Virginia Seaside Heritage Program
Between 2002 - 2009, the Virginia CZM Program, invested $2.6 million to restore and protect a global treasure - the aquatic resources of the barrier islands, bays, and salt marshes along Virginia's Eastern Shore - through the Virginia Seaside Heritage Program. Read about the successes of this multi-facted and multi-partner effort...
Virginia Seaside Heritage Program Accomplishments Report (pdf)
"Seaside Successes" - Virginia Coastal Zone Management Magazine (Summer/Fall 2010) (pdf)
"Paddling the Seaside" - Virginia Coastal Zone Management Magazine (Spring/Summer 2006) (pdf)
Background:
The Virginia CZM Program's work on the Seaside of Virginia's Eastern Shore began in the mid-1990's - including a grant to The Nature Conservancy to create an interagency Conservation Action Plan for Avian Communities in the Virginia Barrier Islands. In 2002, the Seaside was selected by the Virginia CZM Program's Coastal Policy Team as the program's "focal area". (A "focal area" receives significant funding and consentrated coastal resources management effort over a three year period.) The Seaside was chosen because it held tremendous potential to demonstrate appropriate management of economic development and habitat restoration within a rare and fragile ecosystem. Selection of this area also built on the momentum of previous restoration successes, like those witnessed in the Virginia Oyster Heritage Program (VOHP), the Coastal Program's first focal area, funded from 1999 - 2001. As a result of successes and momentum made by VSHP partners during the first three years of the initiative, the Virginia Coastal Policy Team decided to continue funding the VSHP for three more years (through September 2008.)
During the VSHP, partners began developing the tools necessary to support long-term restoration and management strategies for the Seaside. This work will continue through Special Area Management Planning. Spatial data inventory and collection - digitally mapping seaside resources - was a central goal of the VSHP and will help the program's partners fine-tune their efforts in the years to come.
For more information about the Virginia Seaside Heritage Program contact:
Laura McKay
Coastal Program Manager
(804)698-4323
Laura.Mckay@deq.virginia.gov
For comments or questions concerning this program's web pages, contact the Web Author.
This web site is provided by the Virginia Coastal Zone Management Program through a Coastal Zone Management Act grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, US Department of Commerce.