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Chesapeake Conservancy

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Chesapeake Conservancy is a non-profit organisation, whose aim is to use technology and advocacy to support conservation of the Chesapeake Bay estuary on the east coast of the United States.[1] The group is based in Annapolis, Maryland.[1]

History

In December 2016, the organisation announced that Robert Stanton, former director of the National Park Service, and Anne Scott, a philanthropic investment manager, had joined the board of directors, replacing outgoing board members Patrick Noonan, Stephen Adkins and Lloyd Beatty, Jr.[2]

Board of directors

  • President and CEO: Joel E. Dunn
  • Chair: Anne W. Scott
  • Treasurer: Robert Gensler
  • Secretary: Molly Joseph Ward
  • Thad Bench
  • Marc Guenter Bunting
  • Leslie Delagran
  • Robert Friend
  • Heather Gartman
  • Verna Harrison
  • Randall W. Larrimore
  • Jeffery More
  • John G. Neely
  • Dr. Mamie A. Parker
  • John J. Reynolds
  • Chief G. Anne Richardson, Rappahannock Tribe
  • Richard Scobey
  • Robert Stanton

Honorary Board Members

Emeritus Directors

Projects

High-Resolution Land Cover

Chesapeake Conservancy used topographical mapping to create the Chesapeake Bay High-Resolution Land Cover Project, a high-resolution map of natural and man-made objects spanning the bay's 64,000 square mile watershed.[3] Initially a small-scale pilot program, using mapping to update the United States Geological Survey's existing land-change model of the bay, the Conservancy subsequently formed a partnership with the University of Vermont and WorldView Solutions to extrapolate the method to the whole bay.[3] The map has square meter resolution, substantially improving the previous 30-square-meter resolution data.[4] The data was then converted into a web-based application for public use, released in late 2016,[4] allowing those involved in conservation of the bay to locate optimal locations for tree buffers and other measures aimed at reducing soil and nutrient pollution in the bay's watershed. The Conservancy refers to this method as "precision conservation".[4] The Chesapeake Bay Program then combined the mapping data with land use data from the area to inform other conservation measures and attempts to improve land use,[3] as well as monitoring water pollution.[4] Chesapeake Conservancy also developed other applications to combine with different kinds of data, such as municipal stormwater reports. In 2014, the Conservancy received a grant from Microsoft, as well as access to their Azure cloud computing service, which drastically increased the speed of the web-based application.[3] A deep neural network model developed by Chesapeake Conservancy and Microsoft allowed the data used in creating the map to be updated at more frequent intervals, which will allow researchers to track changes such as deforestation, urbanization, and the impact of climate change.[5]

In 2018, Chesapeake Conservancy was awarded $1.1 million from the Environmental Protection Agency to support its land cover project and to expand a pilot program that maps how water moves across the landscape. The land cover project uses aerial images and computer programming to identify natural and man-made objects across the watershed. Updating the previous 2013/14 land cover dataset to more recent years, aids states, counties and local jurisdictions to see how development shapes the watershed over time. To map how water moves across the land, the Conservancy uses existing United States Geological Survey lidar data, which is collected by a plane bouncing a laser to the ground to collect the height of objects. Combining this information with the updated land cover map will help to precisely locate areas where restoration projects will be the most efficient. [6]

Return of Native American land

In 2017, the conservancy worked with former Virginia Senator John Warner to return an area of land adjacent to the Rappahannock River to the Rappahannock Native Americans who had been forcibly moved from the area in the 17th century.[7]

Champions of the Chesapeake

Each year, the organization gives out Champions of the Chesapeake awards to recognize individuals for their contribution to conservation of the bay, its environment, and its resources.[1] In 2017 the award was given to Maryland Governor Larry Hogan.[1] In 2018 the award was given to Ecosystem Investment Partners,[8] The Conservation Fund,[9] and The Department of Defense’s Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration (REPI) program.[10]

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Governor Larry Hogan Named "Champion of the Chesapeake" By Chesapeake Conservancy". Office of Governor Larry Hogan. Retrieved 26 April 2018.
  2. ^ Brockett, Megan (19 December 2016). "Chesapeake Conservancy announces new board members". Capital Gazette. Retrieved 26 April 2018.
  3. ^ a b c d Saiyid, Amena (4 January 2018). "High-Tech Tools Help Map Chesapeake Bay Restoration". Bloomberg Environment. Retrieved 26 April 2018.
  4. ^ a b c d Brockett, Megan (4 January 2017). "Chesapeake Conservancy mapping ways to strengthen conservation". Capital Gazette. Retrieved 26 April 2018.
  5. ^ "Pixel-Level Land Cover Classification Using the Geo AI Data Science Virtual Machine and Batch AI". Microsoft Machine Learning Blog. Microsoft. 12 March 2018. Retrieved 26 April 2018.
  6. ^ Pacella, Rachael. "Chesapeake Conservancy gets $1.1 million to bolster mapping data aimed at stormwater cleanup". capitalgazette.com. Retrieved 2019-03-29.
  7. ^ "Rappahannock River Property Donated Back to American Indian Tribe". Chesapeake Bay Magazine. 4 December 2017. Archived from the original on 29 April 2018. Retrieved 26 April 2018.
  8. ^ "Ecosystem Investment Partners Receives Chesapeake Conservancy's "Champion Of The Chesapeake" Award". Ecosystem Investment Partners. 2018-11-16. Retrieved 2019-03-29.
  9. ^ "The Fund Named 2018 "Champion of the Chesapeake"". The Conservation Fund. Archived from the original on 2019-03-29. Retrieved 2019-03-29.
  10. ^ "Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration, U.S. Department of Defense". www.repi.mil. Retrieved 2019-03-29.
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