On August 30, 2012, the Chesapeake Bay Trust and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced $800,000 in grants for projects to create living shorelines along the Chesapeake Bay waterways in Maryland and Virginia. Living shorelines are areas where wetland plants are used to help stabilize shorelines against erosion. As an alternative to hard structures—such as riprap—to hold shorelines in place, living shorelines also provide habitat for aquatic animals. The $800,000 in funding—comprising $275,000 each from the Bay Trust and NOAA, $200,000 from the Maryland Department of Environment, and $50,000 from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources—will go to 12 recipients in Maryland and to the following four recipients in Virginia: City of Norfolk, $134,082; Friends of Norfolk’s Environment, $5,894; Northern Virginia Regional Commission, $16,500; and The Landings at Bolling Square Community Association, $11,212. Information on the Living Shorelines Grant Program is available online at http://www.cbtrust.org/site/c.miJPKXPCJnH/b.5457537/k.B2A2/Living_Shorelines.htm.
Source: Living Shoreline Program Restores Chesapeake Bay Shorelines in Maryland and Virginia (opens as Word document), Chesapeake Bay Trust News Release, 8/30/12.
Local accounts of the grants include the following:
Our Bay: Six ‘living’ shoreline projects move forward, Annapolis (Md.) Capital Gazette, 9/10/12.
Grant OK’d for living shoreline, Easton (Md.) Star Democrat, 9/12/12.
