chesapeake Bay Program. A new structure for organization was approved by the Principals’ Staff Committee in September and the partners will now focus on next steps and the role of a transition team. Identifying where, when and how partners need to participate in the reorganization process is also a goal of the meeting.

For more information, contact Diana Esher at 215-814-2706 or Greg Allen at 410-267-5746.

One of the most powerful tools of the Chesapeake Action Plan is the Activity Integration Database, which compiles the funding of restoration activities by numerous agencies. A look at the funding data reveals some interesting facts that are presented below. This information shows how valuable the CAP database already has become in analyzing the restoration effort. It certainly allows agencies and organizations to see where the money is being spent and evaluate their projects in the context of the big picture. 

Now for a few facts and graphics:

• The goal area of Restoring Healthy Waters accounted for 84 percent of funds spent by partners who entered data in the CAP Activity Integration Plan database.
  

• 77 percent of the funds spent on Restoring Health Waters went toward Wastewater Treatment projects.

• Federal agencies funding accounted for almost 20 percent of the total reported funds in 2007, while state agencies accounted for about 80 percent of the total funds.

• 63 percent of funding from the EPA Chesapeake Bay Program Office went toward Restoring Healthy Waters, with 65 percent of that funding being spent on water quality issues.

In future years, as even more agencies, local governments and watershed organizations contribute data to the CAP, it will be extremely informative and help increase coordination of the restoration work.

Welcome to the new online forum for updates on the Chesapeake Action Plan (CAP). As the CAP is expanded and put into action, there is a need to regularly share information and create dialogue between Chesapeake Bay Program partners and many others who have a stake in restoration and protection of the watershed.

This webpage will be used to post updates on CAP progress and news, with many of the updates written by staff who are working closest to the issues. An online forum was chosen because it allows for easy access to past updates, prevents you from receiving more emails and enables the posting of relevant documents, photos, multimedia content and links to other websites.

But most importantly, this online forum allows for discussion on the CAP. After each posting, you can click on “Comments” to share your thoughts or respond to a question. This interactive process will help the Bay Program partnership to develop the CAP in a way that best fits your needs and moves us toward our goal of restoring and protecting the Chesapeake Bay watershed.