Center for Coastal Resources Management

Publications: Completed and Ongoing Projects Sorted by Principle Investigator

Coastal Maritime Forests in Virginia - Delineation and Distribution
PI: Berman
Funding Agency: VA Coastal Zone Management Program
Period: 2/1/2006-3/31/2007
Amount: $37,500

This project delineates coastal maritime forests using remote sensing techniques. Fieldwork conducted by the Department of Forestry validates the delineation. A website will be generated to display mapped forest cover and report the distribution of coastal maritime forest habitat in Virginia on a county by county basis.

Link to Maritime Forest Project

Geographic Information Support to Chesapeake Bay Erosion Feasibility Study, Maryland
PI: Berman
Funding Agency: Baltimore District US Army Corps of Engineers
Period: 8/8/2006-1/31/2008
Amount: $125,000

This project determines the risk to natural habitat (beaches and marshes), and socio-economic resources that can be attributed to shoreline erosion. The project also looks at the influence boat wake activity has on shoreline erosion in protected embayments. The degree of vulnerability will be determined using a GIS based spatial model. The output will be displayed in an interactive map environment.

Link to Project

Shellfish Aquaculture Suitability Model
PI: Berman
Funding Agency: Virginia Coastal Resources Management Program
Period: 10/1/2006-9/30/2007
Amount: $85,000

Using GIS, a landscape model will be developed to delineate areas suitable for shellfish aquaculture. This model will consider physical and biological parameters associated with good shellfish growing areas, as well as upland land use considerations that can enhance or impede the success of an aquaculture operation. The model will be developed using GIS and final products will include an interactive mapping site to display the suitable areas. This project expands on earlier efforts to explore shallow water use conflicts in Virginia.

Link to Project and Report

Virginia Shoreline Classification
PI: Berman, Herman, O’Brien
Funding Agency: unfunded
Period: 9/15/2005-present

Using basic geomorphic characteristics of the coastal landscape, the shoreline of coastal plain of Virginia is being classified. The selected characteristics will serve as indicators of shoreline stability, potential management strategies, and current and future vulnerability. This is a regional assessment and is not intended for application to parcel level shoreline management issues.

Link to Report

Shoreline Situation Reports and their Application for Tidal Wetlands Management - A Demonstration Project in Westmoreland County
PI: Berman
Funding Agency: VA Coastal Zone Management Program
Period: 3/1/2006-3/31/2007
Amount: $55,000

This project has two primary phases. The first is to conduct a second shoreline inventory of conditions existing in the county of Westmoreland, Virginia. The second phase reviews and extracts shoreline alteration projects from the VIMS Wetlands Permit Database that have been permitted between the years 2001 (first survey) and 2006. The projects will be compared with shoreline structures that have been observed and mapped between 2001 and 2006 as part of the inventories. This demonstration project is intended to determine if the combined activities of maintaining a database of construction activity and conducting shoreline surveys collects sufficient information to 1) report on resource trends over time; 2) identify violations or construction of unauthorized structures along the shoreline, 3) delineate hot spots of shoreline activity and heightened risks to ecological resources.

Link to Project

Riparian Shoreline Assessment and Mapping for the Chowan River, NC
PI: Berman
Funding Agency: Albemarle Pamlico National
Estuary Project (APNEP)
Period: 5/16/05-5/15/06
Amount: $30,000

This project produces an inventory of shoreline conditions for the Chowan River Basin. Following a survey and analytical protocol applied in Virginia and Maryland (see also Shoreline Inventory Reports) this inventory expands the geographic extent of a Mid-Atlantic mapping initiative southward. Final survey results, data, and maps

GIS Conversion of VMRC Fisheries Management Areas
PI: Berman
Funding Agency: NOAA/CRMP
Period: 6/01/05-12/31/05
Amount: $30,000

This project generates a GIS database of the location of Virginia’s managed fisheries areas within the Bay. Fisheries Management Areas (FMAs) within Virginia include artificial reefs, sanctuaries, oyster reefs, and important finfish spawning grounds, to name a few. They are the cornerstone of the Federal government’s Marine Managed Areas Inventory for Virginia. FMAs are surveyed, managed, and regulated by the Virginia Marine Resources Commission. In a cooperative project between VIMS and VMRC, these data have been converted to GIS formats for integration into other state and federal aquatic management initiatives. Among them is Blue Infrastructure, which collects and disseminates aquatic resource data in an interactive GIS format accessible through the Internet. Virginia’s FMA boundaries and database have been added to Blue Infrastructure as a project deliverable.

