Chesapeake Bay Program (CBP)

The Chesapeake Bay Program is a unique regional partnership that has led and directed the restoration of the Chesapeake Bay since 1983.

On this page:

• About the Program
• Types of Assistance
• How This Program Helps Build Resilience
• Connections to Other EPA, Federal, or Non-Governmental Efforts

About the Program

The Chesapeake Bay Program (CBP) is a regional partnership of seven jurisdictions, including New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, and the District of Columbia, as well as federal agencies, local governments, academic institutions, and nonprofit organizations directed toward restoring the Chesapeake Bay. The Climate Resiliency Workgroup coordinates efforts to address climate resilience for the CBP partnership. These efforts include the monitoring and assessment of trends and impacts of changing climate conditions (e.g., sea level conditions) on the Bay ecosystem, as well as assessing the effectiveness of restoration and protection policies, programs, and projects. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law allocated $238 million to the CBP that will help increase climate resilience in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

Types of Assistance

The CBP provides a range of assistance to states, local governments, non-governmental organizations, and academic institutions. This assistance could help to implement projects to build climate resilience.

Financial Assistance

• Chesapeake Bay Regulatory and Accountability Program (CBRAP) Grants aid the seven Bay jurisdictions in implementing and expanding their jurisdictions’ regulatory, accountability, assessment, compliance, and enforcement programs and capabilities in support of reducing nutrient (nitrogen, phosphorus) and sediment loads delivered to the Bay to meet the Bay TMDL.
• Chesapeake Bay Implementation Grants (CBIG) support the seven Bay jurisdictions in working toward meeting the goals and outcomes of the 2014 Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement, with emphasis on programs that reduce nutrient and sediment pollution.
• The EPA’s Small Watershed Grants (SWG), currently administered and leveraged by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, are awarded to local governments and non-governmental organizations working to protect and improve local waters and habitats across the Bay watershed, while building citizen-based resource stewardship.
• The EPA’s Innovative Nutrient and Sediment Reduction Grants (INSR), currently administered and leveraged by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, support innovative solutions to reduce or eliminate nutrient and sediment pollution to the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries.
• The Green Streets, Green Jobs, Green Towns (G3) Grant Program is administered by the Chesapeake Bay Trust and supports local, grassroots-level greening efforts by towns and communities in urbanized watersheds that want to reduce stormwater runoff through creation of “green streets,” increase urban green spaces, and reduce the amount of impervious surfaces within the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. This is a non-CBP program partially funded by EPA Region 3, CBT, and West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection.
• Other Opportunities—The most up-to-date information on new grant funding opportunities and open requests for proposals is available on the CBP website.

Technical Assistance

• The Scientific, Technical Assessment and Reporting team coordinates the monitoring, modeling, and analysis needed to explain and communicate the health of and changes in the Bay ecosystem.

How This Program Helps Build Resilience

Examples of resilience efforts taking place in the Chesapeake Bay watershed through the CBP include:

• Climate Resiliency Management Strategy (pdf), developed by the CBP’s Climate Resiliency Workgroup, guides planning, research, and programmatic efforts.
• Agricultural climate-smart practices, such as no-till planting methods, cover crops, and riparian forest buffers, helps make progress toward meeting the 2025 targets for phosphorus and are eligible for EPA financial assistance in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
• Climate change modeling documentation (pdf) determines current estimates for further nutrient load reductions needed to respond to climate risks out to 2035.
• Stormwater management practices to respond to climate using current and future rainfall intensity-duration-frequency curves.
• Agricultural and tidal water BMPs (pdf) that will be most responsive to climate change challenges, in addition to providing various co-benefits for habitats, living resources, and communities.
• Research on climate change and tidal shallow water oxygen dynamics (pdf) to understand what causes hypoxic and anoxic conditions in shallow tidal waters that communities and homeowners rely on for recreational uses.
• CBP climate change indicators to better support the CBP partnership’s information needs, including an increased focus on climate change and its influence on diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice.
• Grant funding to support pre- and post-natural-disaster activities.
• Commitment to conserve 30 percent of lands in the Chesapeake Bay by 2030 that aligns the 2014 Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement commitment for an additional 2 million acres of land to be protected from development by 2025 with the goal of Executive Order 14008, Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad, to conserve 30 percent of America’s lands and waters across the nation by 2030.

Connections to Other EPA, Federal, or Non-Governmental Efforts

• The CBP collaborates with a variety of partners, including federal agencies, academic institutions, non-governmental organizations, private sector partners, and local governments particularly through the CBP’s Local Government Advisory Committee.