STAC Wants Better Landscape Models for 'Bay Diet'

Report recommends model better account for land’s influence on watershed health

In a report released this week, experts from the Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee (STAC) state that adjusting the Watershed Model to better simulate the influence of riparian forests, forested floodplains and other wetlands would improve the model’s accuracy and allow managers to better direct conservation funds toward those landscapes that most benefit water quality.

The Watershed Model is used by Chesapeake Bay Program partners and stakeholders to estimate the amount of nutrients and sediment reaching the Bay.

Interesting, the agricultural community also thinks the watershed needs better models of the transport of nutrients across landscapes. Sounds like the scientific/management community might be coming around to that view as well.