The Center for Watershed Protection (CWP). 2016. Goose Creek: A Decade (and more) Later; Preliminary Land Use Land Cover Change Analysis. Prepared by The Center for Watershed Protection With Funding Provided by Prince Charitable Trusts. CWP, Ellicott City, MD. 8 pages

In 2003, the Center for Watershed Protection, Inc. (the Center), Goose Creek Association and the Piedmont Environmental Council completed a project to study the Goose Creek Watershed that evaluated the vulnerability of the watershed to future development and identify opportunities to protect and restore stream health. The study found the majority of the subwatersheds to be classified as high quality. In 2015, the Prince Charitable Trusts provided the Center with funding to initiate a ‘look back” to determine how the Goose Creek watershed has fared with a decade or more of growth. A re-evaluation of watershed health and the factors driving protection and conservation actions, or lack thereof, provides a lens to provide lessons learned and actions moving forward for the Chesapeake Bay and nationally. The initial effort was dedicated to compiling the data that would allow comparison of land use land cover characteristics over a decadal period. The report provides a summary of the results of the land use analysis and key findings, and recommends next steps to further examine land use cover change to better manage the high quality stream in the watershed.