Living Shorelines Benefit You By: Remember: • Reducing bank and property loss to Living Shorelines you or your neighbor Any action on a single shoreline has the • Providing an attractive natural appearance potential to impact adjacent shorelines. An approach to shoreline • Creating recreational use areas management and erosion issues that Shoreline alterations • Improving marine habitat & spawning areas should be avoided is better for the environment and where they are not property owners • Allowing affordable construction costs really necessary. Offset (above) and straight gaps When erosion along • Improving water quality and clarity (below) maintain connections to a shoreline has the shoreline habitat and open water. potential to result in significant loss of property and upland improvement, then the consideration of shoreline erosion pro- tection activities may be appropriate.

Preserving, creating or enhancing natural systems such as marshes, beaches and dunes is always the preferred approach Medium energy eroding marsh before (above) to shoreline erosion and after living shoreline treatment (below). protection.

“Preserving one shoreline at a time” our coasts Photos of Hermitage Site by Walt Priest Project funded by the Virginia Coastal Zone Management Program of the Department of Environmental Quality through Grant #NA07NOS4190178 Task #94.02 of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

For more information: www.vims.edu/ccrm/ outreach/living_shorelines Visit our Website: Center for Coastal Resources Management vims.edu/ Virginia Institute of Marine Science Have a question about www. ccrm/outreach/ P.O. Box 1346 your living shoreline? living_shorelines Gloucester Pt., VA 23061-1346 Email: [email protected] 804-684-7380 Living Shorelines Overview

Concern Services Design Site Specs

Virginia has nearly 5,000 Living shorelines provide Several design options Several site characteristics miles of shoreline, marsh- valuable ecological servic- (see below) exist for living can be used to evaluate es, beaches, and tidal mud- es. These services include shorelines depending the potential success of flats which provide habitat water quality improve- upon your site charact- a living shoreline. These for a wide variety of plants ment, aquatic habitat, tidal eristics. characteristics include: and animals. water exchange, sediment • Fetch or distance across Non-structural design op- movement, plant com- open water of 3 miles These marshes and wet- tions are most suitable in munity transitions, and im- or less lands are threatened due proved groundwater flow. very low energy settings to relative sea level rise Some treatments preserve where upland riparian and • Low bank height and caused by climate change, by allowing their marsh vegetation can be no strong tidal currents coastal subsidence (or gradual landward retreat emphasized. Existing tidal • Location of shoreline sinking) and manmade as sea levels rise. marshes or beaches, low in relation to prevailing impacts. banks with few trees and winds Living shoreline treatments very minor boat wake In Virginia, an average maintain natural processes activity indicate suitable • Existing marsh, of 16 to 18 miles of new and connections between site conditions for non- submerged aquatic shoreline structures were riparian, intertidal and structural design options. vegetation, or trees and permitted each year from aquatic areas. shrubs near the project 2000 to 2007. Where wave energy and site erosion conditions prevent • Minimal erosion and What Are Living Shorelines? Armoring the shorelines the use of non-structural wave activity with bulkheads or methods, structures can A “living shoreline treatment” is a shoreline • Shallow water depth threatens landscapes, be used to support management practice that addresses near the shoreline public access, recreational planted or natural tidal erosion in lower energy situations by opportunities, natural marshes and sand beaches. • Abundant sunlight providing for long-term protection, habitats, water quality, Managing shoreline ero- restoration or enhancement of vegetated and contributes to erosion A combination of options sion is a complex subject. shoreline habitats. This is accomplished of adjacent shorelines. may also be appropriate, Always seek professional Learning about Shorelines Learning through the strategic placement of plants, These factors could reduce such as bank grading with guidance for the design of stone, sand fill and other structural and the number of fish, crabs, a planted marsh. your project. organic materials. and birds that depend on coastal habitats.

For image galleries of design alternatives, Non-Structural Options Structural Options please visit www.vims.edu/ccrm/outreach/ living_shorelines/design Shoreline Vegetation Management, Marsh Toe , Marsh Sill, Marsh with Groins, & Dune Restoration, Tidal Marsh Enhancement, Tidal Off shore System, and Oyster Reef. See story maps of resilient living shorelines Marsh Creation, Bank Grading, and Fiber Logs. in Virginia and beyond www.adaptva.com/ Options info/adaptations.html