All National Estuary Programs (NEPs) are required under Clean Water Act §320 to develop a Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan (CCMP). These documents demonstrate the NEP model of adaptive management, enabling and facilitating a continual process of integrating new data and results into ongoing decision making and actions. MassBays’ Blueprint for the Bays is our CCMP and includes details of the MassBays' goals for habitat which we have set out for ourselves for the next ten years. 

The Blueprint for the Bays represents ten years of planning, public input, and stakeholder reviews. It highlights our past accomplishments and recognizes where we must do more or do things differently. New areas include heightened focus on impacts and responses to coastal resiliency issues, and the need for greater inclusiveness in decision-making to genuinely address concerns for more robust and varied public involvement. The Blueprint also provides a clearer description of MassBays’ role in the Commonwealth’s rich and varied environmental community.