Link to Project


Comprehensive Shoreline Inventory for the State of Maryland
PI: Berman
Funding Agency: NOAA/MD DNR
Period: 8/01/02 – 9/28/06
Amount: $340,000

This project involves application of the shoreline inventory protocols developed by the Center to all of the tidal shoreline in Maryland. The resultant data base provides a spatially explicit inventory of shoreline condition, resources, and structures in a GIS accessible format. The project involves extensive field work to complete boat surveys of the shoreline with advanced GPS equipment.

Link to Project

Field Inventory of Phragmites
PIs: Berman, Havens
Funding Agency: various, inhouse
Period: ongoing

The delineation of Phragmites along tidal shorelines is being collected in conjunction with data for the Shoreline Situation Reports. Analysis of status and trends in distribution will be used in management and policy recommendations.

Link to Project

The Stability of Living Shorelines - An Evaluation
PI: Berman
Funding Agency: NOAA
Period: 10/1/2004 - 12/03/2006
Amount: $160,000

This project provides scientific rational for the expanded use of soft structure stabilization for tidal shoreline protection. A series of tests was performed to develop a profile of landscape suitability for soft shoreline stabilization. Analyses were performed on data describing shoreline condition. Shoreline change mapping in selected study areas determine effectiveness of shoreline treatments. An environmental assessment combines various data to develop the shoreline profile for effective soft stabilization and develops a spatial suitability model. Final products include a report and outreach material posted to a dedicated website to be announced.

Link to Report

Shoreline Situation Reports for Selected Localities: Caroline and Stafford and Westmoreland Counties
PI: Berman
Funding Agency(s): NOAA
Period: ongoing
Amount: $55,000

This project advances the development of Shoreline Situation Reports throughout the cities and localities within the Tidewater region of Virginia. Shoreline Situation Reports were first developed by VIMS in the 1970s to support coastal management activities and decisionmaking. CCI is attempting to update the series, and publish a new inventory for each city or locality. The process includes robust data collection in the field using GPS equipment, post processing of data using GIS and remote sensing tools, and the development of map inventories on a county by county basis. With funding from the Virginia Coastal Resources Management Program, three additional inventories will be added to the Virginia Shoreline Inventory shortly. The counties of Caroline and Stafford are now online and Westmoreland County will come online early 2007. GIS data for all published inventories are posted under Shoreline Situation Reports.

Link to Project

Internet Based Decision Tool for Siting Wetland Restoration Sites in Hampton Roads, Virginia
PI: Berman
Funding Agency: In-house
Period: ongoing
Amount: $82,361

Revised in 2005, the update now includes Virginia’s entire coastal zone. This project uses the protocol and findings of the Advanced Identification of Wetland Restoration sites, to develop an interactive, web-based management tool to assist regulators, developers, and project agents in location of potential compensatory mitigation sites in Hampton Roads. The model has been run for the entire coastal zone in Virginia.

Ecosystem Approaches to Aquatic Health Assessment: Linking subtidal habitat quality, shoreline conditions and estuarine fish communities
PIs: Bilkovic, Hershner
Funding Agency: NOAA/NCBO
Period: 3/01/05 – 5/1/06
Amount: $113,344

In the Chesapeake Bay, there is currently no comprehensive assessment of aquatic habitat heterogeneity or understanding of the effects of multiple stressors on the viability of these habitats. This project tests the use of side-scan sonar technology as a tool to define subtidal nearshore habitat in two representative watersheds of the Chesapeake Bay. Resulting habitat information was used to determine if specific subtidal habitats are associated with shoreline condition and/or nearshore fish communities in the James River. To accomplish this, we collected and mapped detailed information on nearshore subtidal habitat, surveyed nearshore fish communities, and compared available quantitative shoreline inventory information. Sonar images revealed limited vertical structure in the surveyed nearshore of the James River. Fish assemblages responded to changes in developed lands at multiple spatial scales. Fish community integrity was reduced in areas with highly altered shorelines (bulkhead), and when developed riparian lands were greater than 23%. Additionally, there was a reduction in subtidal structure when adjacent shoreline conditions were altered. Land use and shoreline condition may be effective representations of integrative measures of stress that relay the state of degradation in a system.

