U.S. Virginia Field Project
The Virginia Marine Conservation Agreement (MCA) field project demonstrates how a private organization can obtain fee-simple and less-than fee-simple ownership of intertidal lands in connection with adjacent upland ownership to undertake extensive shellfish and seagrass restoration.
Barrier Islands Protection and Restoration
The Nature Conservancy’s Virginia Coast Reserve (VCR) consists of all or part of 14 undeveloped barrier islands that run more than 60 miles parallel to the Atlantic shore in the Virginia portion of the lower Delmarva Peninsula, from the Maryland border to the Chesapeake Bay, encompassing approximately 20,000 acres.
The series of islands include beaches and dunes, maritime scrub/shrub, forests and extensive salt marshes. The Reserve also includes mainland property ownership at Brownsville, the Reserve’s headquarters, and at Fowling Point, Box Tree Farm, and Hillcrest Farm. The reserve does not include subtidal lands but does include riparian and intertidal areas, mainly a strip out to the low water mark. Approximately 300 acres are considered prime intertidal grounds for oyster reef construction and restoration. Most island parcels date back to king’s grants or previous land patents, some over 300 years old.
In the 1960s, developers purchased three of the islands with the intent of building a seaside resort. A recession and passage of the Wetland Act stalled the development in the late 1960s. The Nature Conservancy, with funding from the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust, purchased the three islands and the other remaining natural islands to prevent coastal development, preserve habitat, and form the Virginia Coast Reserve.
In the 1930s, coastal fisheries in the area declined quickly following a rapid die-off of seagrass and concurrent over-harvesting of oyster reefs. While oysters remain commercially extinct, the Eastern Shore has become the center of the largest hard clam aquaculture industry on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. The sea grass meadows never recovered from the die-off.
The Conservancy has worked in partnership with the Virginia Marine Resources Commission and the Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences to simultaneously restore sea grasses and oyster reefs in the coastal bays. To date, over 150 acres of sea grass (Zostera marina) have been planted via seed in three coastal bays (South Bay, Cobb Island Bay, and Hog Island Bay) and are thriving and spreading. It was estimated in spring 2007 that over 500 acres of sea grasses now exist in South Bay alone.
Since 2002, the partnership has worked to restore 8+ acres of functional oyster reefs within the Reserve while the Virginia Marine Resources Commission has restored an additional 12+ acres on public bottomland. Functional oyster reefs are described as inter-tidal reefs showing vertical relief of mixed age and size oysters that filter and improve water quality, provide habitat for other species, and contribute biomass to the overall food webs in the coastal bays. Restoration efforts have been targeted at Cobb, Smith, and Parramore Islands and at the mainland at Hillcrest Farm, In addition, the Conservancy owns and manages an additional 24 acres of functional oyster reefs behind the islands and adjacent to some mainland sites near the Reserve’s headquarters at Brownsville. These mainland reefs have persisted since pre-colonial times as evidenced by Indian middens on adjacent upland hummocks. All restored and managed reefs are designated as shellfish sanctuaries with no harvest allowed.
Transaction Summary
| Fee simple | Multiple purchases and easements |
| Area | Prime intertidal land suitable for oyster restoration Island beaches and adjacent upland systems |
| Resource | 300 acres of intertidal land (a strip around the islands and in the salt marshes) 20,000 total acres of uplands, wetlands, and intertidal lands within the reserve |
| Dates/duration | Acquired in 1960s through the 1990s |
| Fee/price | $8 million for total reserve |
| Location | Atlantic barrier islands at southern end of Delmarva Peninsula. Also mainland sites at Brownsville, Fowling Point, Box Tree Farm, and Hillcrest Farm. |
| Use | Primarily restoration of oysters |
| Grantor(s) | Various |
| Grantee(s) | The Nature Conservancy |
Lessons Learned
- Managing for population recovery and resiliency in the face of disease will require an approach that protects larger, older oysters as broodstock. By setting the example, TNC is hoping to leverage our State partners to adopt both native oyster restoration for ecosystem benefits and the sanctuary concept as new strategies.
- Poaching of oyster sanctuary reefs continues to be a major problem since oysters are left on the reefs and not harvested. Specifically, enforcing trespass and theft laws, catching and documenting the larceny, and proving TNC’s proprietary rights are complex legal problems at the local level.
- Technically there are opportunities to lease additional areas for oyster restoration from the State but since 300+ acres of riparian, intertidal lands are already owned by TNC, there is no need to lease additional lands at this point.
- VCR is beginning to explore the purchase of existing State oyster leases from private individuals under NOAA’s Community Habitat Protection Program.
Cost Summary
| Activity | Cost ($USD) |
| Ownership rights for all 14 islands since 1960 | ~$8 million |
| Additional acquisitions of 10 acres on Hog Island @ $20K/acre | $200,000 |
| Oyster reef restoration and sea grass/bay scallop restoration (since 2002); | $650,300 |
| Total (as of 2007) | $8,850,300 |
Restored oyster reef at the Virginia Coast Reserve. Photo: Barry Truitt/TNC.
Funding Sources
- Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust
- NOAA Community-Based Restoration Program
- Private Industry
- Virginia Coastal Zone Management Program
- Virginia Aquatic Resources Trust Fund
- Virginia Marine Resources Commission
- The Nature Conservancy - Global Marine Team
Lead Organization
The Nature Conservancy - Virginia Chapter
Virginia Coast Reserve
P.O. Box 158, Brownsville
Nassawadox, VA 23413
Tel: 757-442-3049
Partners
- Virginia Marine Resources Commission
- Virginia Institute Of Marine Sciences
- Virginia Coastal Zone Management Program
- Reef Ball Foundation
- Terry Brothers Seafood Company
- Allied Concrete Inc.
- Tandem Friends School
- Local Eastern Shore Communities and volunteers
Left: Oyster restoration work at the Virginia Coast Reserve. Right: Boundary sign at the Virginia Coast Reserve. Photos: Barry Truitt/TNC.
Authorizing Agency
Virginia Marine Resources Commission
2600 Washington Avenue, 3rd Floor
Newport News, VA 23607
Tel: 757-247-2200
Documents
- Sample VCR Deed (download .pdf, 1,918k)
- Sample Conservation Easement (download .pdf, 248k)
Publications
- The Nature Conservancy. (No date.) Eastern Shore of Virginia: Virginia Coast Reserve. (Web page)
See Also
Truitt, B., J. Wesson, and A. Wilke (No date). Native Oyster Restoration and Management - Virginia Coast Reserve. Presented by The Nature Conservancy of Virginia and the Virginia Marine Resources Commission. (download .pdf, 14,419k)