Conservation Effects Assessment Project (CEAP)

USDA AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH SERVICE Choptank River Watershed Project

Health of the What is CEAP? The Conservation Effects Assessment Project (CEAP) began in 2003 as a multi-agency effort to quantify the Chesapeake environmental benefits of conservation practices used by private landowners participating in selected U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) conservation programs. Fourteen benchmark watershed studies managed Bay Ecosystem by the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) were selected to complement the national assessment and to afford in-depth assessments of water, soil, and air quality and other benefits at a finer scale than is possible for the national assessment. Results from these studies will also provide a framework for evaluating and improving The Chesapeake Bay is performance of national assessment models. the largest estuary in the Choptank River Watershed Project Description United States and is a national treasure that The Choptank River is a major tributary of the Chesa- peake Bay and is located on the Delmarva Peninsula. The has become increasingly 1756 square km (675 square mi) Choptank River Water- endangered by pressures shed is 58% agricultural (cropland and extensive poultry from human activity. production), 33% forested, and only 9% urban. Portions of the Choptank River have been identified as “impaired Agricultural and waters” under Section 303(d) of the Federal Clean Water growing urban pressures Act due to high levels of nutrients and sediments. on the Bay have led to The Choptank River Watershed Project provides several the decline of this unique aspects to the national CEAP effort. The river itself is tidal for much of its length and includes an ecol- estuarine ecosystem. ogically delicate estuarine ecosystem. The soils in the An important indicator region are poorly drained and the topography is especially flat; therefore, farmers have historically utilized a network of ecosystem health is of drainage ditches to facilitate the movement of water the dramatic decrease in Choptank & Tuckahoe Rivers into streams. Urban influences are growing rapidly. shellfish populations. States within the Project Goals Expected Outcomes Chesapeake Bay • Determine more accurate nutrient reduction • New strategies to exploit the synergies between Watershed have joined efficiencies for the widely accepted agricultural bioenergy production and water quality protection together efforts to Best Management Practices (BMPs) within the that preserve agriculture on the Eastern Shore and Choptank including riparian buffers, cover crops, preserve the fragile ecosystem of the Chesapeake Bay restore health of the and controlled drainage of ditches. • New landscape management tools to optimize Bay with the • Examine the changes in environmental services implementation of agricultural BMPs within establishment of the within the watershed as farmers increase participa- agricultural landscapes for water quality protection Chesapeake Bay tion in bioenergy production (e.g., hulless barley • Efficient monitoring technologies for cover crops for cover crop or harvesting biomass from buffers.) Program. program and watershed managers to optimize • Develop innovative remote sensing approaches for implementation of this important BMP at assessing wetland ecosystem health and for esti- watershed and regional scales mating the BMP ability to improve water quality. • Improved management of the drainage ditches on • Improve landscape decision support tools to the Eastern Shore to reduce export of nutrients from optimize the effectiveness of BMPs. agricultural fields to the Bay • Foster positive relationships with farmers, stake- • New tools to measure and to assess health of wetland holders, and customers to preserve the natural ecosystems within the agricultural landscape includ- resources of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed ing wildlife habitat and water quality protection Current Studies Page 2

Landscape/Water Quality Modeling

Cost effective implementation of An initial and successful goal of nitrogen load reduction based on agricultural BMPs requires knowl- the Choptank project has been model output. The calibrated edge of how they function in dif- calibration of the model for con- AnnAGNPS model can also be ferent landscape settings within ditions of the Choptank water- used to develop a planning tool agricultural ecosystems. Water shed using the historic water qual- for BMP placement in landscapes. quality models play a vital role in ity data collected from the Ger- evaluating the efficiencies of agri- man Branch subbasin. Ultimately, A successful BMP implemen- cultural BMPs at landscape and the goal of this project is to apply tation planning tool should watershed scales. the AnnAGNPS model to several allow the user to work at dif- other sub-watersheds and then to ferent scales of time and space AnnAGNPS is a spatially explicit the entire Choptank watershed as in order to maximize nutrient water quality model developed by a means to quantify the effects of load reductions while keeping USDA-ARS scientists. The model cover crops, riparian buffers, and costs to a minimum. The is a continuous-simulation and nutrient management on in- Choptank Watershed Project contains a substantial database of stream water quality in the pres- is working on development of values for agricultural applications ence of current and alternate a spatially explicit BMP plan- and management scenarios. It farming practices. ning tool that can be used by requires climate data, physical watershed managers. watershed parameters, as well as For example, different scenarios land use, soil and management of cover crop implementation can data. be evaluated for effectiveness of Use of Winter Cover Crops for Water Quality Protection

Winter Cover Crops are an im- address this need, in 2006 Mary- Producers enrolled in a commodi- portant component of the suite of land Department of Agriculture ties cover crop program will be Best Management Practices being implemented a new state-wide required to limit fertilizer applica- implemented within the water- commodities cover crop program tion, reducing the overall nutrient shed to improve water quality. that permits grain harvest in addi- load to the Choptank River while The conventional cover crop pro- tion to the conventional cover maintaining their grain yields. gram does not permit harvest of crop program without harvest. A crop other than on-farm forage. new commodity cover crop pro- Our research efforts are focusing gram permits growth of the crop on innovative technologies to More flexible winter grain/cover for harvest but without fall fertili- measure and to quantify effective- crop production options are also zation. In this way the crop acts ness of these various cover crop needed to engage producers who as a conventional winter cover options. wish to plant a winter crop. To crop for water quality protection. Controlled Drainage