Link to Project Page

Sturgeon Spawning Habitat on the James and Appomattox Rivers
PIs: Bilkovic, Hershner
Funding Agency: USFWS
Period: 11/01/05 – present
Amount: $12,945

This project’s objectives are to conduct bottom mapping of potential Atlantic sturgeon spawning reaches using sidescan sonar to ascertain the presence and location of essential spawning habitat (e.g. gravel beds) in the James and Appomattox rivers. Areas surveyed include the upper reaches of the James River from Shirley Plantation to Richmond; as well as the Appomattox River from the mouth to the Colonial Heights Bridge.

Lynnhaven River Shallow Water Fish Survey and Shoreline Inventory
PIs: Bilkovic, O’Brien, Berman
Funding Agency: US Army Corps of Engineers
Period: 912/06 – 9/11/07
Amount: $134,695

The utilization of fish communities within dredged and undredged tidal creek systems of the Lynnhaven River is being assessed. Measures of fish communities will include abundance, size, diversity and other fish community metrics developed for shallow water environs. The shoreline condition of the Lynnhaven River Watershed will be comprehensively inventoried with a protocol specifically developed for Virginia and Maryland coastlines which includes a method for collecting, classifying, mapping and reporting conditions to assess riparian shorelines. Fish community information will be related to habitat characteristics including shoreline condition. Observed relationships would support the use of riparian management practices that mitigate loss of critical shallow water habitats, and further link habitat and fishery management.

Link to Project

Maintenance of Virginia Nontidal Wetlands Database
PIs: Fleming, Weiss
Funding Agency: In-House
Period: ongoing
Amount: N/A

This project maintains a website-accessible database for nontidal wetlands permitting in Virginia.

Developing a curriculum for a living shorelines education course for project designers and contractors
PI: Havens, Roggero and Bradshaw
Funding Agency: Chesapeake Bay Restoration Fund
Period: 7/01/07 – 7/01/08
Amount: $14,000

This project involves designing curriculum for a course to educate shoreline project designers and contractors about the use of “Living shoreline” designs.  The course stresses the reasoning behind the recommended design criteria, so that participants learn why the designs function naturally, not just how to build them.  The course also stresses interactions between the upland riparian zone, the wetlands and the aquatic system – three areas that are functionally integrated and tend to be impacted by shoreline projects.

Occurrence of the Invasive Weedy Species Phragmites australis Adjacent to Agricultural Lands and its Response to Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) Control Methods.
PIs: Havens, Chambers
Funding Agency: USDA
Period: 8/1/03 – 7/31/06
Amount: $179,280

This project focuses on developing a model of Phragmites invasiveness at upland/wetland interfaces by determining the mechanism of invasion, competition and spread of Phragmites. With respect to weed control, one of our applied hypotheses is that CRP sites enhance N removal prior to groundwater discharge to the wetland-upland interface, and that best management practices like buffer strips are environmentally sound forms of controlling Phragmites invasion and spread.

Link to Project and Report

Intermediate Development of a Forested Headwater Wetland HGM Model for Wetlands Management in Virginia
PI: Havens
Funding Agency: US EPA
Period: 10/01/04 - 09/30/06
Amount: $178,774

The Forested Headwater Wetland Subclass is unique in that it is partially defined in law by the average current flow (or lack thereof) in the associated stream. This project continues the development of an HGM model for the Forested Headwater Wetland subclass by determining the extent of these wetlands systems as related to annual average stream flow. The final report will include development of a preliminary definition of Forested Headwater Wetlands for HGM model development and preliminary data collection of potential HGM variables.

