United States
                    Environmental Protection
                    Agency
                         Office of Research and
                         Development
                         Washington DC 20460
EPA/620/R-00/005h
    January, 2000
 &ERIV    Coastal Communications
               Coastal  Conditions  in the Virginian Province
                          (Cape Cod to  Cape  Henry)
Background
The U.S. EPA Environmental Monitoring and Assessment
Program (EMAP) collected ecological condition data during
1990 through 1993 from the estuarine waters of the
Virginian Biogeographic Province (Cape Henry to Cape Cod)
to answer broad-scale questions on environmental conditions.
Over the study period, sites were sampled to characterize
the condition of ecological resources for four major
watershed systems within the province (Chesapeake Bay,
Delaware Bay, Hudson-Raritan system, and Long Island
Sound), and three tidal rivers in Chesapeake Bay (Potomac,
Rappahannock, and James Rivers). Sampling for the Virginian
Province was organized and managed by the National Health
and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory's Atlantic
Ecology Division.
                                                   80  0  80
                                          Sampling Sites
        EMAP-Virgmlsn
        Province Four-Yoar
        Assessment
        11990-93)
Building on the Baseline
The information on ecological conditions documented in EM/\P-Virginian
Province Four-Year Assessment (1990-93) (EPA/620/R-99/004) serves as
a baseline for comparison with later studies, such as the 1997-98 Mid-
Atlantic Integrated Assessment monitoring effort. EPA is currently
partnering with the coastal states to examine changes in estuarine
condition from the early 1990s to the 2000s as part of the National
Coastal Assessment program. The monitoring activities conducted in
Virginian Province effort will be repeated to create state-level baselines
and to examine regional trends.
Further Information
Additional information on estuarine conditions in the Chesapeake,
Delaware, and Atlantic coastal Bays is contained in Condition of the Mid-
Atlantic Estuaries, EPA 600-R-98-147. For further information, contact
John F. Paul at the National Health and Environmental Effects Research
Laboratory's Atlantic Ecology Division (email paul.john@epa.gov or tel. 401-
782-3037) or visit the EMAP Web site at www.epa.gov/emap.
                                                                  AERA  Condition of the
                                                                       Mid-Atlantic Estuaries

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