Convenings - Chesapeake Bay Trust

Convenings

 

As part of our 2020-2025 Strategic Plan, the Chesapeake Bay Trust (Trust) has identified the goal of convening key communities to identify solutions to critical issues or paths of action.

Oftentimes, the natural resource community is not aligned in how to solve a particular critical issue, significant debates exist, or the issue is new. Organizations may not be ready for grant resources to tackle the issue, or the types of grant investments that should be made are not clear. In such cases, the Trust may convene entities to attempt to identify possible solutions and propel our grantmaking towards our Mission and Vision.

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Climate Change and Stormwater: A panel discussion of the latest research and use of that research

November 10, 2020

Many of us are making stormwater management decisions based on rainfall patterns from past decades. We know that the climate is changing, and that the precipitation is changing. What rainfall data should we use to design stormwater practices today? What uncertainty is associated with this rainfall data? How much risk both in terms of flooding and cost are associated with the current vs future “way of doing business?” What does this uncertainty mean for our jurisdiction’s stormwater assets, budgets, and resiliency? What are other municipalities doing that worked and we should try or what did they do that did not work and we should perhaps avoid? How can we figure out what new information will help us today?

These are a few of the common questions that this panel sought to address. Through three consecutive panel sessions, the panel covered what has worked or not worked for them, their research findings, and where they are headed in the future.

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Maintenance for Stormwater Practices – If we can build it, can we maintain it?

May 26, 2021

The goals of this panel were to share what has worked, what has not worked, and what is being done differently today or plan to do differently soon so that stormwater practices are better maintained. Our goal is to see what is happening that is working and that we can put into practice to move maintenance forward in our work.

The panel began with the history of maintenance to get on the same page and share a common language for the dialogue. Then, we dove in to hear about and learn from maintenance “mistakes,” (we love mistakes and can learn from them!), where the municipalities are focusing their efforts, and what we can do on the front end as we build and plant practices. We also addressed a few common questions along the way such as: What are the financing strategies? What are funding organizations doing now or thinking of doing? How do we maintain BMPs on private property? Where can we connect people/organizations who excel at performing maintenance?

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Behavior Change in Stewardship Practices: A Forum on State of Science and Water Quality Implications

February 10, 2022

According to the various Chesapeake Bay Watershed Implementation Plan and Total Maximum Daily Load requirements, annual reductions of 185.9 million pounds of nitrogen, 12.5 million pounds of phosphorus, 6.45 billion pounds of sediment, and a variety of litter and toxin outcomes are called for across a watershed that is predominantly privately owned. While regulatory drivers can incentivize relevant practices on private property and government activity can accomplish a great deal of the outcomes, the ultimate goal is unlikely to be met without voluntary actions and behaviors undertaken by a variety of audiences. The broader water quality community intrinsically knows this too, which is why there are more than 600 conservation and watershed organizations in our region that are working to empower residents to protect and restore local rivers and streams. The key is to understand the most effective ways to get priority audiences to voluntarily undertake actions that result in watershed improvements. The social science community worked diligently over the past 10 years to advance natural resource behavior change practices, and we will hold the first forum (of a recurring series) to discuss behavior change best practices.

For full details on this event, visit: https://cbtrust.org/2022-behavior-change-forum/

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Invasive Species: Understanding the Problem & Finding Ways to Address the Issue Together

December 05, 2023

A robust conversation about invasive species—learn what common invaders we see across the watershed and the problem they pose, how invasive species are regulated, what maintenance practices have worked, what hasn’t worked, and how we can manage invasives properly through action and education. The focus of this conversation will be on vegetative invasive species; however, we acknowledge that there are other invasive organisms that threaten our environment and economy that could be worthy of their own conversation. Our goal is to have a more holistic understanding of the problem and come away from the discussion with new management perspectives and techniques. The Chesapeake Bay Trust aims to leave this discussion with ideas we can implement into our grant-making to improve project sustainability and hope that attendees will gain the same.

Upcoming events will be posted here as available. View the Past Events tab for recordings and event agendas.