RICHMOND — The Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation has received a $1 million grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to expand the implementation of living shorelines in Rural Coastal Virginia to reduce coastal erosion and benefit water quality in the Chesapeake Bay.

The grant was awarded by NFWF and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency through the Innovative Nutrient and Sediment Reduction Grant Program, a core program under NFWF’s Chesapeake Bay Stewardship Fund promoting community-based efforts to protect and restore the diverse natural resources of the Chesapeake Bay.

“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,” Secretary of Natural and Historic Resources Matthew J. Strickler said. “Virginia is grateful for this funding from NFWF and EPA.”  

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 Rural Coastal Virginia, a 12-county region that covers the Northern Neck, Middle Peninsula and Eastern Shore. This region of the Chesapeake Bay watershed covers tidal portions of the Potomac, Rappahannock and York rivers and many smaller coastal tributaries.

Through the project, SEAS will cultivate partnerships across Rural Coastal Virginia and grow collaborative capacity in order to measurably accelerate living shoreline implementation. SEAS will look to these partnerships to formulate a shared vision and strategic plan to implement living shorelines at greater scales and rates.

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

Virginia has embraced living shorelines as the preferred strategy for addressing tidal erosion, putting in place numerous mechanisms to incentivize construction by property owners. Living shorelines are a priority best management practice in the Virginia Phase III Watershed Implementation Plan, Virginia’s blueprint for restoring the Chesapeake Bay. The plan necessitates accelerated action to achieve shoreline management goals for the bay by 2025.

“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.”

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. These green infrastructure 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’s SEAS program staff assists landowners with erosion problems on tidal shorelines or non-tidal streambanks and impoundments. The program, based out of DCR’s Tappahannock regional office, is non-regulatory and provides science-based advice on environmentally sound shoreline management solutions. SEAS staff conduct on-site field assessments, provide written recommendations, review designs and plans, and conduct construction inspections.

“The Shoreline Erosion Advisory Service here at DCR is uniquely positioned and prepared to lead this project,” said Darryl Glover, director of the DCR Division of Soil and Water Conservation. “Over the past four years, SEAS has reported on the implementation of shoreline management practices at nearly 1,200 sites, contributing to meeting nutrient and sediment reduction goals in the WIP. There is much work to be done, and this generous grant from NFWF and EPA will boost implementation of living shorelines.”

Scaling up the implementation of living shorelines across Rural Coastal Virginia, in order to achieve WIP goals, will require a well-coordinated, regional collaboration. Key to the project’s success will be continued engagement with partners including Virginia Institute of Marine Science’s Shoreline Studies Program, Virginia Sea Grant’s Commonwealth Coastal and Marine Policy Fellowship, Potomac Watershed Roundtable, Rappahannock River Roundtable, York River and Small Coastal Basin Roundtable, Eastern Shore Watersheds Roundtable, Northern Neck PDC, Middle Peninsula PDC, Accomack-Northampton PDC, Northern Neck SWCD, Three Rivers SWCD, Tidewater SWCD, Eastern Shore SWCD, NOAA’s Chesapeake Bay Office, Friends of the Rappahannock, James River Association, and Chesapeake Bay Foundation.

DCR’s grant is one of 11 recently awarded through NFWF’s 2021 Innovative Nutrient and Sediment Reduction Grant Program. NFWF and EPA awarded $9.6 million in grants to support innovative approaches to reduce pollution to local rivers and streams, restore habitats, and improve rural and urban communities across the Chesapeake Bay watershed. These projects emphasize partnerships and collaborative approaches as central to effective ecosystem restoration efforts critical to the future health of the bay.

For more information about DCR’s Shoreline Erosion Advisory Service, go to https://www.dcr.virginia.gov/soil-and-water/seas.

About the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation

The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation works with the public and private sectors to sustain, restore and enhance the nation’s fish, wildlife, plants and habitats for current and future generations. Charted by Congress in 1984, NFWF has grown to become the nation’s largest private conservation grant-maker, funding more than 19,700 projects and generating a total conservation impact of $6.8 billion. Learn more at www.nfwf.org.

About the Chesapeake Bay Stewardship Fund

The Chesapeake Bay Stewardship Fund is a partnership between NFWF and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to provide grant funding, technical assistance, and networking and information sharing in support of local, on-the-ground conservation and restoration efforts to restore the Chesapeake Bay and its tributary rivers and streams. The Innovative Nutrient and Sediment Reduction Grant Program is a core program under NFWF’s CBSF. Additional support for CBSF is provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service and U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Department of the Interior’s U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Altria Group. For more information about the CBSF or to download the 2021 INSR grant slate, visit www.nfwf.org/chesapeake.

