Beyond the Bay: Collaborative Approaches to Water Quality Improvements
Wednesday, February 17, 2021 1pm-4pm
Collaborative approaches to advance water quality improvements continue to emerge, grow, and mature across the Chesapeake Bay as NFWF, EPA, and others make strategic investments to support these efforts. NFWF and its partners have examined the science, theory, and practice of why collaboratives are a critical structure for Bay partners to improve delivery of conservation in ag landscapes, as documented in recent NFWF Project Spotlights. This session explores a unique, broad-scale collaborative outside of the Bay where the insidious challenges of managing nutrient pollution is underway in Vermont as a part of an interstate, international effort to restore and protect Lake Champlain. What approaches has this collaborative taken that may inform our work in the Bay? What observations do Bay practitioners have? Policy-makers? Funders? How can we deploy or improve our own approaches based on what we can learn from other regions of the country? This session will:
• Explore the Vermont Agricultural Water Quality Partnership and how its structure and function supports ag conservation, the Lake Champlain TMDL, and the well-being of the rural landscapes and community more broadly.
• Identify what can be deployed or improved in the Bay with the benefit of looking outside of our region.