Chesapeake Bay Comprehensive Plan set in motion

Col. Ed Chamberlayne, commander, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore District, alongside state partners, signs a watershed assessment cost-sharing agreement document co-signed by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF), the non-federal sponsor, to begin work on the Chesapeake Bay Comprehensive Water Resource and Restoration Plan during a Principals’ Staff Committee meeting at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Headquarters in Washington, May 26, 2016. This signing was symbolic. The formal agreement to officially commence the study will be signed by the Corps and NFWF later this spring. The aim of the plan is to identify new actions and to synchronize similar agency efforts taking place across the region in order to more efficiently address environmental issues in the Chesapeake Bay. As a result of this plan, at least one site-specific restoration action will be established for each of the Bay states, commonwealths and the District of Columbia.
Pictured at back, from left, Ben Grumbles, secretary of the Maryland Department of the Environment; Dana Aunkst, deputy secretary for the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, Water Programs; and Ann Swanson, executive director for the Chesapeake Bay Commission. (U.S. Army photo by Sarah Gross)