Link to Project

Determination of Minimal Instream Flow for Recreational Use
PIs: Havens, Hershner, Berquist
Funding Agency: inhouse
Period: ongoing
Amount: n/a

Recreational canoeists established a network of gages in the 1970’s that reflect stream levels on Virginia’s rivers. This network of gages depicts at what level canoeing would become impracticable. As such, this is a potential measure of minimal instream flow requirements for recreational boating. This project uses the established network of gages and GPS technology to tie them to elevation benchmarks in order to relate the depicted stream levels to USGS stream gage data.

Developing a curriculum for a living shorelines education course for project designers and contractors

PI: Havens, Roggero and Bradshaw
Funding Agency: Chesapeake Bay Restoration Fund
Period: 7/01/07 – 7/01/08
Amount: $14,000

This project involves designing curriculum for a course to educate shoreline project designers and contractors about the use of “Living shoreline” designs.  The course stresses the reasoning behind the recommended design criteria, so that participants learn why the designs function naturally, not just how to build them.  The course also stresses interactions between the upland riparian zone, the wetlands and the aquatic system – three areas that are functionally integrated and tend to be impacted by shoreline projects.

Rappahannock County Riparian Buffer Study
PI: Herman
Funding Agency: U.S. Army Corp of Engineers
Period: 03/01/06 - 09/30/06
Amount: $30,000

Riparian buffers are important zones for maintaining water quality and providing critical habitat. Rappahannock County has a rural landscape that presents the opportunity to record baseline conditions of riparian buffers. This study involved analyzing a small drainage area in the Upper Thornton River watershed to offer guidance on targeting riparian buffer restoration. Methods included using aerial imagery and GIS to delineate land uses and buffer cover in 100 ft. buffers around streams. Results indicate that in the study area 51% of the riparian lands potentially need some restoration and several recommendations for riparian buffer restoration were made in the final report.

Link to Final Report


Habitat Restoration Options for Generating Stations Virginia Dominion Power
PIs: Hershner, Bilkovic, Roggero
Funding Agency: CH2MHill
Period: August 2006-December 2006
Amount: $80,000

Environmental compensation for impingement and entrainment (I&E) losses in cooling water intakes can take three basic forms: 1) replacement of lost individuals; 2) enhancement of aquatic habitat to increase system productivity/condition; or 3) enhancement of watershed conditions to improve general aquatic ecosystem condition. In each case the objective is to restore the population of impacted aquatic species, and to compensate for the ecosystem consequences of the loss of the native individuals. In Virginia, improvement of the aquatic habitat in the Chesapeake Bay and its major tributaries is a primary goal of resource managers and policy makers. For tidal waters, our focus will be on three predominant types of aquatic habitat restoration: seagrass, oyster reef and salt marsh. Advancing specific restoration options as part of compliance plans for generating stations will require a technically sound “scaling” to link impingement and entrainment losses to restoration project outcomes. We reviewed the status of restoration scaling for environmental compensation in estuarine environments.

For freshwater systems, we examined three potential restoration options for the mitigation of impingement and entrainment (I&E) losses at freshwater generating stations are 1) fish passageway/impediment removal, 2) riparian buffer enhancement, and 3) fish stocking. These options are not mutually exclusive, and in fact, a combination of two or more of these options together may be more effective than any one option by itself. For example, combining either fish passageways or fish stocking with riparian buffer enhancement may help ensure survival of new fish recruits to a system by providing them with appropriate water quality and habitat features.

Ecological and Socioeconomic Indicators for Integrated Assessment of Aquatic Ecosystems of the Atlantic Slope
PIs: Hershner, Havens, Bilkovic, Varnell, Berman
Funding Agency: US EPA
Period: 4/01/01 – 2/18/06
Amount: (F) $1,163,435

Project objectives are to 1) develop and test ecological and socioeconomic indicators of aquatic resource condition, construct models that use environmental, geographic, and stressor data to predict indicator responses, and use models to link upstream watersheds and downstream estuaries. 2) Develop large scale measures for characterizing landscape attributes and land-use patterns to serve as predictors of a range of environmental conditions. 3) Deliver a nested suite of indicators to managers, where the implications of aggregating models at various scales are considered, and for which reliability is known. This is a collaborative project with Pennsylvania State University, Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, East Carolina University, and the Environmental Law Institute.