USDA – Celebrating Virginia’s Contributions to National Easement Milestone of 5 Million Acres
Virginia NRCS has been a leader in preserving the state’s wetlands and productive farmland for more than 20 years. Working with private landowners and land trust groups, our experienced team of easement specialists has contributed about 16,500 acres to the more than five million protected across the nation for improved soil health, water and air quality and wildlife habitat.

We’re celebrating this milestone by highlighting why easements are a win for landowners, partners and the environment. Look for monthly messages exploring different facets of this flexible conservation program as we close out 2021.

Keeping Working Lands Working
Agricultural Land Easements (ALE) help landowners like Claire Abraham preserve their farm’s function, appearance and contribution to the nation’s food supply for generations to come. While other programs and practices have start and end dates, conservation easements help to preserve agricultural land indefinitely. An ALE stays with the land, allowing only specific agricultural uses.

Hidden Covey Farm might seem like a typical agricultural operation, but digging a little deeper reveals that the true value of the land lies below the surface. The property includes more than 50 acres of prime farmland with soils that offer the best combination of physical and chemical characteristics for producing food, feed and forage. The tract also has a quarter mile of valuable stream and riparian corridors and grasslands with the potential to provide habitat for a rare butterfly.

Owner Claire Abraham grew up in the area and says her relatives have farmed there in some capacity for 200 years. The original log house was built in the 1700s and the main barn predates the Civil War. Four generations of the Abraham and Wisch family now live, work and play on this 75-acre property and their conservation ethic is apparent on the landscape.

Land once used to produce corn and other row crops has been transformed into a sustainably managed pasture-raised beef, pork and poultry operation. Conservation practices like livestock exclusion fencing, riparian buffers and new watering stations for cattle help protect soil health and water quality.

The family has also partnered with the Northern Virginia Conservation Trust (NVCT) to place the tract in a permanent easement through the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Agricultural Conservation Easement Program, or ACEP. NRCS and the Virginia Land Conservation Foundation (VLCF) provided funding with a contribution from the landowner to preserve the farm’s function, appearance and contribution to the nation’s food supply in perpetuity.

“The decision to put Hidden Covey Farm in an easement is an investment in my children and grandchildren,” Abraham said.

NRCS is seeing a growing demand for Agricultural Land Easements (ALE) with more potential partners expressing interest and submitting applications, but this funding is still underutilized in Virginia. NRCS Easement Program Manager Diane Dunaway can share more about increased administrative efficiencies and more flexible deed terms in the 2018 Farm Bill that will appeal to landowners and organizations alike.

The U.S. Drought Monitor (USDM) is a resource producers can use to help determine how to best respond and react to a drought as it develops or lingers.

The USDM is an online, weekly map showing the location, extent, and severity of drought across the United States. It categorizes the entire country as being in one of six levels of drought. The map is released on Thursdays and depicts conditions for the week.

The USDM provides producers with the latest information about drought conditions where they live, enabling producers to best respond and react to a drought as it develops or lingers. In some cases, the USDM may help a producer make specific decisions about their operation, such as reducing the stocking rate because forage is not growing. For others, it may provide a convenient big-picture snapshot of broader environmental conditions.

The USDM incorporates varying data – rain, snow, temperature, streamflow, reservoir levels, soil moisture, and more – as well as first-hand information submitted from on-the-ground sources such as photos, descriptions, and experiences. The levels of drought are connected to the frequency of occurrence across several different drought indicators. What makes the USDM unique is that it is not a strictly numeric product. The mapmakers rely on their judgment and a nationwide network of 450-plus experts to interpret conditions for each region. They synthesize their discussion and analysis into a single depiction of drought for the entire country.

NOAA – Spencer Baird, founder of NOAA Fisheries, was aware of the need to research how and why fishery stocks could be depleted. His first trip to Woods Hole in 1863, before he was appointed as the first U.S. Fish Commissioner, was conducted partly as tourist, partly as fisheries researcher.

Once he became commissioner in 1871, Baird’s charge was to “ascertain whether any and what diminution in the number of food fishes of the coast and inland lakes has occurred.” The additional task of “supplementing declining native stocks of coastal and lake food fish through fish propagation” was added in 1872.

That same year, Baird hired fish culturist Livingston Stone and sent him to California to find a good source for chinook salmon eggs. Stone accomplished far more.

