PA Aquatic Resource Restoration Conference 2026: Past, Present and Future

To clean up the Chesapeake Bay, the regional Chesapeake Bay Program (CBP) partnership targets nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment as the key pollutants to be reduced in the upstream watershed. The CBP and various other local, state, and federal sources provide funding to implement best management practices (BMPs) that will reduce the levels of these three key pollutants. Cost-effectiveness is a method of economic analysis that identifies the least-cost method of achieving a goal- here, to clean the Chesapeake Bay. High price tags for wetland-floodplain restoration projects can make grantors and other key players hesitant to support and fund these projects. In this study, we perform a cost-effectiveness analysis that compares the cost per pound of pollution reduced by wetland-floodplain restorations with forest riparian buffers, grass buffers, and cover crops (the agricultural BMPs typically considered to be least cost). For wetland-floodplain restoration projects, we obtained cost and abatement data from practice implementation in southcentral Pennsylvania. For the agricultural BMPs, we obtained abatement data from the Chesapeake Assessment Scenario Tool (CAST) and costs from NRCS payment schedules in PA. Preliminary results of our research suggest that wetland-floodplain restoration is the most cost-effective of these BMPs for phosphorus and sediment abatement in the Bay by an order of magnitude, while being cost competitive for nitrogen. Overall, our research indicates that wetland-floodplain restoration is a highly cost-effective BMP for cleaning the Chesapeake Bay. As this is research in progress, precise numbers and further results will be shared during the presentation.