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Browse History: Potomac River (2009) | Rappahannock River (2009) | Upper Bay (2009) | Upper Western Shore (2009)

Chesapeake Bay - Reporting Region Summary:

Scores & Conceptual Diagram

Bay Health Index

61%
B-

Upper Western Shore: 2009

Moderate-good ecosystem health--highest ranked region for third year in a row. Very good dissolved oxygen. Aquatic grasses remained steady at healthy levels despite poor water clarity.

Water quality: Dissolved oxygen has historically been very good in this region. In 2009, and the 6 preceding years, the dissolved oxygen score has been 100% (meaning all the samples for the year met the threshold value). In contrast, water clarity tends to be very poor in this region and the 2009 score (10%) was consistent with this trend. Chlorophyll a levels scored poorly for the second year in a row.
Biotic indicators: Aquatic grasses scored 82% in 2009. Benthic community condition on the other hand declined from 2008 levels, dropping from 90% to 75% in 2009. Both of these indicators are highly variable from year to year. No phytoplankton community condition monitoring is conducted in this region.

Index/Indicator	Score	Index/Indicator	Score
Chlorophyll a	17%	Aquatic grasses	82%
Dissolved oxygen	100%	Benthic Index of Biotic Integrity	75%
Water clarity	10%	Phytoplankton Index of Biotic Integrity

Water Quality Index	42%	Biotic Index	79%

Excel Spreadsheet

Dynamic Conceptual Diagram

Editable Vector Diagram (SVG)

Maps

This indicator map is already zoomed to the area of this region. You can pan and zoom and also change to another indicator map.

Trends Graph

This graph is dynamic, you can: a) show and hide items by clicking them in the legend, b) select year range (click and drag), and c) export as an image.

Excel Spreadsheet

Region Info

The Upper Western Shore watershed drains approximately 685 square miles of land. This area includes all of Harford County and portions of Carroll, Baltimore, and Cecil Counties. Larger bodies of water in the watershed include the Bush River, Gunpowder River, and Middle River. Land use in the region is approximately half forest, one-quarter urban, and one-quarter agriculture. Major towns in the area include Bel Air, Carney, Middle River, Edgewood, and Perry Hill. Census population from 2000 for the basin was 487,000. There are seven major wastewater treatment plants in the area. (Based on MD DNR Tributary Strategy Report by Karrh et al., 2007 and updated 2000 land use classifications).

upper_western_shoreconceptual diagram.png

Editable Vector Version (SVG)

Additional Info

Relevant Websites

Maryland DNR - Watershed Restoration Action Strategies
Chesapeake Bay Program - Tributary Strategies

The EcoCheck report card has three main sections: Overview, Region Summaries, and Indicators/Indices.

Click the next (>>) button above to get a guided tour of some of the key features of the report card card website.

This map shows the Health Index grades for all the reporting regions, but mousing over each region also provides a text summary and clicking will direct the user to the region summary page with more details about the health of that region.

The region rankings table provides an easy way to visualize the Water Quality Index (WQI), Biotic Index (BI), and overall Bay Health Index (BHI) for all regions. Once again, mousing over provides extra information - try it yourself and see what is displayed. Region names, and indicator icons also serve as navigation links.

The comparison graph allow users to compare the current report card to previous year's scores. Mousing over provides actual percentages and bars provide a direct link to the region's summary page.

Now you're at the region summary page for the Overall Bay. This page details the scores for all the individual indicators, as well as a dynamically generated conceptual diagram (please scroll down the page to view). Even this diagram has more information onmouseover, and has direct links to the detailed indicator pages. There is also a vector (SVG) version of the diagram available for download so you can edit this in your favorite illustration software.

The trends graph shows all the indicators and indices for the selected region since 1986. You can dynamically turn on and off each of the indicators to show only the data you are most interested in. Mousing over the graph shows percentage scores and you can zoom in for finer detail in certain time periods. There is also a fully editable vector (SVG) version of the graph available for download, along with an Excel spreadsheet of the data.

This is the threshold map for Chlorophyll a. This map is zoomable and panable and also available in fully editable vector (SVG) and JPG versions.

The trends graph on the indicator pages shows the indicator and indices data for each region since 1986. By default, only the Overall Bay region is displayed, but you can turn on as many of the other regions as you wish.

The watershed stream health page has several tabs, but the key one is the interactive Google maps version of the data.

Please wait while the map loads and then test out the ratings toggle options and the "zoom to area" functionality (click on the magnifying glass and then click and drag to select the are to zoom to).

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Chesapeake Bay - Reporting Region Summary:

Scores & Conceptual Diagram

Maps

Trends Graph

Region Info

Additional Info

Report Cards

IntegratedAssessments

Citizen Science

About EcoCheck

New@EcoCheck

Report Card | Summer Review | Forecast

Chesapeake Bay - Reporting Region Summary:

Scores & Conceptual Diagram

Maps

Trends Graph

Region Info

Additional Info

Integrated
Assessments