Livingston Stone and Baird Station

Livingston Stone was born in Boston in 1836 and graduated from Harvard in 1857. He became a church pastor, but health issues required him to spend as much time outdoors as possible. He turned to fish and fisheries. In 1870, he helped found the American Fish Culturists Association, which later became the American Fisheries Society.

Hatcheries and a Fish Park

With colleagues Myron Green and Willard Perrin, Stone soon established Baird Station, named after Spencer Baird, on northern California’s McCloud River. It was the first federal fish hatchery and California’s first freshwater fish station, focused on salmon.  

With the help and collaboration of local Native American people—the Winnemem Wintu—salmon eggs were routinely gathered and shipped by railroad. They were sent to East Coast locations to stock streams, and for shipment overseas. The need to feed a growing population led to the decision to transplant established East Coast marine species—American shad, striped bass, eels, lobster, catfish, and Penobscot salmon—to the West Coast. Today the West Coast shad population is healthy and striped bass is a favorite sport fish.

Noting the decline of West Coast salmon stocks, Stone advocated for a national salmon park in Alaska. Established in 1892 on Afognak Island, it was rescinded in the 1930s, but it foreshadowed the creation of today’s marine protected areas.

Fish Culturist Extraordinaire

In 1897 Stone moved back East to oversee a new fisheries station and hatchery at Cape Vincent on Lake Ontario in upstate New York. His innovative work in fish culture resulted in many national and international honors and awards. More than 100 hatcheries were built during his career. His 1898 publication Culture of Fish for the Fish Commission remains a standard reference document. In 1989 he was voted into the National Fish Culture Hall of Fame, located in South Dakota.

Legacy

The National Fish Hatchery System

The Baird hatchery was the first in the National Fish Hatchery System. Today, there are 70 national fish hatcheries across the country. In addition, seven fish technology centers and nine health centers focus on conservation techniques and methods and the health of fish and amphibians in captivity and in the wild. They are operated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which credits its founding to the establishment of the U.S. Fish Commission in 1871 and to the efforts of Spencer Baird.

Fate of the Early Stations

• The Baird Station ceased hatchery operations in 1937 with the impending construction of the Shasta Dam. It now lies below the waters of Lake Shasta. Operations were transferred to other hatcheries. 
• The Livingston Stone National Fish Hatchery was built in 1997 just below the dam near Redding, California. Today it is part of the National Fish Hatchery System. It is the world’s only hatchery raising endangered winter chinook salmon.  
• The Cape Vincent Fisheries Station now houses a public aquarium and education center, offices of the New York Department of Environmental Conservation’s Lake Ontario Fisheries Unit, and public picnic and fishing areas.

Original article appeared in Mother Earth by Lolo Houbein.

With temperatures increasing due to global climate change, and long dry summers with more frequent storms, our vegetables have come a long way since their ancestors grew in sheltered valleys in Asia and Europe, where the best agricultural land was once found. In the 21st century, North America’s agricultural land is suffering from wind and water erosion, acidity, salinization, chemical pollution, and the deaden­ing effects of frequent droughts.

Even though our backyards may not have inherited pollution from agricul­tural practices, they are still subject to climate changes. Once soil repeatedly dries out, microbiotic life and earth­worms disappear, and water is not taken up when applied. Therefore, we mulch.

However, once the heat has gone and rains bring cooler conditions, there is no need for thick mulches. Wet straw can become a hotbed for slugs. So let summer mulch rot away, or fork it in and let the soil air a little, unless your region experiences continuous drought with erosive winds. If weeds come up, pull them for compost or liquid manure. Never let them set seed—keep track of weeds. Mulch again in late winter.

Mulches do not have to cost much. Newspaper, cardboard, old clothes, and stones cost nothing. Stones trap mois­ture when placed around plants, be they lettuce, cabbage, or tree seedlings, but they also attract slugs and snails.

If your soil is rocky, acidic, or unwork­able, you may choose to start your 3-foot-square garden from scratch like a no-dig garden, a method developed by gardener Esther Dean.12 Mark a 3-foot square, or build a box with sleepers or planks. Lay down twelve to twenty layers of soaked newspaper with cardboard and old T-shirts as underfelt to prevent per­sistent weeds breaking through. Make a doorstop sandwich (with thick “slices” of bread) by layering old animal manure, compost, and Lucerne hay. After water­ing well, make holes in the straw, fill with soil or compost, and plant vegeta­bles. The garden will gradually sink, so keep topping off with CM, hay, or straw. In the first season, plants may not grow fantastically, but the sandwich improves with time.

