According to the Chesapeake Bay Program, in 2011 the number of stream miles planted with streamside trees was 210 miles across the Bay watershed, a decrease from the average of 756 stream miles planted in Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania between 2003 and 2006. Streamside forest buffers help regulate stream temperature, provide habitat, help reduce streamside erosion, and help reduce sediment and nutrients reaching waterways. In 2007, the Bay states set a goal of planting 900 miles of streamside forest buffers per year. The Bay Program attributed the reduced plantings in 2011 to higher agricultural commodity prices that provided incentives for farmers to plant crops in acres where trees might have been planted, along with incentives for landowners to implement other kinds of conservation practices. Source: Fewer incentives, boost in commodity prices mean decline in on-farm forest buffer restoration, Chesapeake Bay Program, 10/4/12.
In another recent report on Bay habitat restoration activities: in late September 2012 the Bay Program reported that between 2010 and 2011, 3,775 acres of tidal and non-tidal wetlands were established or reestablished in the Bay watershed, compared to a watershed-wide goal for wetland restoration of 30,000 acres by 2025. For more details, please see the News Grouper post, Wetlands Restoration Amounts in Virginia and Other Bay States from 2010-2011, 10/2/12.
