Our Goals

The Partnership has described a series of inclusive, long-term watershed-wide coupled with a tiered set of outcomes organized around several time-based milestones.

Long-term Conservation Goals

Long-term conservation goals, developed in 2015 and 2016, are organized around five priority areas: farms, forests, habitat, heritage and human health. Narrative goal statements for each set out long-term results which are inclusive of Partnership members’ own goals. The resources covered by each of these goals have been mapped and are the basis for tracking progress.

Time-based Milestones

The Partnership has articulated three time-based milestones for gauging progress: 2025, 2030, and 2050. The 2025 milestones, set by the Partnership initially in 2010, are adopted as part of a suite of 2025 goals included in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement signed in 2014 by the governors of Delaware, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia, the Mayor of the District of Columbia, the Chesapeake Bay Commission and the Federal Government.

The 2030 and 2050 outcomes were explored by the Partnership from 2017 through 2019 as members reflected on the need to look forward and address major systemic conservation issues. Research findings from a variety of scientists have reaffirmed this need. These outcomes were set out in the Partnership’s 2019 report Marking Milestones: Progress in Conserving Land in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed.

2025 Outcome: In the near term, the Partnership works collaboratively to achieve two specific outcomes by 2025:

• Protect an additional two million acres of lands throughout the watershed—currently identified as high-conservation priorities at the federal, state, or local level—including 225,000 acres of wetlands and 695,000 acres of forest land of highest value for maintaining water quality. (From a 2010 baseline.)
• Add 300 new public access sites, with a strong emphasis on providing opportunities for boating, swimming, and fishing, where feasible. (From a 2011 baseline.)

For the lastest tracking on progress towards these goals visit:

• Land protection goal
• Public access goal

2030 Outcome: Protect thirty percent of the Chesapeake Bay watershed by 2030.

Twenty-two percent (9.1 million acres) of the Chesapeake watershed is permanently protected. Reaching 30 percent by 2030 would protect an additional 3.1 million acres, including the remaining 366,000 acres needed to achieve the 2025 outcome.

2050 Outcome: Protect our most highly valued lands — half the Chesapeake Bay watershed by 2050.