The most fertile mulches for vegeta­bles are compost, pea straw, or Lucerne hay. The latter is expensive, but gives a new garden a good start. If your climate is severely hot and dry, think in terms of “putting the vegetables to bed.” As soon as plants are above ground, lay sheets of soaked newspaper between them, add wet bags, shirts, or shorts, and top with CM, compost, hay, or straw. After the first watering, watch how long the plants can go without. There is always one plant that is first to look distressed. Keep mulch slightly away from stems and trunks to prevent collar rot.

Mulches

Black plastic is used for commercial strawberry growing and to suppress weedy lawns. But it cooks the soil and should not stay there long. Weed sup­pression is its main benefit, and newspa­per, cardboard, and telephone books can do that and decay in a timely manner, so that you can mulch and plant on top.

Bracken fern: I wish I still had our forest to pick bunches of bracken. Bracken con­tains nitrogen, phosphorus, and potas­sium. Apart from spreading shredded bracken on beds to decay, use ferns as parasols for seedlings.

Cardboard is good for a path between new beds or between straw-filled, no-dig garden plots. If used to suppress lawn or weeds, cover with chipped branches for good looks. Line slatted or wire com­post bins with cardboard, pizza boxes, or paper party plates, or use as underfelt in no-dig plots. Only use uncoated card­board between vegetables.

Clothes can be slow to disintegrate. For that reason, they are best used around the edges of plots for weed suppression or as underfelt for no-dig plots. Half-rotted clothes mulch can still mulch fruit trees.

Grape residue: If you live near a winery, try grape residue from the winemaking process on your plots. Investigate what other free—and safe—residues your neighborhood produces.

Gravel is a marvelous mulch if applied 2 to 3 inches thick. It is mainly used in orna­mental gardens around succulents, cacti, and sword-leaved plants, but should you have a supply, try it as a mulch on sturdy vegetables of the cabbage family. Most woody herbs prefer gravelly soil for drain­age; just mix gravel with garden soil.
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Hay: Legendary tales are told about the effects on a garden of one bale of spoiled hay. Be wary of weed seeds in meadow hay. Great plant food, now sold in handy packs.

Herb stalks: Should you have a flour­ishing herb plot, do as the Shakers did. They stripped herbs for tea, cooking, and medicine, then spread the stalks as mulch under fruit trees, some acting as a pest repellent. Stalks are best over newly applied compost because they take time to break down as they shade the soil.

Lawn clippings are a quickly decaying mulch, best mixed with coarser mate­rials, such as leaves and broken twigs. Otherwise, apply dried.

Leaves should never be burned, as this causes air pollution and asthma and robs the soil of valuable mulch. First, sweep a layer of leaves under the tree canopy as food, then compost the rest with other organic matter. To make leaf mold for mulch or potting soil, put leaves in a wire cylinder until broken down. Leaves cleared from the gutter in spring are suit­ably decayed. Sprinkle lime to counteract acidity, and B&B to encourage breakdown.

Mulch blocks are available commer­cially. Add water to a block to get a wheelbarrow of water-holding mulch to spread around plants.

Newspaper sheets make a weed-suppressing mulch in layers of ten to twelve, but cover this with leaves or straw or you get impervious papier-mâché. Don’t use between small vege­tables, which prefer an airier mulch, but use underneath and around the perim­eter of plots and under fruit trees.

Oak-leaf mulch or barkrepels slugs.

Olive-leaf residue can be used as a mulch should you live near an olive oil press. Ask whether you may have some to experiment with.

Pine needles are a great mulch around strawberries. Remember, the pine tree needs at least a 4-inch layer itself.

Rock, crushed or as rock dust, contains minerals.

Sawdust must be from untreated wood from your own workshop or your own trees. Use only on paths, in the ornamen­tal garden, and sparingly in the compost, balanced out with lime because many woods are acidic.

Shrub foliage: Prune a few branches. Mow or shred them to make a mulch, or separate leaves from twigs and spread crosswise in layers between plants.

Stones: If you are blessed with a mil­lion stones on your land, use them. By planting each plant in an earth saucer surrounded with stones and filling the saucer with CMC, you trap moisture and attract good beetles. To keep slugs and snails away, spread coffee grounds around the stones.

Straw: Keep straw away from seedlings and young plants as there can be some harmful fumes during the breaking-down process.

Sugar cane mulch: This evidently excellent mulch may not be available everywhere, but if it is where you are, look out for the organic variety. Available in small bags.

Twigs: If you are strapped for mulching materials but have wattles (acacia) or shrubs, prune twigs and spread crosswise in layers between plants. This provides an airy mulch that, in time, breaks down into compost.

