BayStat and the Chesapeake Bay 2010 Trust Fund
Thursday, February 7th, 2008On February 14, 2007, Governor Martin O’Malley created BayStat by executive order. Based on the CitiStat program created by the Governor in Baltimore six years ago.
Initially, BayStat’s mission was to monitor 39 programs that the State of Maryland is implementing which are identified in the Tributary Strategies program. These include a wide variety of agricultural best management practices, improvements to point sources (such as upgrades to waste water treatment plants), runoff from urban lands, and added protections to Chesapeake Bay streams and shorelines. The goal is to address all these issues by June 2008.
BayStat states that a secondary stage of the program will oversee other Bay related programs such as fish and wildlife management, dredge material disposal, and sea level rise.
BayStat is funding is affected by the Chesapeake Bay 2010 Trust Fund. Lawmakers are currently working allocate the money for Bay restoration. “If we don’t focus this on key, cost-effective practices … we’re not going to change the landscape” of the Bay, Department of Natural Resources Secretary John Griffin said to a Senate committee.
