Virginia CZM is a network program of state agencies and coastal localities. The coordinative office for Virginia CZM, located in the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, supports the program's partner organizations through an emphasis on collaboration, targeted and efficient use of funding, and effective technical support. As the complexity of coastal management issues facing Virginia grows, the program is in need of increased capacity in staffing as well as funding.

In 2023, using BIL funding, a new Community Conservation Coordinator position was created in the Virginia CZM office to help meet the program's staffing need. This position coordinates BIL competitive funding project proposals from partners both within and outside of the Coastal Policy Team, provides grant management of successful BIL competitive projects as well as BIL non-competitive grants (see more on these grants below).

The Coordinator also performs outreach to notify relevant groups and communities of BIL funding available to Virginia, with an emphasis on including underserved communities and the Tribal Nations in Virginia. Due to the influx of federal funding following BIL & IRA, the Coordinator also helps broadcast relevant funding opportunities to partners. 

The Virginia Marine Resources Commission (VMRC) is extending its reach beyond regulatory functions to embrace proactive environmental planning. At the forefront of this new policy initiative is the ambitious goal of substantially bolstering Virginia's efforts to meet the Chesapeake Bay Program's wetlands restoration objectives, which currently lag far behind target levels.

Under the guidance of the Director of Environmental Policy, who oversees the fisheries, shellfish, and habitat regulatory programs, there is a pressing need for a dedicated staff member solely focused on planning and implementation of tidal wetland restoration and resilience efforts throughout Tidewater, Virginia. This pivotal role will unify and streamline initiatives, ensuring a cohesive and effective approach to addressing the challenges facing Virginia's wetland ecosystems.

The BIL capacity funding provides $275,460 over three years to fully fund this new role at VMRC. 

The Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation Division of Natural Heritage (DCR-DNH) maps the known locations of elements of biodiversity, i.e., rare plants, animals, exemplary natural communities, in a database management system called Biotics, which is used for conservation and land use decisions at local, state, and regional levels.  It is imperative that this database is maintained for quality and completeness, yet DCR-DNH has lacked the funding and capacity to hire and retain qualified staff to process the significant and growing backlog of data from field, online, literature, and partner sources.  Because these backlogged data are not in Biotics, the actual occurrences of rare species and communities that they represent are not being used to assess the impacts of proposed development projects, to target lands for conservation of biodiversity, and in conservation planning tools and online resources.

This BIL capacity funding provides $246,426 over three years to fully fund this position at DCR-DNH. 

Old Dominion University (ODU) will convene a stakeholder process to respond to previously identified statewide deficiencies in coastal wetland native plant production and barriers to stakeholder communication through developing a coastal plant production network and forum series.

This project will build upon efforts by Virginia CZM’s Plant Virginia Natives Initiative, ODU, and Commonwealth Center for Recurrent Flooding Resilience to establish an advisory committee of multi-disciplinary and multi-agency stakeholders working to increase native coastal wetland plant knowledge, propagation, production, and use in statewide coastal resilience and restoration plantings.

An initial meeting by the stakeholder advisory committee will identify the diverse groups working in coastal wetland plant supply, demand, and research within the state, and identify key themes and outcomes for a series of forums. These forums will aim to increase communication and knowledge transfer on emerging practices, to brainstorm useful resources to increase linkages between producers and buyers, and to provide for professional networking between practitioners and plant producers working in coastal Virginia.  A summary of needs and barriers to addressing this issue and recommendations to address the needs will be produced.

The BIL capacity funding provides $65,664 to ODU to facilitate this stakeholder and forum process, and to produce recommendations towards solving Virginia’s lack of locally produced native wetland plants.

Virginia CZM has used BIL non-competitive funds to update the data from partner organizations for the Coastal Virginia Ecological Value Assessment (VEVA) model.

This includes:

• Priority Wildlife Diversity and Conservation Areas (PWDCA) data from the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources
• Aquatic Priority Conservation Areas (APCA) data from the Virginia Institute of Marine Science 
• Aquatic Resources Integrity (ARI) data from Virginia Commonwealth University

This updated VEVA model will ensure Virginia is protecting its most important ecological landscapes with federal and state grant funding.

Additionally, the Community Conservation Coordinator will use the updated VEVA model to revise Virginia’s Coastal and Estuarine Land Conservation Program (CELCP) Plan, which helps guide conservation priorities in Virginia’s coastal zone. 

In fiscal year 2023, the Upper Mattaponi Indian Tribe received $3 million in BIL competitive funding to re-acquire 853 acres of ancestral land along the Mattaponi river in King William County.

This re-acquisition of land marks the tribe’s first-ever return to the Mattaponi river, which shares its name and ancestral culture.

