About the Watershed

Part 6: Conservation, Restoration, and Stewardship of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed

Part VI. Conservation, Restoration, and Stewardship of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed

Management of resources and environments is the application of scientific knowledge and technical skills to protect, preserve, conserve, limit, enhance, or extend the value of a natural resource, as well as to improve environmental quality.
1. All resource and environmental management practices are limited in their scope and effectiveness.
2. Wise resource and environmental management of the Chesapeake Bay watershed can improve the quality of life for humans and other life forms.
3. Management practices are limited in their ability to benefit the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
4. Philosophies, objectives, and practices of various types of resource management are sometimes incompatible with each other, thereby creating conflicts and necessitating compromises.
The Chesapeake Bay watershed is one of Virginia's basic natural resources. It is composed of air, water, minerals, soil, and plant and animal life.
1. Nonrenewable natural resources are those which are available on a finite basis, such as minerals and fossil fuels.
2. Renewable natural resources within the Chesapeake Bay watershed can replenish themselves independently or with human assistance.
Good habitat is a key to the survival of life in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
1. Organisms within the Chesapeake Bay watershed are affected by changes in the quality, quantity, and distribution of habitat.
2. Most species that are endangered or threatened became so from natural or human-caused changes in their habitat and their inability to adapt or adjust to such changes.
3. Successful reintroduction of species into the Chesapeake Bay watershed may be possible, but only if suitable habitat is available.
The Chesapeake Bay watershed resources can be managed and conserved.
1. Humans have learned management principles by observing natural forces and events through experimentation and research.
2. Conservation and restoration of the Chesapeake Bay watershed involves sustainable use and protection.
3. The diversity and numbers of species present in the Chesapeake Bay watershed often reflect the effect of humans on habitat.
4. Habitat management is one way to help threatened or endangered species.
5. Management of one species will affect other species in a community.
Chesapeake Bay watershed conservation and restoration practices depend on a knowledge of natural laws and the application of knowledge from many disciplines.
1. Systematic inventory of species populations is an important practice to determine the health of the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
2. Scientific knowledge of all aspects of the Chesapeake Bay watershed, including biological and chemical aspects, is growing.
3. Regulated harvests of some species occur in the Chesapeake Bay and its watershed.
4. Regulations are necessary for species conservation and restoration but cannot substitute for a healthy habitat or maintain a species whose numbers and habitat have been depleted or destroyed through over-harvesting.
5. Some species in the Chesapeake Bay watershed are not native but have been introduced to the area they presently occupy. Such introductions create changes ranging from beneficial to harmful.
6. Adding members to a community or subtracting members from it affects other members of the community.
7. Education, protection, monitoring, and habitat restoration are considered to be the most beneficial long-range management techniques for the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
8. Chesapeake Bay watershed programs are based on both biological and socio political considerations.
In the United States, the Chesapeake Bay watershed is considered by many to be a public resource. Ownership of land or water alone does not secure ownership of the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
1. Primary responsibility for most of the Chesapeake Bay watershed conservation and restoration programs is delegated to governmental agencies.
2. States are generally considered to have a greater responsibility for Chesapeake Bay watershed conservation and restoration programs than the federal government.
3. Private organizations, industrial interests, and individual citizens also conduct Chesapeake Bay watershed conservation and restoration activities.
4. Privately owned lands continue to provide significant amounts of habitat.
5. Agencies related to Chesapeake Bay watershed conservation and restoration employ persons with a variety of training, including scientific and vocational.
6. Citizens can become involved in the management of the Chesapeake Bay watershed, habitat, and environment by direct participation in the political process or through local, regional, state, or national efforts.

Print version of "About the Watershed": PDF • Word

Resources

Chesapeake Bay Restoration. Chesapeake Bay Program. <http://www.chesapeakebay.net/restrtn.htm>.

Getting to Know Your Local Watershed: A Guide for Watershed Partnerships. Conservation Technology Information Center, Purdue University. <http://www.ctic.purdue.edu/KYW/Brochures/GetToKnow.html>.

Save the Bay. Chesapeake Bay Foundation. <http://www.cbf.org/site/PageServer/>.

Virginia Department of Environmental Quality. <http://www.deq.state.va.us/>.

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