Shallow Water Use Management Plan
PI: Hershner
Funding Agency: n/a
Period: 7/1/00 - present
Amount: n/a

This project used GIS to evaluate conditions suitable for a variety of activities that may occur within the shallow water zone of the estuary. Uses include SAV growth, aquaculture, crabbing, recreational fishing, etc. Nearly 20 uses were modeled. First use suitability models were developed, specifying conditions which must exist for a particular use to occur. Second, GIS algorithms are prepared to analyze available environmental data and indicate areas of suitable conditions for each use within the shallow water zone. Spatial models of use suitability were then combined according to a conflict prediction model to identify potential use conflicts. Final steps in the project will be identification of management issues and options, and development of policy recommendations.

Link to Tool

Development of Nontidal Wetland Inventory, Functional Assessment, and Monitoring Strategy for Virginia
PIs: Hershner, Havens, O’Brien
Funding Agency: USEPA/Virginia DEQ
Period: 10/1/03 – 9/30/06
Amount: $606,405

This project develops and implements a three level assessment protocol for nontidal wetlands in Virginia. This is the first phase of a series of projects which are intended to provide assessments across all of Virginia. In this project a level I – GIS based assessment will be completed on all wetlands mapped by the National Wetlands Inventory in Virginia. Level II assessments involving field assessments of stressors will be initiated in the coastal plain of Virginia. Level III assessments will involve detailed analysis of habitat and water quality functions on selected sites.

Link to Final Report

CARA/MUAR
PI: Hershner, Reay
Funding Agency: PSU/NOAA/EPA
Period: 10/1/02 – 3/30/06
Amount: $60,000

This project involves collaboration with researchers from Penn State University, Rhode Island University, and Carnegie Mellon University. The Center’s role is facilitation of a case study of climate change and landuse change information use in Hampton Roads, VA. The project is intended to result in development of a climate change center that can provide web-based information of maximum utility to local planners and decision makers.

Link to website

Wetlands Permit Review and Report Generator
PIs: Hershner, Berman, O’Brien
Funding Agency: inhouse
Period: ongoing
Amount: n/a

This project enhances the permit reporting process to increase the amount of information presented while automating systematic reporting. This is the first system of its kind that combines expert staff review with landscape information retrieved from spatial databases. The report generator is always being modified as new landscape information is available. The reports along with the original application and related photos are posted online in a searchable database.

Garden Club of America Scholarship
PI: Hershner, Reay
Funding Agency: Garden Club of America
Period: annual (2000 to present)
Amount: $500

The Center manages the annual advertisement, review, and selection of recipients for the Garden Club of America Scholarship for Wetland Studies. Each year the Center advertises and responds to inquiries regarding the award. In February it receives, reviews, and ranks applicants and makes a recommendation to the GCA for that years awards. Awards are open to any graduate student undertaking a field oriented study of wetlands at an American university.

Link to webpage

Marine Debris Project
PIs: Hershner, Havens, Bilkovic, Jasinski
Funding Agency: NOAA/NMFS
Period: 9/21/05 – 9/30/06
Amount: $65,000

This project was intended to demonstrate the feasibility of using side scan sonar surveys to locate abandoned or “ghost” fishing gear, particularly crab pots, in the Virginia tidal waters of the Chesapeake Bay, analyze existing records of ghost pots from the trawl survey program in Virginia, investigate the potential effect of ghost pots on fish communities in Virginia waters; and initially survey of the lower York River for ghost fishing gear. Products include a digital map of the surveyed area, annotated to indicate location of all identifiable fishing gear detected by the side scan sonar as well as a brief preliminary assessment of survey methodology and derelict trap impacts on marine organisms.

Tidal Wetlands Management Technical Support
PI: Hershner
Funding Agency: Virginia Coastal Program/NOAA
Period: annually 10/1-9/30
Amount: $80,000

This project has been a continuing grant renewed annually to support the advisory service provided by the Wetlands Program to the Tidal Wetlands Management program. In particular this grant helps fund the travel costs for site visits and meeting attendance by staff scientists, the publication costs for the Wetlands Newsletter, and some of the expenses of maintaining the tidal wetlands permit data base on line on the Center’s web site. Funding was provided to support production of the following publications:

• Virginia Wetlands Report. Spring 2006, Vol. 21, Issue 1. Integrated Coastal & Shoreline Management Guidance.
• Virginia Wetlands Report. Fall 2006, Vol. 21, Issue 2. Tools of the Tidal Shoreline Management Trade.

