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About the Watershed

Part 7: Chesapeake Bay Watershed Issues and Trends: Alternatives and Consequences

Part VII. Chesapeake Bay Watershed Issues and Trends: Alternatives and Consequences

1. Human impacts on the Chesapeake Bay watershed are increasing.
   
   1. Human intervention in the environment continues to change plant and animal distribution, diversity, and abundance.
      
   2. Increasing human populations and technologies often require space and activities that are detrimental to a variety of life forms.
      
   3. Loss and degradation of habitat is considered to be one of the greatest problems facing the Chesapeake Bay watershed today.
      
   4. Human activities can accelerate or slow the rate of degradation of the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
      
2. Issues involving the Chesapeake Bay watershed and its habitat are a product of social and cultural trends.
   
   1. Modernization continues to separate people from direct contact with the natural world. This affects their actions and attitudes toward the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
      
   2. Economic trends, plus increased human population and mobility, have important influences on the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
      
   3. The location of streams, rivers, lakes, estuaries, oceans, and flood plains influences where people live.
      
   4. Recreational trends affect the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
      
   5. Some outdoor activities are increasing the pressures on the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
      
   6. Political trends affect the Chesapeake Bay watershed and other natural resources.
      
3. Current issues and trends about the Chesapeake Bay watershed are complex and involve alternatives and consequences.
   
   1. Public interest and involvement in the preservation of the Chesapeake Bay watershed continue to grow.
      
   2. Many issues concerning the Chesapeake Bay watershed involve conflicts among different interest groups.
      
   3. Chesapeake Bay watershed interest groups are making increasing use of the judicial, legislative, and regulatory systems in furthering their objectives.
      
   4. Among consumptive groups, conflicts often involve how and when the species and other resources of the Chesapeake Bay watershed are used.
      
   5. Recent concerns are that policies are influenced by funding sources rather than by a wider constituency.
      
   6. Various groups interested in the Chesapeake Bay watershed represent a wide range of philosophies and ethics concerned with how best to ensure its long-range health and viability.
      
   7. Questions exist concerning efforts to save endangered species for their present and future scientific, biological, aesthetic, economic, social, and intrinsic values.
      
4. The value placed on the Chesapeake Bay watershed is commonly an issue in resource management decisions, because value is often intangible and varies from person to person.
   
5. Watersheds are influenced by both natural and human effects.
   
   1. Both natural and human effects can change watershed systems. Examples are forest fires, plowed fields, timber harvest, beaver dams, man-made dams, urbanization, and flooding.
      
   2. A healthy system with limited human activity will be able to compensate for any change in the watershed and return to equilibrium.
      
   3. A watershed system that has had extensive human activity and modifications within the watershed will not be able to compensate adequately for any changes within the watershed system. The watershed will not be able to return to a normal watershed system.

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

Resources

Bay Pollutants. Chesapeake Bay Program. <http://www.chesapeakebay.net/stressor1.htm>.

Chesapeake Bay Commission. <http://www.chesbay.state.va.us/>.

Chesapeake Bay: A WorldWeb Travel Guide. <http://www.chesapeakebay.worldweb.com/>.

ChesSIE: Chesapeake Science on the Internet for Educators. Virginia Institute of Marine Science and Chesapeake Bay Program. <http://www.bayeducation.net/>.

How to Get Involved. Chesapeake Bay Program. <http://www.chesapeakebay.net/involved.htm>.

Land and People. Chesapeake Bay Program. <http://www.chesapeakebay.net/land.htm>.

New Monitoring Technologies. Chesapeake Bay Program. <http://mddnr.chesapeakebay.net/newtech/index.html>.

Online Guide to the Best of Chesapeake Bay Country. Northern Neck Tourism Council. <http://www.northernneck.org/>.

Recreation: Explore Virginia. Virginia Naturally. Virginia Resource-Use Education Council and Virginia Department of Education. <http://www.vanaturally.com/recreation.html>.

Virginia Chesapeake Bay Local Assistance Department. <http://www.cblad.state.va.us/>.

Virginia's Natural Resources Education Guide. Virginia Naturally. Virginia Resource-Use Education Council and Virginia Department of Education. <http://www.vanaturally.com/guide.html>.

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