Chesapeake Bay Tributary Strategy
Pennsylvania's Chesapeake Bay Tributary Strategy is a plan to reduce our state's impacts on water quality in the Bay through reductions in nitrates, phosphates, and sediment delivered by streams and rivers flowing to the Bay. In each Pennsylvania counties within the Chesapeake Bay watershed, conservation districts have designed and are implementing county -specific best management practices and other programs that target locally identified problems. In Bedford County, sediment pollution is the priority pollutant that the Conservation District has elected to target. Conservation tillage and cover crops are the primary practices the District will promote. No-till planting and cover crops are effective not only at reducing sediment in runoff but also reduce nitrate and phosphate pollution.
While farming has negative impacts on streams throughout Bedford County, those affects have been most pronounced in the Yellow Creek watershed where most of the main stem and tributaries have been listed as impaired due to agricultural sediment and nutrients. For this reason, the Yellow Creek watershed is targeted as a priority watershed for the county implementation plan. Though not listed as impaired, the Cove Creek watershed (Friends Cove) is another priority area identified by the Conservation District due to the high concentration of farms in the valley.