The Chesapeake Monitoring Cooperative (CMC) is a group of leading organizations that provide technical, programmatic, and outreach support in order to integrate volunteer-based and non-traditional water quality and benthic macroinvertebrate monitoring data monitoring data into the Chesapeake Bay Program partnership. Currently there are many sources of data, including data collected by volunteers, local governments and NGOs, that are not being used to track Bay health. Data contribution by this network of volunteer and non-traditional sources will provide valuable information and create a comprehensive understanding of the Chesapeake Bay watershed, the health of the bay, and the success of restoration efforts.

The EPA’s Chesapeake Bay Program (CBP) requested and funded the development of The Chesapeake Data Explorer. Green Fin Studios and the Environmental Data Center at the Chesapeake Bay National Estuaring Research Reserve - Va, Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) developed and continues to manage the Chesapeake Data Explorer.

The CMC membership includes: The Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay, Izaac Walton League, Dickinson College’s Alliance for Aquatic Resource Monitoring, the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, Green Fin Studios and the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS).