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Virginia Coastal Zone Management - Spring/Summer 2007

Virginia CZM and Land Conservation web page

Lands Protected on Southern Tip of Virginia's Eastern ShoreCZM and Land Conservation

By Laura McKay, Coastal Program Manager

As all of Virginia’s land conservation agencies and organizations strive to meet Governor Kaine’s ambitious goal of protecting 400,000 acres by 2010, you might ask, “How can our Coastal Zone Management program help with land conservation?” “Let me count the ways,” as Elizabeth Barrett Browning would say…


1. CZMA Grants


The first way is through Section 306A of the federal Coastal Zone Management Act which allows CZM programs to use up to 10% of their federal funds for acquisition of fee simple or other interests in land. We set aside $200,000 each year for land acquisition. Since 1991 the Virginia CZM Program as spent $2,653,683 to acquire 1,078 acres of coastal lands. That’s nice, but admittedly, rather slow going if we are ever going to meet Governor Kaine’s ambitious goal!


Our most recent land purchase, in September 2006, in partnership with the Department of Conservation & Recreation and the Virginia Land Conservation Foundation, was the Magothy Bay Natural Area Preserve on the Eastern Shore (see green area on map at right). CZM funds accounted for $854,791 (almost 25%) of the cost for this 285 acre parcel which The Nature Conservancy purchased and held until government grants could be secured. We also had a little help from our friends singer/songwriter James Taylor and his wife Caroline who donated matching funds for our CZM grants.


The US Fish & Wildlife Service is buying the southern 207 acres of this tract (shown in purple on map at right), creating a fabulous, contiguous 492-acre area which adjoins the Department of Game & Inland Fisheries’ 356-acre “GATR Tract,” a part of the Mockhorn Island Wildlife Management Area (see orange area on map at right).


We, along with our Southern Tip partners (see #3 below), will be working this summer to identify the next parcel that could be purchased, in part, using a year or two of CZM funds ($200-400k). These funds have to be matched with the same amount in non-federal dollars and the land must be held by a public entity.


2. CELCP Plan & Grants


The second way is through a relatively new (2002) land acquisition funding source called CELCP – the Coastal and Estuarine Land Conservation Program. It is modeled after the Forest Legacy Program and operates in a similar, but not identical way. (Go to: http://coastalmanagement.noaa.gov/

land/welcome.html for NOAA’s description of the program.) CELCP funds flow from Congress to NOAA and generally on to state CZM programs. Recently, NOAA set up a process for states to compete for these funds and directed state CZM programs to prepare CELCP plans which lay out the state’s coastal land acquisition priorities. CELCP proposals will be judged, in part, according to how well they fit the state’s CELCP plan. We are currently drafting Virginia’s CELCP plan and using our new Coastal GEMS internet mapping system (see Coastal GEMS article in this issue) to help us set our acquisition priorities. The draft plan will be available on our website for public comment in July.


Since 2002 Virginia has received about $8 million in CELCP funds. These funds also require a 1:1 match with non-federal money and the land must be held by a public entity. Three million dollars of the $8 million was earmarked for 50 acres in Jamestown. And another $3 million was earmarked for the Potomac Gorge. Last December, $200,000 of the Potomac Gorge earmark was used to purchase a conservation easement on the 5-acre Timblin tract.


Nearly $1 million in CELCP funds was earmarked for acquisitions in the Dragon Run Watershed. Three sites that would use about half of the funds are currently being reviewed by NOAA for approval. More sites are being identified in collaboration with The Nature Conservancy and the Middle Peninsula Chesapeake Bay Public Access Authority.


Our most recent CELCP award was $514,714 for the above mentioned Magothy Bay Natural Area Preserve. This brings the total contribution through the Virginia CZM Program for the Preserve to 35%.


CELCP is already having a noticeable impact in Virginia. It is imperative, during these tight federal budget times, that we let our Congressional representatives in Washington know how important this funding is to meeting Virginia’s land conservation goals. It’s also critical that we have state or local funds to match these federal funds.


After all, CELCP funding levels are almost on par with Land & Water Conservation Funds that Congress appropriates to states. The LWCF began in 1965 and although its authorization level is $900 million per year (from offshore oil and gas lease sales), Congress generally appropriates only about $90 million per year to states and another $170 million to federal agencies. CELCP appropriations have been around $35 million per year to the coastal states. FY 2008 marked the first year that President Bush included CELCP funding in his budget – a sign of the program’s growing popularity.


