Adoption Statement on Strategy for Increasing Basin-Wide Public Access to Chesapeake Bay Information
Chesapeake Bay Program
Chesapeake Executive Council
OCTOBER 10, 1996
Adoption Statement on Strategy for Increasing
Basin-Wide Public Access to Chesapeake Bay
Information
We, the undersigned members of the Chesapeake Executive Council, adopt the Chesapeake
Bay Program's Strategy for Increasing Basin-wide Public Access to Chesapeake Bay
Information. This Strategy provides for systems which promote increased electronic access
to Chesapeake Bay information by the general public as well as various sectors of the Bay
Program community. It enables more efficient delivery of governmental services throughout
the watershed as well as enhanced opportunity for the public to engage in Bay policy
development and to more fully understand the activities of the restoration program and how
individuals and organizations can contribute.
This Strategy contributes to the fulfillment of the following goals and objectives of the 1987
Chesapeake Bay Agreement to:
•	maintain a coordinated Chesapeake Bay data management system;
•	provide timely information on the progress of the restoration program; and
•	promote greater understanding among citizens about the Chesapeake Bay system, the
problems facing it, policies and programs designed to help it, and to foster individual
responsibility and stewardship of the Bay's resources.
Introduction
The Chesapeake Bay Program is founded on the commitment of Pennsylvania, Maryland,
Virginia, the District of Columbia, the Federal Government and the Chesapeake Bay
Commission to work in partnership to protect and restore the Chesapeake Bay system. In the
years since the Chesapeake Bay Agreement of 1983, the Program has expanded its scope of
partnerships to include greater participation by citizens, local governments, businesses and
others. The Program has also expanded its geographic and technical scope by encompassing
more activities in the watershed, the airshed and even the influence of the ocean in
recognition of the extensive ecosystem connections that affect the Bay and its management.
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Adoption Statement on Strategy for Increasing Basin-Wide Public Access to Chesapeake Bay Information
These expansions in scope have challenged the Bay Program both to integrate a growing
base of technical information and to provide a growing circle of partners, including the
public, access to a broad array of information. There is little doubt that the future success of
the Bay Program depends upon effectively meeting these growing information needs. At the
same time that these needs have emerged, information technology has undergone a
revolution, presenting the Bay Program with a unique and timely opportunity to utilize these
new technologies.
Recognizing the Need
Over the past nine months, the Chesapeake Bay Program has completed a series of steps to
determine the priority needs of users of Bay information. Our analysis, which included the
findings listed below, led us to recognize the critical importance of developing a Strategy for
Increasing Basin-Wide Public Access to Chesapeake Bay Information:
•	We adopted a goal in the 1987 Chesapeake Bay Agreement to "support and enhance
the present comprehensive, cooperative and coordinated approach toward
management of the Chesapeake Bay system" which included an objective to "develop
and maintain a coordinated Chesapeake Bay data management system."
•	We also adopted a goal in that Agreement to "promote greater understanding among
citizens about the Chesapeake Bay system, the problems facing it and policies and
programs designed to help it, and to foster individual responsibility and stewardship
of the Bay's resources."
•	In the Section on Public Information, Education and Participation, we committed to
"provide timely information on the progress of the restoration program" and to
"coordinate the production and distribution of Bay information and education
materials."
•	The public demand for all kinds of Chesapeake Bay information is very high and
continues to grow as indicated by verbal and written requests for scientific data,
program publications, Internet Home Page contacts, and other contacts to the Bay
Program.
•	Through initiatives such as the Tributary Strategy implementation, Local Government
Partnership, and others, the Bay Program moves continually "upstream" and closer to
individuals who can make a difference in the restoration.
•	Involvement of these individuals can be aided significantly by ready access to
information about human impacts on the ecological system and the measures that
individuals can take to protect the Bay.
•	Computers and electronic communications technology have undergone dramatic
changes in the past few years which now enable world-wide access to information
very cost efficiently through the Internet and World Wide Web, and the capability
exists to greatly enhance the speed of access and the breadth of information available.
