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Materials and Presentations
Update on NOAA Chesapeake Bay Endeavors
Peyton Robertson, NCBO
(PDF Presentation)
Peyton, NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office Director, updated the committee on the program's current activities and future plans. Highlights included an overview of NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office's strategic implementation plan.
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ACTION: STAC will invite Bob Wood, director of the NOAA Oxford Laboratory, to the June 2008 Quarterly meeting to give presentation on its activities to date.
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ACTION: Carl Hershner, VIMS, will work with Peyton Robertson, NCBO Director, to identify appropriate STAC members who might be interested in serving in an advisory capacity on NCBO's scientific and technical activities (including applied research, data management and synthesis, modeling, etc.) in Chesapeake Bay.
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ACTION: NCBO will seek out STAC participation in one or more focus groups to provide feedback on NCBO's strategic plan.
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Request for STAC input on the Draft Oyster EIS
Tom O'Connell and Mark Mansfield
(PDF Presentation)
The EIS project team has asked STAC and the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Interstate Shellfish Transport Committee to provide input on technical briefings on the major models and assessments that support the pre-draft Oyster Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). These comments will be forwarded to the EIS project team and Oyster Advisory Panel for whom has the formal role in peer reviewing the pre-draft EIS.
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ACTION: Denise Breitburg, SERC, and Lisa Wainger, CBL, will coordinate a small taskforce of STAC members and outside expertise to provide comments on a series of technical briefings on the Oyster Environmental Impact Statement’s (EIS) major models and assessments. Interested parties should contact Denise Breitburg.
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ACTION: The STAC Oyster EIS Taskforce will participate in a one-day meeting with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission Interstate Shellfish Transport Committee in April to coordinate their recommendations in preparation for the Oyster Advisory Panel's formal review.
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Request for an Independent Review of the Structure, Function and Efficiency of the Chesapeake Bay Basin-wide Monitoring Program
Peter Tango, CBPO (PDF Presentation)
| (download review proposal)
During autumn 2007, CBP Director Jeff Lape charged the CBP and Budget Steering Committee (BSC) with developing a plan that provided for reallocating $1-1.5 million of the existing CBP operating budget for discretionary funds. Reallocation of funding through disinvestments and reinvestments in programs is occurring across the committee structure of the CBP. CBP Subcommittee Chairs have been asked to provide complementary external reviews of their programs examining other possible cost efficiencies that may be available.
Peter Tango, CBPO MASC Coordinator, presented a request for an extermal review of the CBPO funded monitoring programs to obtain recommendations for program modifications involoving strealining and efficiencies for greater returns on their investments with respect to Bay Program objectives for monitoring.
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ACTION: Denice Wardrop, PSU; Kirk Havens, VIMS; Denise Breitburg, SERC; Carl Hershner, VIMS; Don Boesch, UMCES; Kevin Sellner, CRC; Don Weller, SERC; Margie Mulholland, ODU; Doug Lipton, UMD; Joe Bachman, EPA; and Ali Sadeghi, USDA, will form a taskforce to conduct a review of Chesapeake Bay Program funded monitoring programs. The review will consist of a multi-workshop approach to identify objectives, priorities, and effective budgetary allocations.
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STAC Preliminary Response to MASC Review Request
Denice Wardrop, Pennsylvania State University (PDF Presentation)
In response to the Monitoring and Analysis Subcommittee’s request for a review of the CBP’s monitoring programs, Denice Wardrop, project coordinator, proposed that STAC focus on how best to coordinate the overarching CBP objectives and its monitoring objectives to ensure that they are streamlined. The review will consist of three workshops, each tasked to address one of the following: 1) to identify objectives through a series of management questions, 2) to develop three scenarios for how to answer each question under certain monitoring and resource constraints, and 3) to identify priorities and resource allocations.
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ACTION: Denice Wardrop, PSU, members of the identified taskforce, and Rich Batiuk, EPA-CBPO, will further develop the details of the proposed multi-workshop approach in preparation for the first workshop in Spring 2008.
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Chesapeake Bay Program Update
Rich Batiuk, CBPO (PDF Presentation)
| (download review proposal)
Rich Batiuk updated the committee on ongoing Chesapeake Bay Program activities and reorganization. The CBP is currently developing a refined simulation of sediment processes in tidal shallow waters for assessing current management actions and developing management strategies aimed at fully achieving the states’ water quality standards in the Chesapeake Bay. A request was presented for the formation of a STAC Expert Sediment Advisory Team to provide assistance in identifying a limited number of recognized experts from the Bay region with expertise on sediment allocation issues current faced within the watershed and shallow-water regions of the Bay. The expert team will guide the CBP Nutrient Subcommittee Sediment Workgroup and Modeling Subcommittee on the application of the CBP models in evaluating established sediment cap load allocations and supporting management strategies directed towards removal of water clarity/SAV impairments in the Chesapeake Bay.
