Why ChesapeakeStat?

The Chesapeake Bay Program partners wanted an open and transparent way to assess and show progress towards our goals and adapt our approach when needed.  Governor O'Malley established an excellent model to follow with Maryland's BayStat.  At the May 2009 Executive Council Meeting, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson announced, “Governor O’Malley’s leadership in developing BayStat has inspired work on a similar effort at the Chesapeake Bay Program to improve decision-making and convey important information to the public.  We’re looking forward to creating a similar program, something like Chesapeake Bay Stat to guide the Partnership’s work in the watershed.”
 

What is ChesapeakeStat?

• A systematic process within the Partnership of analyzing information and data to continually assess progress towards goals and adapt strategies and tactics when needed.
  
• A public website that promotes improved accountability, fosters coordination, and promotes transparency by sharing performance information on goals, indicators, strategies, and funding.

What’s Next for ChesapeakeStat?

• Continue to improve ChesapeakeStat in an open and transparent way.
• Provide data for reuse by others. 
  
• Coordinate activities, identify gaps, target restoration, and improve the ability of the Chesapeake Bay Program to implement an adaptive management process.
  
• Improve data sharing across the Partnership.
   

Evolution of ChesapeakeStat and Accountability in the Bay Program

• ChesapeakeStat is the next evolution of a continuing focus by the Chesapeake Bay Program partners over the decades to be accountable and transparent and to adaptively manage the restoration of the Bay.
  
  • Since 1983, the Chesapeake Executive Council has been adopting formal agreements to hold themselves accountable to the public.  Learn more about these agreements.
  • Since 1985, the Chesapeake Bay Program has been providing assessments of the health of the Bay and assessments of the partners’ efforts to restore the Bay in order to be transparent to the public.  Learn more about these assessments.
  • In 2008, the partners developed the Chesapeake Action Plan, Strengthening the Management, Coordination, and Accountability of the Chesapeake Bay Program, to strengthen and expand partnerships in the watershed, enhance coordination of restoration activities, and increase the collective accountability for protecting the Chesapeake Bay.
  • In May 2009, the Chesapeake Executive Council pledged to get all Bay management mechanisms necessary to restore the Bay in place by 2025.  Part of this new strategy to speed up the pace of Bay restoration and become more accountable included the setting of specific two-year milestones for each jurisdiction to reduce pollution to the Bay and its rivers.  Learn more about this 2025 commitment and the two-year milestones.
  • On May 12, 2009, President Obama signed Executive Order (EO) 13508 on Chesapeake Bay Protection and Restoration.  The EO has brought the Chesapeake Bay Program to a new level of interagency coordination and cooperation.  The EO established a Federal Leadership Committee (FLC) for the Chesapeake Bay chaired by EPA and including six other federal agencies. Learn more about the Executive Order.
  • On November 4, 2009, EPA provided the six states in the Chesapeake Bay watershed and the District of Columbia with rigorous expectations for jurisdictions to reduce pollution in streams, rivers, and the Bay to meet water quality standards.  EPA’s expectations fulfill the mandate of the EO, which calls for a new accountability framework that guides federal, state, and local water quality restoration efforts. The expectations also are a component of the Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL), which will set pollution limits for point sources and nonpoint sources contributing nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment to the Bay and its tidal creeks, rivers, and embayments.  Learn more about the TMDL.
    
  • On May 12, 2010, the Federal Leadership Committee released the Strategy for Chesapeake Bay Watershed Restoration and Protection, a new federal strategy for restoring and protecting the Chesapeake region, including initiatives to use rigorous regulations to restore clean water, implement new conservation practices on four million acres of farms, conserve two million acres of undeveloped land, and restore oysters in 20 tributaries of the Bay. To increase accountability, federal agencies will establish milestones every two years for actions to make progress toward measurable environmental goals. The commitments and actions described in the 2011 Action Plan complement and enhance current Bay Program goals and commitments and the Jurisdictions’ two-year milestones.
    
• The Chesapeake Bay Program Goal Implementation Teams are reviewing current goals and measures with Executive Order strategy goals and outcomes to ensure work efforts are complementary and coordinated.
• ChesapeakeStat will continue to evolve and adapt, as will the efforts of the Chesapeake Bay Program, in order to become more accountable and more transparent and to improve efforts to adaptively manage the restoration of the Bay and its watershed.  

What is the source of information found in the Overview tabs?

Health and restoration progress is measured by using the most up-to-date results of environmental samples and by tracking data on restoration activities gathered by Bay Program partners for the development of the Bay Barometer, an annual report on the progress of Bay restoration.  

Funding and activity information is provided voluntarily by Bay Program partners to the Chesapeake Registry. The Chesapeake Registry helps all Bay partners understand the nature, extent, and location of actions taken and helps to coordinate work among partner organizations when appropriate.