Join Chesapeake Bay restoration practitioners and stakeholders for the SECOND session in a five-part series to explore and elevate understanding of what constitutes effective, regional-scale collaborative approaches for Bay restoration, including the key factors that contribute to their success and how collaboratives evolve, adapt, and mature to sustain progress. We especially welcome stakeholders who are interested in NFWF’s Innovative Nutrient and Sediment Reduction (INSR) Grants Program, as they will gain insights on what makes for a competitive, INSR-ready collaborative restoration proposal.

About the August 18 Session 2 – Interstate Regional Collaboratives: Grazing and Wetlands – Mission and Evaluation  Even before receiving nearly a $1M investment from NFWF in their respective Innovative Nutrient & Sediment Reduction programs in 2018 and 2019, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) and The Nature Conservancy (TNC) conducted extensive work in building collaborative approaches around high impact practices for the Chesapeake Bay watershed landscape. For CBF, the collaborative was an offshoot of earlier work with a Conservation Innovation Grant (CIG), scaling up to convene partners and facilitate a PA-MD-VA network for promoting and improving precision and rotational grazing. For TNC, the focus on wetland restoration grew from water quality and habitat work and conservation investments across the Delmarva and Pennsylvania. Both efforts recognized a need for building broader networks to reach new audiences and stakeholders to achieve lasting water quality benefits. These collaboratives have strong missions and visions, but also have opportunities for deploying evaluation as a mechanism for improving overall sustainability and longevity of their efforts.

Presenters:
Beth McGee, Director of Science and Agricultural Policy, Chesapeake Bay Foundation
Mark Bryer, Director, Chesapeake Bay Program, The Nature Conservancy
Kristen Hughes Evans, Executive Director, Sustainable Chesapeake (moderator)

Registration for any session is required at: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSesbrDgamEaB7DOp03gkhoTl8LQyVfgZHijtcFen_S80KfzSA/viewform.  Registration is limited to 150.