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ACTION: Larry Sanford, UMCES, will organize a STAC Expert Sediment Advisory Team, which the committee will provide travel compensation and honoraria for in cases where major action is taken.
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CBP Phase V Chesapeake Bay Watershed Model
Gary Shenk, CBPO (PDF Presentation)
Saied Mostaghimi, Virginia Tech (PDF Presentation)
| (download review proceedings report)
The CBP has developed a refined simulation of the Chesapeake watershed, called the Chesapeake Bay Phase V Community Watershed Model, to better estimate and track nutrient and sediment loads. In 2005 STAC convened an expert team for initial review of the Phase V Model, which was used to help guide Phase V Model development. STAC accepted a proposal for a second review in September 2007. On January 23-25 a second expert panel was convened to review the model development to date, and provide guidance and recommendations for the application of Phase V to large scale regional problems such as Chesapeake Bay water quality standards, and to smaller scale watershed TMDL issues.
- Gary Shenk provided an overview of the Chesapeake Bay Phase V Community Watershed Model, including highlights of its history, new features, current resources, and future plans.
- Saied Mostaghimi presented a summary of the January 23-25 STAC Phase V Model Review and subsequent recommendations.
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ACTION: STAC will invite Rich Batiuk, Gary Shenk, and Lewis Linker, EPA-CBPO, to the June 2008 quarterly meeting to give an overview of how the review recommendations have been implemented into the model.
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MAWP BMP Project: Implementation of Phase V Model Recommendations
Tom Simpson, University of Maryland (PDF Presentation)
The Second Review of the Phase V Chesapeake Bay Watershed Model report recommends, “Procedures should be developed to simulate the dynamic nature of BMPs and the sensitivity of BMPs to extreme events.” As the contractors in charge of a BMP review project to develop BMP effectiveness estimates, the responsibility for developing these procedures is held by Tom Simpson and Sarah Weammert, Mid-Atlantic Water Program/University of Maryland. While they agree that the recommended procedures should be developed, they have asked for STAC’s guidance on how to approach the review’s recommendations.
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ACTION: Saied Mostaghimi and Jim Pease, both of Virginia Tech, will determine how the BMP Review Taskforce (2007) and Phase V Model Review Panel will address the questions and concerns of the Mid Atlantic Water Quality Program.
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Workshop Proposals
STAC reserves up to $40,000 for funding responsive and proactive RFPs submitted by STAC members and CBP subcommittees. Proposals are weighed on their individual merit by the STAC membership. Each approved workshop must use their allocated money within their funded fiscal year (June 1 – May 31).
- Evaluating Phosphorus Index Effectiveness within the Chesapeake Bay Watershed – Nutrient Subcommittee
(download workshop proposal)
| (PDF Presentation)
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Workshop proposal will be reconsidered once workshop objectives are more clearly defined.
- An Economic Analysis of Agricultural Conservation Practices within the Chesapeake Bay Watershed - Nutrient Subcommittee
(download workshop proposal)
| (PDF Presentation)
→ Workshop proposal will be reconsidered once workshop objectives are more clearly defined.
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Resubmission: Development of Habitat Suitability Models for Ecosystem Based Fisheries Management in the Chesapeake Bay – Dave Secor, UMCES
(download workshop proposal)
→ Workshop Approved
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Update on Maryland Climate Change Commission
Don Boesch (PDF Presentation)
Don Boesch briefed STAC on the progress of the Maryland Climate Change Commission, established through an executive order from Governor O’Malley to help guide the state’s policies for climate change in the future. Though not as far along as Maryland’s, Virginia has established a similar climate change commission; an update on its progress was provided by Carl Hershner, VIMS.
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Workshop and Workgroup Updates
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Thresholds and Non-Linear Trajectories in Recovery of Eutrophic Coastal Ecosystems
workshop webpage
| PDF Presentation
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Mike Kemp, UMCES, will work with Rich Batiuk, EPA-CBPO, to develop next steps and identify potential funding opporunities for long-term monitoring and data anaylsis.
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Once available, Kevin Sellner, CRC will distribute a statistical approaches manual for analyzing long-term data sets that is being developed as proceedings from the 2007 "Chapman Conference on Long Time-Series Observations in Coastal Ecosystems: Comparative Analyses of Phytoplankton Dynamics on Regional to Global Scales."
