Review Publications

The Chesapeake Bay Partnership asked the Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee (STAC, an advisory board for the Chesapeake Bay Partnership) to convene an independent, expert panel to review the LimnoTech report and to make recommendations concerning the application of multiple models in environmental management of the Chesapeake Bay. This report presents the findings of the review committee.
The committee concludes that the LimnoTech analyses have poor scientific merit and promote a false set of criteria by which to judge the suitability of the CBP watershed model for use in the TMDL implementation process. LimnoTech based its recommendations on unrealistic criteria for watershed model performance, inappropriate expectations for agreement between watershed models developed for different objectives, selective interpretation of the findings of the CB-CEAP report, and errors in the interpretation of the models and their results. LimnoTech failed to acknowledge that fundamental differences in models (such as the input data, assumptions, and process representations) are unavoidable because of the different objectives of the models and differences in the data and resources available to support each effort. LimnoTech’s analysis also ignores the appreciable differences between the models in purpose, history, extent of calibration, extent of validation with independent data, level of spatial discretization, and degree of stakeholder involvement in model scenario development–differences that favor the continued use of the CBP model to inform and guide the implementation of management actions to meet TMDL requirements.