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The health of the Chesapeake Bay ticked up slightly to a C grade in 2020, up from a C-minus the year before, according to an annual report card released Tuesday.
The Bay’s health has improved over time — with seven of 15 regions showing “significantly improving health trends” — though indicators of the estuary’s condition still had mixed results this year, according to a news release from the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science.
The Elizabeth River region, however, received a D grade in 2020 and all indicator scores decreased, though it still has a “significantly improving” trend over time. The James and York rivers regions received C and D grades, respectively.
“Although we have lots of work ahead of us, I am confident that our shared commitments will help ensure that the Chesapeake Bay remains one of America’s great environmental treasures for generations to come,” said U.S. Rep. John Sarbanes, co-chair of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Task Force, in a statement.
The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Chesapeake Bay are not yet known, beyond a reduction in atmospheric nitrogen, which had already been a declining trend and continued to do so with people’s reduced travel. There was a monitoring gap from March to May of 2020 caused by the pandemic, officials said.
Scores throughout the Bay for dissolved oxygen and total nitrogen improved; chlorophyll a and total phosphorus scores declined; and scores for water clarity, benthic community, and aquatic grass scores decreased slightly.
This year’s report card also included four new indicators of the health of the estuary, the nation’s largest. They are: stewardship, protected lands, walkability, and heat vulnerability.
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Officials said these indicators help provide insights into environmental justice, which is the fair treatment of all people with respect to enforcing environmental law and regulations.
Additional indicators will be added in next year’s report that will address economic disparities.
“UMCES scientists continue to lead the way on assessing not just the environment, but also the social and economic factors that influence ecosystem health,” said Dr. Peter Goodwin, President of UMCES, in a statement. “This year’s report card provides new insights in our journey of restoring the Chesapeake Bay.”
The grade for the Chesapeake watershed was B-minus this year, the same as its inaugural grade last year when UMCES introduced the separate mark for the overall watershed, which includes six states —Virginia, Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, New York — and the District of Columbia.
The report card, which has been tracking the Bay’s health for 15 years, incorporates both ecological and social indicators.
Of the new indicators used this year, the stewardship index factors in the actions residents take to support the Bay. The protected lands indicator measures lands in the watershed that provide environmental benefits, like sustaining forests or maintaining water quality. Using data on tree canopies, temperature, poverty and impervious surfaces, the heat vulnerability index looks at climate-safe neighborhoods. Walkability examines how many people are within a 10-minute walk to a park.
Peter Coutu, 757-222-5124, peter.coutu@pilotonline.com