3. Southern Tip MOU

Important Bird Areas Map
Mapping Important Bird Areas
(see #5 below for more)
VA CZM teamed with the National Audubon Society’s Virginia chapter, William & Mary’s Center for Conservation Biology (CCB) and the Department of Game & Inland Fisheries to identify the most important areas in Virginia’s coastal zone for birds. Audubon’s Important Bird Area Program sets standards for IBA status (www.audubon.org/bird/iba/ for more info). Dr. Bryan Watts at the CCB had piles of data dating back for years just waiting for such an opportunity to be synthesized. So we gave a CZM grant to Dr. Watts to put it all together. The results are shown in the map above and on our Coastal GEMS website. These areas help to prioritize acquisition and restoration efforts.

2006 Important Bird Area Award Recipients - Photo by Amiee Weldon


Aimee Weldon, with the National Audubon Society (center) presents Eastern Shore landowners Tim and Susie Brown (right) and B.A. and Bud (not shown) Flanagan (left) with Conservation Excellency Awards for improving habitat within Important Bird Areas. Photo courtesy of the National Audubon Society.


It’s important to remember that as we acquire lands for conservation in Virginia, our responsibility to manage those lands also grows. So a third way that the Virginia CZM Program is helping with land conservation is to be a signatory to partnerships such as the “Southern Tip” Memorandum of Understanding that protects migratory bird habitat on the Eastern Shore. The MOU was signed last December by the regional director of the US Fish & Wildlife Service; the Directors of the Department of Conservation & Recreation, the Department of Game & Inland Fisheries, and the Department of Environmental Quality (for the Virginia Coastal Zone Management Program); and The Nature Conservancy in Virginia.


In a nutshell, the MOU signatories agree to cooperate in the protection and management of conservation lands on the Southern Tip of the Eastern Shore in Northampton County for migratory bird habitat. Specifically, we will:

Through the MOU we hope to achieve efficiencies in how resources such as staff expertise, restoration equipment and supplies are used and shared as well as create consistency and focus in the goals for which large tracts of land are managed.


4. Public Access Authorities


A fourth way Virginia CZM is helping with land conservation is by supporting the creation of “Public Access Authorities.” Back in 2002, the Virginia General Assembly approved the first PAA – the Middle Peninsula Chesapeake Bay Public Access Authority. In 2003, Virginia CZM gave a $10,000 grant to the Middle Peninsula Planning District Commission (PDC) to

:


One of the most useful benefits of having a PAA is that it can acquire and hold land. Later in the same year it was formed, Virginia CZM awarded the PAA a $392,000 grant to acquire the 274-acre Browne tract on the Dragon Run.


Having a local government authority that can buy land is a tremendous asset in trying to meet the Governor’s 400,000 acre goal. Local authorities can often close on lands deals far more quickly than state and federal agencies. Plus, they create a meaningful avenue for local priorities to be addressed by local communities.


The Middle Peninsula PDC had such great success that it was soon copied by the Northern Neck PDC. So again, Virginia CZM gave a grant to the Northern Neck PDC to help create the Northern Neck Chesapeake Bay Public Access Authority. In 2005, the General Assembly approved this PAA and the four counties of the Northern Neck signed the PAA agreement in September 2006. The PDC has already completed an inventory of existing and potential public water access sites. They are well on their way toward acquiring lands that will serve both conservation and public access purposes.


In one more flash of good fortune, the 2007 General Assembly passed House Bill 2781 sponsored by Delegate Morgan which, “allows the Commonwealth Transportation Board (CTB), upon the request of a public access authority, to transfer to the authority any and all rights and interests of the Board in highways, highway rights-of-way, and landings without first abandoning or discontinuing them.” This removed a huge obstacle to conserving road endings for purposes of public access to the water. With funding from the Virginia CZM Program, the MPCBPAA has identified 300 roadways with public access capabilities running to or near waterways in the Middle Peninsula.


5. Mapping Important Areas


A fifth way Virginia CZM is helping with land conservation is in prioritizing which lands we deem “important” for maintaining the health of our coastal ecosystems. Another way to say it is “where is our critical blue and green infrastructure?” The article on page 6 describes our Coastal GEMS website and all the different map layers that are or will soon be on that site. Many of these layers can be used to help prioritize acquisition and restoration efforts. For example, if an agency is considering several different parcels to acquire, they could go to Coastal GEMS to see what important coastal resources are near any of those parcels. Some things to keep in mind would be the value of adding on to an existing protected area, or buying land upland of sensitive underwater features such as clam farms, oyster reefs or underwater grasses. You may also want to prioritize your acquisitions or restorations according to whether the parcels contain wetlands or sand dunes, or whether they fall within an “essential wildlife habitat” or an “important bird area”.


So there are at least five ways that the Virginia CZM Program can help with Governor Kaine’s ambitious goal. You can help us conserve your favorite coastal lands. Encourage your local, state and federal legislators to support conservation of land in Virginia and don’t forget to look at our draft CELCP Plan on our website. We want your input during the July 2007 public comment period.