Virginia Coastal Zone Management - Spring/Summer 2007
Laura McKay, Manager, Virginia CZM Program, and Japanese researcher Urara Takashima enjoying the Program’s Omar costume.
Message from the Program Manager
Little did we know how popular our oyster mascot, Omar of the Reef, would become! Believe it or not, he has a Japanese fan club headed up by our friend, Urara Takashima, pictured here wearing his costume. Omar was actually given an all-expenses-paid trip to Tokyo by the organizers of the US-Japan Oyster Reef Symposium (see "Omar in Japan!"). We CZM staff were quite envious.
But we’ve been busy here in Virginia gearing up for our Living Shorelines initiative (see article), launching our new internet mapping system, Coastal GEMS (see article) and trying to help Governor Kaine meet the goal of conserving 400,000 acres by 2010 (see article). It’s a lot for the six of us, but we have loyal partners who make the work rewarding.
Pressure on our coastal ecosystems continues to intensify, but our ability to implement these programs may not be sustained.The federal funds provided for our CZM program have decreased from a high of $3.2 million in 2003 to $2.5 million for 2007. We hope you’ll agree this work is important and you will let others know how you feel. After all, don’t Virginia’s coastal gems deserve better?
