FORESTS AND WATER POLICIES IN THE CHESAPEAKE: WHERE WE STAND AND FUTURE PLANS

For decades, the forest-water interaction has been recognized as important by the many Chesapeake Bay partners whose landscape is naturally forested and greatly fragmented by the development at a rate that only increases. The partnership continues to set goals for forest conservation and restoration and has refined ideas about where in the landscape this should occur. What good land-use policies have emerged after two decades of working toward these forests for water quality goals? What are the next, most vital challenges concerning forest and water policies in the Chesapeake region? With a nod to the likelihood of climate change to alter the forests' ability to regulate flows, this talk will provide an examination of some successes with riparian and urban forest restoration, and look at current programs being piloted in the region that could increase our understanding of the interactions between forests/trees and water and help refine ongoing policies. With the Chesapeake TMDL, a clear need has been identified to enhance implementation of forest restoration through improved institutional policies and programs. Since there are over 2,000 local governments and six states working on Bay policies, there is ample opportunity to learn from one another about what makes good forest-water policy, and share this knowledge with other regions and countries. There is also good opportunity in this region to develop innovative payment schemes to help landowners manage their forests wisely. These management decisions become even more pressing with climate change adding to the complexity of the forest–water relationship. Such innovative technical solutions that integrate forest hydrology with other sciences – including social sciences-- need to be more developed and promoted to policy-makers, enabling achievement of some long-standing goals for forest and water management.