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For Release: April 28, 1995
Contact: Dick Jachowski 301-497-5620
or Trudy Harlow 202-482-2996

NATIONAL BIOLOGICAL SERVICE JOINS CHESAPEAKE BAY RESTORATION EFFORT

In partnership with a diverse group of public and private organizations and agencies, the National Biological Service (NBS) is supporting the ongoing effort to restore the health of the Chesapeake Bay.

The NBS became an official member of the Chesapeake Bay Program on July 14, 1994, when Dr. H. Ronald Pulliam, director of the NBS, signed an Agreement of Federal Agencies on Ecosystem Management in the Chesapeake Bay.

On April 11, 1995, Dr. Pulliam issued the Chesapeake Bay Action Plan of the National Biological Service. "It is only through the investment and application of sound science that the efforts to restore this historic American resource will be successful," Dr. Pulliam said. "NBS research will provide valuable insights into how the Bay works and how to return it to its former productivity."

Now in its twelfth year, the Chesapeake Bay Program is a unique Federal-State-local partnership that has directed and coordinated Bay restoration since the signing of the 1983 Chesapeake Bay Agreement. Considered a national and international model for estuarine restoration and protection programs, the Chesapeake Bay Program has stressed management of the Bay as a whole ecosystem, using both habitat and living resources restoration as measures of progress.

Scientific research can predict the consequences of management actions for the living resources of the Bay, Pulliam said. The Chesapeake Bay Action Plan of the NBS focuses on partnerships and on coordination of research agendas. The NBS's plan is to: