Shoreline help money on its way

By Linda Cicoira

     The Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation received a $1 million grant to expand living shorelines in rural coastal Virginia that would reduce erosion and benefit water quality in the Chesapeake Bay, a spokesperson said this week.

     The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and the Environmental Protection Agency will provide the money through a core program under the foundation’s Chesapeake Bay Stewardship Fund.

     Matthew J. Strickler, Secretary of Natural and Historic Resources, said, “Living shorelines are critical to restoring the Chesapeake Bay, and to protecting coastal communities from increased flooding and erosion associated with climate change and sea level rise. Virginia is grateful for this funding.”

     A living shoreline is a nature-based approach to shoreline protection that uses native vegetation often in combination with strategically placed sand or rock. Living shorelines reduce erosion, protect and enhance wetlands, provide an attractive natural appearance, and improve water quality. Living shorelines also provide critical habitats for fish and wildlife. The techniques absorb incoming wave energy and buffer low-lying areas from storm surge, thereby strengthening coastal resiliency in the face of sea level rise.

     The project aims to restore water quality in the Chesapeake Bay by preventing nearly 3,500 pounds of nitrogen, nearly 2,500 pounds of phosphorus and more than 2,000 tons of sediment from annually entering the bay and its tributaries.

     DCR, through its Shoreline Erosion Advisory Service, will use the grant to provide financial incentives for the construction of nearly 1,400 feet of new living shorelines in socially vulnerable areas of a 12-county region that includes the Eastern Shore.

     The agency will also use the funds to document the installation of recently implemented management projects and build up a cache of new shovel-ready living shorelines projects — complete with engineering designs.

    “DCR is extremely grateful to NFWF and EPA for the opportunity to expand our work with living shorelines and bring this important practice to more coastal communities,” DCR Director Clyde Cristman said. “This is an exciting project that will benefit the residents and communities of Rural Coastal Virginia and contribute to the ecological health of the Chesapeake Bay.”

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