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Don Boesch, UMCES, will explore possible opportunities for additional funding for long-term monitoring and data analysis through NOAA.
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- Developing and Ecotrace Module for Mercury (Methylmercury) in the Chesapeake Bay Fisheries Ecosystem Model
workshop webpage
| Workshop Brochure
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Members with comments to contribute to the draft Mercury Workshop brochure should send them to Cindy Gilmour by the close of business on Friday, April 4, 2008.
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Maximizing the Dual Benefits of Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant Processes: Reducing Nutrients and Emerging Contaminants
workshop webpage
| Workshop Announcement
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Climate Change Workgroup
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Don Boesch and Ray Najjar will contact Tim Carruthers, VIMS, to request assistance in developing an accompanying newsletter to be released with the STAC Climate Change White Paper.
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STAC will organize a training session at the June 2008 quarterly meeting for members to present the Climate Change White Paper presentation being developed by Nina Fisher, technical writer, and the climate change workgroup.
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Environmental Indices
Michael Williams, UMCES (PDF Presentation)
Michael Williams (UMCES / IAN) presented on a spatially-explicit index of Bay health and how this was used to develop a strategic implementation plan for the Chesapeake Bay 2010 Trust Fund ($50 million annually for restoration purposes).
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Chesapeake Bay Program Staff Presentations
Emma Andrews, Chesapeake Research Consortium-CBPO (PDF Presentation)
Matt Robinson, Chesapeake Research Consortium-CBPO (PDF Presentation)
The CRC Career Development Program is a three-year program in which participants work to support the activities of the Chesapeake Bay Program. During the program, CRC Staffers expand on their experiences within the field by engaging in a variety of professional development opportunities, from workshops and conferences to independent projects.
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Additional Briefing Materials
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December 2007 Quarterly Meeting Minutes (download)
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A summary of the December 11-12 STAC Quarterly meeting. Minutes were approved by
committee at the March meeting.
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STAC Activity Tracker
(download)
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Click the link to access a calendar of recent workshop, workgroup, and review activities.
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Future Agenda Items
(download)
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A list of potential agenda items for future STAC quarterly meetings can be downloaded here.
This list will be updated periodically and can be found on the STAC meetings webpage.
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Membership Term List
(download)
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The following document includes a list of the current membership and their term status.
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STAC Bylaws
(download)
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Click the link to access STAC's Bylaws. Information regarding its history, STAC's
membership, organizational structure, and operational protocols can be found here.
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Meeting Attendees
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Members
Charlie Abdalla, PSU
Joe Bachman, EPA
Don Boesch, UMCES
Charles Bott, VMI
Denise Breitburg, SERC
Cindy Gilmour, SERC
Kirk Havens, VIMS
Carl Hershner, VIMS
Michael Kemp, UMCES
Gerrit Knaap, UMD
Doug Lipton, UMD
Saied Mostaghimi, VT
Margie Mulholland, ODU
Ray Najjar, PSU
Jim Pease, VT
Chris Pyke, CTG Energetics
Ali Sadeghi, USDA
Larry Sanford, UMCES
Tom Simpson, UMD
Lisa Wainger, CBL
Denice Wardrop, CBL
Don Weller,SERC
Claire Welty, UMBC
Alternates
Cathy O'Riordan,
Joint Oceanographic Institute
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Administration
Melissa Fagan, CRC, Staff
Kevin Sellner, CRC, Executive Secretary
Elizabeth Van Dolah, CRC, Staff
Guests
Emma Andrews, CRC-CBPO
Greg Allen, EPA-CBPO
Rich Batiuk, EPA-CBPO
Carl Blankenship, Cay Journal
Sally Bradley, CRC-CBPO
Keely Clifford, EPA-CBPO
Krystal Freeman, CRC-CBPO
Steve Giordano, NCBO
Erica Goldman, UMD-MDSG
Jacob Goodwin, CRC-CBPO
Jack Greer, UMD-MDSG
Chrissy Hopkins, CRC-CBPO
Maggie Kerchner, NCBO
Rick Keister, ACB
Lewis Linker, EPA-CBPO
Mark Mansfield, Corps-Norfolk
Bruce Michael, MDDNR
Tom O'Connell, MDDNR
Tom Pletl, HRSD
Peyton Robertson, NCBO
Matt Robinson, CRC-CBPO
Gary Shenk, EPA-CBPO
Peter Tango, USGS-CBPO
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Photo Credit: Adrian Jones, IAN Image Library http://ian.umces.edu/imagelibrary/
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