Mike LaSala Appointed to Chesapeake Bay Water Quality Goal Implementation Team
LandStudies’ MS4 Program Manager, Mike LaSala, CPMSM, was recently appointed to serve on the Chesapeake Bay Water Quality Goal Implementation Team, which is one of six goal implementation teams working to meet the goals of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement. LaSala is one of fifteen voting members on the team that come from state and federal government, NGOs, academia, and the business community in Pennsylvania, Maryland, New York, West Virginia, and D.C. Their purpose is to “evaluate and accelerate the implementation of practices, policies, and programs that will restore water quality in the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries to conditions that support living resources and protect human health.”
“I look forward to working with the other team members on the adaptive management policies and programs that get us closer to meeting the Chesapeake Bay TMDL,” said LaSala. “People have been working on innovative strategies to clean up the Bay for decades, and they have made some progress, but there is more to be done. It won’t be easy, but it’s a challenge I welcome.”
The team selects three new at-large members annually from a pool of nominations, and their term begins in February. LaSala was selected for this position primarily because of his role as a Countywide Action Plan (CAP) Coordinator for several PA counties (this role is best described as the liaison between the local level and the state, working to help implement the state’s Bay Watershed Implementation Plan (WIP) with nutrient and sediment reductions). LaSala has the experience with, and knowledge of, necessary on-the-ground actions at the local level while understanding the broader strategies and goals of the Bay partnership and TMDL.
Over the next two years, LaSala will work collaboratively with other team members to provide technical expertise related to pollutant reduction and conservation practices from a variety of land uses (industrial sites, wastewater treatment plants, agriculture, urban stormwater, etc.) to improve water quality in the Chesapeake Bay.
“Mike is well deserving of this appointment,” said Kelly Gutshall, President of LandStudies. “Given his 12 years working with BMPs to reduce runoff and erosion into streams and rivers here in PA, along with more than 20 years of experience with other jurisdictions outside of the Commonwealth, he will be able to share useful strategies to reduce nutrient and sediment loads in urban and rural communities across the Bay watershed.”
