Summary

This workshop provided a forum for identifying and discussing policies and assumptions for use in creating regionally consistent alternative future land-use scenarios. The alternative scenarios will help to inform how planning can potentially be used as a primary Best Management Practice by identifying land-use policies and other planning actions that can be taken to minimize future increases in nutrients and sediments associated with the spatial pattern and intensity of land development. The Chesapeake Bay Program Office will run these scenarios through the watershed model to quantify the differences in loadings achieved through implementation of land-use policies and to help assess the uncertainty associated with the current trend forecast. In addition, the outcomes of this workshop can assist jurisdictions in planning for growth with respect to minimizing future increases in nutrient and sediment associated with land development. Ultimately, this workshop was intended to provide jurisdictions with information that can be used to better account for refinement of their Watershed Implementation Plans.

First posted November 27, 2012