Preliminary Restoration Support Activities and Technical Advisory
PIs: Hershner, Bilkovic
Funding Agency: CH2MHill
Period: 11/1/05-5/31/06
Amount: $68,000

This report is designed to provide background information for evaluation of restoration options in mitigation situations for power generating stations in Virginia. The report provides information on fish species that might be targeted for restoration activities. There are at least four general ways in which environmental compensation might occur associated with generating station cooling water intakes. These include: 1. direct replacement of lost organisms through culture and stocking programs; 2. enhancement of support-species populations to increase survival in stocks of impacted species; 3. direct enhancement of aquatic habitat to increase suitability for impacted species; and 4. enhancement of watershed conditions to generally improve local and downstream aquatic habitats.

Seasonal Monitoring, Fecal Coliform Loads, Lynnhaven River System
PIs: Hershner
Funding Agency: Virginia Beach
Period: 11/1/05-3/31/07
Amount: $53,259

A collecting and sampling program was developed for fecal coliform following runoff events in the Lynnhaven River System. This information will be used to support water quality and TMDL modeling.

Marine Science Teaching Marsh
PI: Hershner
Funding Agency: Dreyfus Foundation
Period: Private Funds
Amount: $30,000

Funding was provided for improvements to the VIMS Teaching Marsh via improved signage and informational kiosks, updated video cameras, and modifications to the educational website. The website will describe wetland plant species found within the VIMS Teaching Marsh as well as general marsh properties and function. Website information will also include learning activities for children.

Wetlands Guidelines Revisions
PI: Mason
Funding Agency: VA Coastal Zone Management Program
Amount: $45,000

The Center for Coastal Resources Management, VIMS, has undertaken an initiative to provide integrated scientific guidance for better-informed decision-making regarding Virginia’s shoreline systems. We are working on a revised Wetland Guidelines document on a parallel track with our on-going comprehensive guidance initiative. The Wetlands Guidelines will be based upon the current scientific understanding of the ecology of wetlands and role in the landscape. The document will provide an overview of the state of the science and identify environmental preferences and supporting rationale for shoreline management options.

Integrated Guidance Project
PI: Mason
Funding Agency: in-house
Period: ongoing

Virginia is battling to change the current trend toward environmental degradation. The effects of direct, secondary and cumulative impacts have had significant adverse impacts on water quality, habitat and aquatic resources. It has become increasingly apparent that in order to reduce the cumulative and secondary impacts of activities within the multiple jurisdictions and multiple management programs affecting the littoral and riparian zones, better coordination and integration of policies and practices is necessary. The concept of integrated coastal management embodied by sustainability, adaptability and effective coordination provides a framework to address the current problems inherent in coastal management generally, and shoreline management specifically. There are currently a variety of local and state programs managing shoreline development activities. Each of these programs have their own set of regulatory and guidance documentation. And each managed resource, or jurisdictional area, offers various ecosystem services that are valued by society. These services include water quality maintenance and improvement, terrestrial and aquatic wildlife habitat and recreational amenities to name a few. What is lacking is comprehensive guidance from an ecosystem perspective to promote an integrated management approach for the many regulatory programs that have some responsibility for coastal, shoreline resources. This project involves the development of comprehensive guidance for shoreline management based on ecosystem services. Various combinations of riparian and littoral condition will be modeled for two services; habitat and water quality. The impacts of various shoreline development practices will be assessed based upon those services, and environmental preferences that minimize adverse impacts and/or maximize beneficial outcomes will be identified.