This land will be preserved and restored to its natural state, with the tribe acting as its steward to enhance culturally significant fish, wildlife, and plants. The Upper Mattaponi is exploring the creation of a fish and mussel hatchery to restore these culturally significant species and promote its local economy.

The conservation of this land connects it to the other 3,385 acres of land conserved along the Mattaponi River basin corridor. The conservation benefits will extend to tribal citizens and others who enjoy the region’s coast. 

In fiscal year 2023, the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) received $2.2 million in BIL competitive funding to continue restoration of native eelgrass to the Seaside of Virginia’s Eastern Shore.

Although eelgrass and bay scallops were once bountiful on the Eastern Shore Seaside, disease and a hurricane eliminated them from the area in the early 1930s. Neither returned until 2002, when restoration began under Virginia CZM’s Seaside Heritage Program in the Eastern Shore's southern seaside bays.

Building on the knowledge gained from this successful eelgrass and bay scallop restoration, this project will focus on Burtons Bay.

Over a four-year period, at least 60 acres of eelgrass will be planted and over six million bay scallops released.

The project will include long-term monitoring, as well as an educational component. The end goal is a healthy and expanding eelgrass meadow and a resident scallop population in Burtons Bay that will enhance water quality, create carbon stocks, and increase productivity of a commercially harvested species.

Scallop in eelgrass image courtesy of JJ Orth/VIMS.

In fiscal year 2024, the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation’s Natural Heritage Division (DCR-NHD) received $5.6 million in BIL competitive funding to acquire 1,900 acres of one of the largest unprotected blocks of contiguous forest in the Albemarle-Pamlico watershed region.

Once acquired, DCR-NHD will manage the property for Longleaf pine, rather than the monoculture currently grown, making it the most northern Longleaf pine forest system in the Country. Longleaf pine is one of the most climate-resilient forests, so the restoration of the property will provide benefits for one of the world’s biodiversity hotspots, the Chowan River basin.

The property will provide a public access opportunity in a region of Virginia severely lacking in passive nature recreational opportunities.

DCR-DNH will work with partners in North Carolina’s Albemarle Pamlico National Estuary Partnership – Tribal Coastal Resilience Connections to research the history of indigenous communities’ presence in the area, and incorporate local tribes’ Traditional Ecological Knowledge into the management of the property. 

IRA capacity funding has enabled the Virginia CZM office at DEQ to hire a staff member to enhance the program's ability to coordinate with it's large network of partners. 

This Coastal Planner is part of a team of Virginia CZM staff, including six staff funded through a portion of the program's approximately $3 million annual award from NOAA’s Office for Coastal Management, and a Coastal Conservation Coordinator hired with BIL capacity funds. This additional staff member will assist with the coordination and facilitation critical to the networked nature of Virginia CZM and also will focus on engaging underserved communities.

In addition, these IRA capacity funds will support technical skill training for Virginia CZM staff, enhancing the program’s ability to provide direct assistance to partners instead of contracting out for these services.  

Virginia Sea Grant's Commonwealth Coastal & Marine Policy Fellowship program has a successful track record of providing valuable staff support to host agencies while also providing the Fellows themselves with post-graduate on-the-job training for a one-year period.

Fellows work alongside a professional mentor to address pressing coastal and marine issues while learning about the policy and management process occurring at the state level.

At the Virginia Coastal Policy Team's direction, projects may include, but are not limited to:

• spatial and policy analysis of ocean uses and use conflicts in support of Virginia Ocean Plan (VOP) development
• evaluation of permitting challenges for shoreline restoration, supporting development of guidance documents for living shoreline projects
• supporting community engagement on behalf of the host agency
• and policy research and authoring of white papers on coastal issues

This fellowship opportunity represents both a short-term boost in host office staff capacity and a long-term workforce investment for environmental management careers in state or regional government.

The IRA Capacity funding will provide $120,000 over three years to staff Fellows at partner organizations. 

The James River Association has led the Virginia Living Shoreline Collaborative (LSC) since 2020, promoting the implementation of resilient practices along shorelines in the tidal James River watershed.

The LSC will receive IRA capacity funding to sustain the operation and substantial impact of the collaborative, specifically to evaluate their organizational structure and progress to date, to identify sustainable and long-term funding sources, and to plan for the expansion of their geographic reach beyond the Lower James River watershed.

The LSC has proven effective at increasing green infrastructure by helping implement living shoreline projects, holding summits and workshops for practitioners and the regulatory community, and serving as an information hub for all of Tidewater.

Through partnership with the Virginia Marine Resources Commission (VMRC), the IRA capacity funding provides $150,000 over one year to support the LSC.