Weed Mats: Buy only the biodegradable type that lets water through and acts as a mild mulch. For a single 3-foot-square vegetable plot, buy 18 inches of the double width. Depending on the spaces needed between vegetables, cut weed mat into strips of 8, 12, or 15 inches. Place strips in a grid across the plot and plant vegetables in the interstices. Once young plants are well above ground, remove strips or cover with CM and water well. Re-use weed mats.

Woodchips: Some electricity utilities and city councils offer free woodchips after pruning roadside trees. Use for paths in the food garden. Pine wood is beloved by strawberries. At the end of summer, when there is little food about for wildlife, your mulched plots may be dug up at night by unseen creatures—lizards, possums, rats, and early birds—because only there in the moist mulch can they find some­thing to eat. Hence, when planting win­ter vegetables in autumn, wait to mulch until the days are getting cooler or pro­tect plantings with racks and cages. Mulch again when plants are estab­lished and there is plenty of other food for the wildlife.

NOAA – Tucked between the Rappahannock River and the York River, Virginia’s Middle Peninsula is mostly off the beaten path. While the Middle Peninsula is not far to the east of the busy Interstate 95 corridor and Virginia’s capital, Richmond, it remains mostly rural. It includes thousands of acres of ecologically valuable wetlands, forests, pastures, rivers, streams, and bays. 

Many families have lived in the area for generations. Other people have discovered it more recently and have built second homes there as vacation spots. Some residents still make their living by farming, forestry, or fishing. That’s thanks to a fairly healthy ecosystem, which supports life both on land and in the water. Both residents and visitors enjoy the land and water and appreciate the area’s maritime culture and history.

But as in many other areas in the Chesapeake Bay, the Middle Peninsula faces economic and environmental challenges, and the future is uncertain. It’s important that we take care of the Middle Peninsula. The area experiences frequent flooding and coastal erosion. These events can affect the local economy, which depends on a vibrant ecosystem. It’s also important to consider threats like pollution and runoff, and the effects they could have on creeks, rivers, and the Chesapeake Bay. NOAA and partners are looking for ways to keep these special places healthy.

One of the ways NOAA is doing this is by helping to restore nearshore fish habitat. Fish, crabs, and other species use several different kinds of habitat. Sometimes they need the hiding places that oyster reefs offer. Other times they like to hang out along shorelines, sometimes in submerged aquatic grasses. 

Together with partners, NOAA is working to establish 438 acres of healthy oyster reef in the Piankatank River and 200 acres of reef in the York River. These reefs will not only provide habitat for critters, but because oysters are filter feeders, they will help remove excess nutrients from the water. Better water quality benefits fish, crabs, and humans, too!

They are also pitching in on efforts to design and build climate-resilient nearshore restoration projects. Developing solid design plans is a key step before building projects to support fish habitat and wetlands. We have funded two design projects, and our colleagues at the Chesapeake Bay Trust and the Virginia Coastal Zone Management Program have funded work, too. These projects will also reduce shoreline erosion from coastal storms. Project designs have been developed for locations including the Yorktown Naval Weapons Station and Hog Island. 

The Yorktown Naval Weapons Station nearshore restoration design used the latest science on oyster restoration for fish habitat and shoreline protection. The Department of Defense recently selected it to receive implementation funding. We look forward to progress as this and other projects move into the implementation phase over the next year or so.

Supporting the Local Economy

The Middle Peninsula has higher-than-average poverty rates, and a majority of residents must commute to outside of the area for work. Businesses and homes in some areas are at risk due to increased flooding, sea level rise, and shoreline erosion. 

Habitat restoration projects will enhance seafood production and help coastal communities be more resilient to the effects of climate change. They can preserve real estate value by reducing shoreline erosion, and boost tourism and recreation by protecting places people enjoy spending their spare time. All of these elements boost the financial bottom line of the Middle Peninsula. 

Bringing Partners Together for a Sustainable Effort

It will take strategic partnerships to do all this work. For example, we help with the York River and Small Coastal Basins Roundtable. The Roundtable is a group managed by the Virginia–Chesapeake Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve that brings local and regional partners together. They work on topics that are important for the area: water quality, habitat, resilience, and stewardship. Our NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office created a subgroup of the Roundtable, the Habitat Restoration Steering Committee, to focus on nearshore restoration projects. 

And as NOAA has learned from their work in the Choptank Habitat Focus Area, building a strong community of partners can lead to larger-scale and more collaborative projects. These longer-term strategic partnerships will last beyond a few restoration projects to have a sustained impact. 

Last updated byNOAA Chesapeake Bay Office on May 20, 2021