The select areas component of COAST provides CBP partners with information on the geographic areas where enhanced management actions could provide the greatest benefit to restore and protect water quality in the Bay ecosystem. Managers can use this information in conjunction with additional information on local water-quality problems to choose areas that will benefit both the Bay and help improve local water-quality conditions.
Restoration Actions
The data used for identifying areas for restoration for different "source
sectors" is based primarily on SPARROW (SPAtially Referenced Regressions
On Watershed attributes) model results. Users can select areas based
on the all the sources of pollutants affecting the Chesapeake Bay or
focus on different "source sectors" of water quality in the Chesapeake
Action Plan, which include:
- agricultural lands,
- developed lands,
- point-source discharges,
- atmospheric deposition,
- rivers and stream erosion (sediment only).
| Suggested Decision Process
Decision process for selecting areas to enhance restoration actions:
- Identify areas with above average yields of N and P to the Bay and
tidal rivers (Yields mapper tool).
- Determine if there are local water-quality impairments (State TMDL
information).
- Assess the amount of runoff and ground water in the watersheds which
will influence the lag time between implementing management actions
and water-quality improvements (base-flow index).
- Assess the opportunities for additional management actions (depends
on programs being considered by the implementers).
|
Associated Tools:
Yield Mapper—the distribution of nitrogen and phosphorous yields from the USGS SPARROW model, though the “yield mapper tool” to help select areas. Users can look at maps of the entire watershed, Tributary Strategy Basins, or state areas within the Bay watershed.
Base-flow index—Provides an estimate of the amount of runoff and ground water contributing to stream flow in a water. In general the higher the amount of ground water the longer it will take for reduction of nitrogen concentrations to streams.
Additional Information
State integrated assessments for conditions of local waters
CBP watershed health indicator
Lag times due to ground water
Protection Actions
Information to identify areas for protection includes the Resource Lands Assessment, the recently completed Protected Forests Lands, and results from the CBP-USGS Land-cover change model.
Decision process for selecting areas to enhance protection actions:
- Identify areas with high water quality value (water-quality layer
of the resource lands assessment and forest of high water quality value)
- Assess vulnerability to future population growth (vulnerability layer
of resource lands assessment and/or 2030 projections from Land-Change
model)
- Assess the opportunities for additional management actions (depends
on programs being considered by the implementers).
|
Associated Tools:
Resource lands assessment—
Forest areas—
U.S. Department of the Interior |
U.S. Geological Survey
