Virginia Coastal Program: 2005 Coastal Grant Project Description and Final Summary
Project Task:
1.04
Grantee:
Bay Back Restoration Foundation
Project Title:
Back Bay Restoration Foundation State of the Bay Conference 2007
Project Description as Proposed:
BBRF will host the Back Bay Forum on Thursday, March 15, 2007. Presenters will be from local, state, and federal agencies, non-profit and private enterprises, operating in Back Bay. The BBRF Project Manager will assist organizations with the focus/ format of presentations. Copies will be placed on “Back Bay Forum 2007 CDs” for all. Educational displays will be in the lobby.
Back Bay Forum 2005 focused on what pure research had been done over the last 15 years. The previous Back Bay Forum had been held in 1990. There was additional research presented at Back Bay Forum 2006, but the focus shifted to “What Can Be Done to Improve the Conditions at Back Bay”. Back Bay Forum 2007 will continue to focus on “Best Management Practices for the Back Bay Watershed”. Topics include engineered solutions for improved water quality such as “Living Shorelines”, plus natural solutions like habitat restoration through Riparian Buffers and eradication of invasive pests (Phragmites). Facilitated discussion will continue work on the “BBRF Action Plan” for entities in the watershed to educate all about their role in restoring water quality. Surveys will request comments on topics, and suggestions for 2008 Forum.
BBRF will also coordinate a project to analyze BMPs for the Nawney Creek watershed of Back Bay. Nawney Creek is on the “Impaired Waters” list and a TMDL has been issued for fecal enterococcus bacteria. This project will identify “best management practices” (BMP) options not yet fully explored. This supports the goal of the Nawney Creek TMDL Implementation Plan Workgroup, to reduce bacterial levels to TMDL swimmable/fishable standards. This project will build on the HSPF Water Quality and the CE QualW2 models developed for estimating the bacterial TMDL for Nawney Creek. MapTech did the original Water Quality model work and will do the additional modeling to predict the impacts of potential BMP’s on water quality.
EXTENDED PROJECT DESCRIPTION
1. The Project Manager will prepare an agenda, to include presenter, organization, topic, and time allotted. Copies of the registration form/agenda will be included in an Interim Report along with name tags with the CZMP logo. A morning and afternoon break plus lunch will be provided. The enhanced Action Plan is for all entities in the watershed, including homeowners, businesses, governmental operations, agricultural operations, and horse farms. Our objective is both to raise awareness in the watershed, and educate all about their role in restoring water quality. This effort is strengthened by new “Back Bay Watershed” signs which Virginia Beach and BBRF placed in 2006.
2. This modeling project will complement the TMDL study of Nawney Creek approved 9/27/06 by the USEPA and the State Water Control Board. Please visit the website http://www.deq.virginia.gov/tmdl/apptmdls/chowanrvr/chowant.pdf to review. This project will guide the work of the TMDL Implementation Plan Workgroup for Nawney Creek. The City of Virginia Beach is not required to provide this level of detail to the TMDL Workgroup. This additional information will support focused action in the implementation. BBRF will also be providing another $5,000 in match for additional Project Management time for the BBRF Executive Director, Board members/ volunteers, travel costs, and “ground-truthing”.
Barry Frankenfield, Co-chair of the Green Ribbon Commission of Virginia Beach, supports this effort which will guide our restoration/ preservation efforts in this watershed intelligently. The City’s Green Ribbon Commission is looking at environmental policy changes to be made to codes.
In the future we want to organize projects in other sub-watersheds in the Back Bay watershed. In some cases it may be that the “Storm Water Management” (SWM) model will be the best method to be determined on a case-by-case basis. The City has considerable storm water volume data in the SWM model, but lacks in-house expertise to derive benefit from the highly complex model.
The BBRF website, www.bbrf.org, contains a link for the Back Bay Forum. A link will be created for the TMDL project.
Federal Funding:
$2,620
Project Contact:
Susan Admire - (757) 426-3643; bbrf@verizon.net
Project Status:
Project Open
Final Product Received:
Project Summary Provided by Grantee:
Disclaimer: This project summary provides the federal dollars initially awarded to the grantee. Due to underexpenditure or reprogramming of grant funds, this figure may change. For more information on the allocation of coastal grant funds, please contact Laura McKay, Virginia Coastal Program Manager, at 804.698.4323 or email: Laura.McKay@deq.virginia.gov
A more detailed Scope of Work for this project is available. Please direct your request for a copy to Virginia.Witmer@deq.virginia.gov