•	The Bay Program seeks to stay abreast of these developments to meet the needs of the
public and the Bay Agreement commitments noted above.
•	Many Bay Program participant organizations are independently developing data bases
and Internet Home Pages for Chesapeake Bay related information, and significant
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Adoption Statement on Strategy for Increasing Basin-Wide Public Access to Chesapeake Bay Information
cost savings can be derived and greater services offered through the cooperative
development of systems that serve both individual agency needs and the need to share
information about the Bay and its restoration by the various partners in this effort.
• The Chesapeake Executive Council sees a major opportunity through coordinated
approaches among the signatories and others to enhance the public's access to
information and to streamline Bay policy development that encourages stakeholder
input.
Strategy
Recognizing the needs noted above and the tremendous opportunities afforded the program
and the public, the Chesapeake Bay Program has developed the following Strategy for
Increasing Basin-Wide Public Access to Chesapeake Bay Information: System
Development — The development of a basin-wide Chesapeake Information Management
System (CIMS) that will provide the general public and specialty users with timely
information and scientific data of all sorts on the condition of the Bay and the progress of
the restoration program should proceed. Such a system should be developed on a pace
commensurate with existing resources of the Bay Program and its partners but begin its
operation in 1996, using the concepts reviewed at the June, 1996 CIMS Workshop, and
outlined below, with enhancements to be incorporated over time. It should be designed in a
way to serve the needs of the general public and to afford opportunities for Bay Program
participants and stakeholder groups to conduct business and share policy and technical
information in an efficient manner through electronic means.
Internet Access—T\\q system should be established as a coordinated, user-friendly system
using the latest technology for Internet and World Wide Web access and be designed as a
distributed network among participating organizations throughout the watershed and
nationwide.
Standards—Through the existing Chesapeake Bay Program committee structure, develop
minimum standards and protocols that will facilitate access to information and data across
agency and jurisdictional boundaries, using to the extent possible, those standards already
developed or in use.
Partnerships—The Chesapeake Bay Program's Implementation Committee should initiate
efforts to enter into a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with participating federal, state,
regional and local organizations and individuals for the maintenance of key information for
public access. Partners in this effort should not be limited to those working as current
members of the Bay Program but be open to any cooperating organization willing to meet
the system parameters and requirements. The MOA should provide for common data
standards and data documentation which are universally applied and serve to ensure that
users receive information of known quality. It shall also describe the long-term roles and
responsibilities of various organizations and information generators to maintain distributed
computer networks and data bases.
Procurement Conditions—As a routine matter, all Chesapeake Bay Program and other
participating organizations should ensure that work procured under grants, contracts or
subagreements be conditioned, to the extent possible, on the submission of information
products and raw data in an electronic format for easy loading to this network and/or are
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Adoption Statement on Strategy for Increasing Basin-Wide Public Access to Chesapeake Bay Information
provided and maintained directly on the network.
Progress Reports and User Feedback-Reports of progress should be prepared and
presented to the Implementation Committee and Principals' Staff Committee by the Data
Center Workgroup and Communications Subcommittee no less than annually. These would
include progress in system development and supplying useful information to the public, in
securing partners in this effort, and any significant impediments to the effort. An on-going
mechanism for public feedback to the Bay Program shall be incorporated into the design of
the system so that users may routinely advise the program of the utility of this network and
their highest priority information needs.
Date: October 10,1996
Chesapeake Executive Council
For The United States of America, Carol M. Browner, Administrator
For The State of Maryland, Parris N. Glendening, Governor
For The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Ridge, Governor
For The Commonwealth of Virginia, George Allen, Governor
For The District of Columbia, W. David Watts for Marion Barry, Mayor
For The Chesapeake Bay Commission, Senator Noah H. Wenger, Chair
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For more information, contact the Chesapeake Bay Program Office, 410 Severn Avenue,
Suite 110, Annapolis, MD 21403, Tel: (800) YOUR-BAY, Fax: (410) 267-5777. We
welcome your suggestions and comments about the Bay Program's website.
Last modified 9:19 AM on 11/27/96
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