Refinement and Validation of a Multi-Level Assessment Method for Mid-Atlantic Tidal Wetlands
PIs: O’Brien, Hershner, Havens
Funding Agency: EPA
Period: 10/01/06-09/30/07
Amount: $134,334

This project will build upon work conducted under the “Development of an Inventory and Multi- Level Assessment Method for Virginia, Maryland and Delaware Tidal Wetlands” project currently being conducted by CCRM and collaborative partners from the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, and Maryland Department of Natural Resources. The Level III assessment protocol developed under this ongoing effort will be utilized in this study to sample approximately 20 additional estuarine tidal wetland sites within the York River, Virginia and Indian River, Delaware watersheds. Additional data collected at these sites will be used to help validate the Level I and Level II condition assessment models developed under previous research efforts. We hope that the development, refinement and validation of a multi-level assessment model will result in its implementation by state and local environmental management and regulatory agencies across the Delmarva region.

Development of an Inventory and Multi-Level Assessment Method for Virginia, Maryland and Delaware Tidal Wetlands
PIs: O’Brien, Havens, Berman, Hershner
Funding Agency: EPA
Period: 10/01/05-03/31/07
Amount: $207,897

This project is designed to provide the Virginia Marine Resources Commission, Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, Maryland Department of Natural Resources and the Maryland Department of the Environment with the ability to report the current extent and condition of estuarine wetlands within three major river systems of the Delmarva. CCRM will develop a Level I, Level II and Level III tidal wetland inventory and assessment methodology for the Delmarva using the estuarine segments of the York River, Virginia, Nanticoke River, Maryland and the Indian River, Delaware as our subject watersheds. Level I involves the GISbased analysis of remotely sensed data while the Level II protocol will be derived from data collection techniques established by the VIMS Comprehensive Coastal Inventory Program (CCI) for mapping shoreline condition. Level III will produce a reference domain for mid- Atlantic estuarine wetlands using a combination of published literature, existing data and field data collection. Reference sites selected for this tier will be representative of the disturbance and ecological variability within the target watersheds. It is hoped that the development and implementation of a multi-level approach to tidal wetland inventory and assessment along with the utilization of these data by the aforementioned state environmental programs will serve as a prototype for expanded investigations across these states in the future.

Completed Projects: Development of DO TMDL for Onancock Creek
PIs: Shen, Herman
Funding Agency: Department of Environmental Quality
Period: 11/1/03 – 7/1/05
Amount: $62,812

Low dissolved oxygen (DO) is often observed in eutrophic waters that receive excessive nutrients and organic matter. DO levels below state water quality standards require the development of a total maximum daily load (TMDL) to determine the reductions needed to meet the water quality standard. The North Branch of Onancock Creek, located on the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay, is impaired for DO. This project involves the development of a 3-D hydrodynamic and water quality model to determine various scenarios for source allocations between point and nonpoint sources.

Link to Final Report

Chesapeake Bay Dune Systems Evolution and Status
PIs: Varnell, Hardaway
Funding Agency: VA Coastal Program
Period: 10/01/00 - 09/30/05
Amount: $530,000

This project combines GIS, GPS, remote sensing, ground surveys, and applied knowledge of sandy shorelines to map and classify the primary and secondary dune and beach systems in Virginia’s portion of the Chesapeake Bay. Analyses of vegetation, grain size, and offshore bathymetry complement beach and dune geomorphology to create a holistic assessment for managers, researchers, planners, and waterfront property owners. Analyses of management structure and history are combined with physical attributes to critique management effectiveness and develop policy recommendations. Products include comprehensive locality-specific inventories, shoreline change models, management guidelines, and a geologic-based classification system for estuarine dune fields. Text and digital reports are available. For more information see VIMS Shoreline Studies. http://www.vims.edu/physical/research/shoreline/

Constructing Probability Surfaces of Ecological Change in Coastal Aquatic Systems through Retrospective Analysis of Phragmites australis Invasion and Expansion.
PIs: Wardrop, Whigham, Havens
Funding Agency: US EPA
Period: 2/1/05-1/31/07
Amount: $299,995 (VIMS $29,317)

The project will develop a unique analytical method, which involves constructing a probability surface, which can be used to identify thresholds for the transition of coastal marshes to dominance by Phragmites. Any set of conditions can then be placed upon the probability surface, allowing the statistical method to be used in a predictive fashion. The method could be applied to a wide variety of aquatic ecosystems for which state changes occur over either a spatial and temporal extent, or both.