Many of the historic wetlands on months with flash boards or risers the Eastern Shore have been in place, they effectively back up drained by an extensive network and hold water. This causes of ditches. These ditches have a ditches to go anoxic and effec- tendency to short circuit the land- tively reduce nitrate. scape functions which can miti- Current on-farm research within gate agricultural pollution of sur- the Choptank River Watershed face waters. Use of controlled project focuses on the evaluation drainage structures on ditches of the effectiveness of controlled may restore some of this lost land- drainage practices under real scape function. world conditions and manage- For example, these controlled flow ment. This work will permit opti- structures can be highly effective mal implementation of this BMP mechanisms for reducing nitrogen on drainage ways in the Eastern in drainage ditches. In summer Shore for improved Bay health. New Initiatives Page 3

Wetlands on the Choptank Chesapeake Bay Another exciting aspect of the part of a larger regional investiga- Choptank River and ultimately Choptank Watershed project is a tion. This study is designed to the Chesapeake Bay. It will not Targeted greatly expanded emphasis on estimate the effects of conserva- only leverage resources and exper- wetlands research. We are work- tion practices on ecosystem ser- tise from multiple agencies; it will Watersheds Grant ing with the Natural Resources vices provided by wetlands and also synergistically combine infor- Conservation Service (NRCS) to associated lands in the Mid- mation gained from individual Awarded design an intensive study in the Atlantic region. This new collabo- wetlands with landscape scale Choptank River Watershed as rative project brings together an measurements from satellite im- As an expansion of the core interdisciplinary group ages. Project findings will be used Choptank Watershed project, a of experts from multiple to assess and improve the effec- Targeted Watersheds Grant was federal agencies (ARS, tiveness of conservation practices initiated in 2006 on the Tuckahoe NRCS, and the U.S. and Farm Bill programs affecting Sub-basin of the Choptank River Geological Survey) and wetlands and associated lands on watershed. This grant was jointly the University of Mary- the Maryland and Delaware land to assess the ability Coastal Plain. Findings will also funded by the National Fish & of “natural,” restored, assist the Natural Resources Con- Wildlife Foundation and the and prior-converted servation Service in developing Chesapeake Bay Trust. (drained) wetlands on landscape monitoring tools and cropland to improve technologies for national wetlands This funded project is based on a water quality in the conservation applications. partnership between the Maryland Department of Agriculture and USDA-ARS and as a result contains a unique combination of Bioenergy Production and the Chesapeake Bay BMP implementation and evaluation within the Tuckahoe The Choptank River Watershed Watershed project evaluates both Sub-basin. is an excellent test bed for innova- nutrient uptake and biomass pro- tive water quality protection duction by winter cover crops. The implementation component strategies that incorporate bio- This work will also provide valu- resulted in 6000 new acres of cover energy production. Maryland is able information for assessment of crops within the sub-basin as well implementing a unique hulless the hulless barley initiative. as installation of six new drainage barley cover crop program with control structures on ditches. The the goal of increased water quality Other environmentally-friendly evaluation of these BMPs involves protection. bioenergy opportunities exist on-farm monitoring efforts using within agricultural landscapes, Common barley has an abrasive such as the potential for environ- both ground based measurements hull that is hard on milling equip- mentally responsible management and remote data from satellites. ment and not an ideal feedstock and harvest of biomass produced This multi-scale approach for for ethanol production. The in set-aside acreage (Conservation hulless barley variety is easier to Reserve Program or CRP) and evaluation affords BMP assessment mill and contains more starch buffers which can protect soil and under real world conditions at which is the substrate for ethanol water quality and provide eco- field, landscape and regional scales. production. Demonstrating the nomic benefit to farmers. It will result in the development of utility of a cover crop that both The rapidly-growing pressures for There is a clear need for new land- improved nutrient reduction protects water quality and pro- corn production associated with scape management tools to better efficiencies for cover crop, duces bioenergy provides a win- the manufacturing of ethanol will implement the suite of agricul- commodity cover crop and win scenario for conservation likely put negative pressures on tural BMPs necessary for both drainage management structures. program implementation. the implementation of traditional environmental and economic This project will also result in the This research will involve the conservation practices. Finding endpoints. development of a flexible, user- innovative use of remote sensing alternative economic ways of im- friendly planning tool that will be technology to assess growth and plementing water quality protec- used to optimize BMP nutrient uptake by potential bio- tion BMPs will be critical to Bay implementation in the most cost- energy cover crops over the entire health and the preservation of effective manner over the entire Choptank Watershed. Current agriculture on the Eastern Shore Choptank River Basin. research within the Choptank of Maryland. USDA AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH SERVICE

For more information contact:

Dr. Greg McCarty USDA-ARS Beltsville, Maryland [email protected] 301-504-7401 or Dr. Laura McConnell USDA-ARS Beltsville, Maryland [email protected] 301-504-6298

Current Partners

Horn Point Marine Lab & Wye Research and Education Center