Virginia Seaside Heritage Program
VSHP Events
Volunteer Opportunity!
Calling all recreational divers and snorkelers!
100 local community volunteers to collect up to 20 million eelgrass seeds
May 31–June 16, 2008
Meadows of South Bay off Oyster, Virginia
Help support eelgrass restoration efforts on Virginia's Eastern Shore!
The water will be about waist deep, so swim fins are not necessary, but wetsuits and hoods are recommended. The
seed collection will be timed around low water and trips will last 4-5 hours.
A training workshop for interested volunteers will be held Tuesday, May 13, 2008 at 7:30 p.m. at the Anheuser-Busch Center for Coastal Research in Oyster, Virginia. Volunteers will be trained on how to identify the reproductive shoots and
how to collect and bag them.
You must pre-register in order to participate in the restoration project. You can
pre-register at the training workshop or by contacting
Jennifer Rich, volunteer coordinator, at 434-951-0572 or jrich@tnc.org
The Virginia Coastal Program initiated and
is investing over $2 million to restore and protect a global treasure. Shorebirds, seagrasses and ecotourism opportunities are already
increasing as a result...
The Virginia Seaside Heritage Program (VSHP) is a public-private partnership, initiated and funded by the Virginia Coastal Program to address management of the aquatic resources of the barrier islands, bays, and salt marshes along Virginia's Eastern Shore. This area holds tremendous potential to demonstrate appropriate management of economic development and habitat restoration within a rare and fragile ecosystem.
Background Highlight:
In the mid-1990s the Virginia Coastal Program began work on the Seaside and awarded a grant to The Nature Conservancy to create an interagency Conservation Action Plan for Avian Communities in the Virginia Barrier Islands.
The Virginia Seaside Heritage Program is the second focal area chosen by the Coastal Policy Team to
receive significant funding and concentrated coastal resource management effort. The Virginia Seaside Heritage Program will build on the momentum of recent restoration successes, like those witnessed in the Virginia Oyster Heritage Program (VOHP), the Coastal Program's first focal area, funded from 1999 - 2001.
Virginia Seaside Heritage Program partners are developing the tools necessary to support long-term restoration and management strategies. Spatial data inventory and collection is a central goal of the program. By digitally mapping seaside resources, the partners can evaluate existing conditions and fine-tune their efforts.
Like the VOHP, the Virginia Seaside Heritage Program began as an ambitious three-year program. As a result of successes and momentum made by the program's partners during the first three years of the initiative, the Virginia Coastal Policy Team has decided to continue funding the Seaside Heritage Program for three more years (funding through September 2008.)
Virginia Seaside Heritage Program Brochure (PDF)
Contact for more information about the Virginia Seaside Heritage Program:
Laura McKay
Coastal Program Manager
(804)698-4323
Laura.Mckay@deq.virginia.gov
