Virginia Coastal Program: 2005 Coastal Grant Project Description and Final Summary
Project Task:
FY 2005 Task 92.04
Grantee:
Virginia Institute of Marine Science - Center for Coastal Resources Management
Project Title:
Shoreline Situation Reports and their Application for Tidal Wetlands Management – A Demonstration Project in Westmoreland County
Project Description as Proposed:
Presently, the Commonwealth does not monitor construction of shoreline projects permitted through the regulatory process. Permits are issued for a specified period of time for shoreline protection structures, but project construction is not tracked. As the state begins to implement new mitigation requirements, the need to monitor construction activity and consequential impacts will become more critical. However, it is unlikely that new resources will present themselves to do so, and therefore we must look to current activities as a tracking instrument.
In theory, the shoreline inventory being developed for Tidewater localities offers the opportunity to track trends in shoreline construction and relate fine scale changes back to permitted activities. As originally proposed, the inventory would be repeated on a cycle of once every five years. Therefore, a time frame of reference would be established from which shoreline condition could be evaluated over time. In this case, how much (more) shoreline has been hardened in the past five years? With existing linkages already in place between the shoreline inventory database and the shoreline permit database maintained at VIMS, additional questions can be answered. Specifically, how do these changes compare to the amount of shoreline actually permitted for construction? What percentage of projects permitted are actually constructed? Can we assess the loss of vegetated wetlands through a time series analysis of inventory data? Finally, can we use the inventory to track unauthorized construction along the shoreline?
This study proposes to address several of these questions. However, in order to do so the shoreline inventory database must have a second time frame of reference. Since this inventory update does not exist anywhere within the state, we have selected a pilot area for study. The county of Westmoreland was originally surveyed in 2001. Due to lack of funding, the inventory has not yet been published, however, the data has been processed. For this proposed initiative, the county of Westmoreland will be resurveyed using the same collection protocol. Funds will be used to collect, process, and publish the Westmoreland Shoreline Situation report using data collected from the more recent survey. The electronic report will be published to the growing website of completed county Shoreline Situation Reports.
Once the new inventory data has been collected and processed, a comparison between the previous dataset collected in 2001 will be performed. This analysis will compute the amount and location of new structures along the shoreline in Westmoreland. The inhouse permit database will be queried to extract all permits issued for shoreline construction projects between 2001 and 2006 (anticipated survey year). The locations of these permits are logged using GPS during site assessments. This GPS point stored in the permit database provides the link to the Shoreline Inventory. Once this link occurs the following can be assessed: does new shoreline construction correlate with the permits issued. For these sites, what were the proposed impacts to tidal wetlands as reported in the permit application. What is the relationship between the linear extent of marshes surveyed as part of the inventory versus the proposed impacts to vegetated wetlands allowed through the permit process? Can the inventory be used as a mechanism for monitoring vegetated wetland losses? Finally, based on the comparison, how many permits issued between 2001 and 2006 have not been constructed.
The importance of this project is three fold. First, the outcome provides important management information pertaining to shoreline hardening and wetland loss allowed through the regulatory process. Second, the project represents an important application for the shoreline inventory database. Lastly, this project will be leveraged with other activities ongoing within the Center for Coastal Resources Management (CCRM). The integration of shoreline inventory and permit data to address tidal wetlands management has been designated as a core activity with CCRM. The County of Westmoreland has been selected for this focused research. Additional activities proposed for the next calendar year within this region include a countywide tidal wetlands change analysis using remote sensing techniques. This will be the first time this activity has been undertaken in Virginia for such a large area. The results will augment findings related to proposed wetland losses recorded in the permit database versus actual losses on the ground.
Federal Funding:
$55,000
Project Contact:
Marcia Berman, (804) 684-7188; marcia@vims.edu
Project Status:
3/1/2006 - 3/31/2007; Project Completed
Final Product Received:
Project Summary Provided by Grantee:
This project reviewed the application of existing database to assess status and trends applicable to wetlands management in Virginia. Data from the VIMS Permit Database and the Shoreline Inventory were extracted and analyzed to address specific management questions. Among them was whether or not these data sources provided an adequate and accurate method to identify projects where violations had occurred.
To complete the analysis, a 2006 Shoreline Inventory was generated for Westmoreland County following protocols used in an earlier 2001 survey. The inventory has been published as a product of this project and is now available on line:
This inventory was compared with the 2001 to track potential changes and shoreline structures and relate these changes back to permitted activities extracted from the database.
Inadequate monitoring and tracking of activities across the state motivated this project to review existing resources that may substitute for actual monitoring of activities on the ground. The results of the study are documented in the final technical report and suggest that these resources do not provide information collected in a manner that makes this a reasonable replacement for such a programmatic need. Revisions to the collection protocol or data entries would be required at a minimum for this to occur. The technical report recommends a more integrated management approach across all regulatory programs with jurisdiction over shoreline impacts.
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
