EPA gives $91,000 to help educate about beach erosion

Battling the beach erosion in places like Greenbackville, Va is nothing short of team effort. The Chincoteague Bay Field Station (CBFS) has been working to fight erosion using living shorelines, and now the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has stepped in to help them out with a $91,000 grant.

The money will allow CBFS to provide free field-based programming for 800 Eastern Shore students.

“This is really important because as you probably know Eastern shore schools have a hard time actually getting out in the field and doing field work because of transportation issues and all sorts of things like that,” said Elise Trelegan, marketing and development coordinator for CBFS.

The living shoreline is an alternative method to combat beach erosion compared to other man-made methods such as bulkheads or jetties.

“We’re using things that are more natural so oyster castles, native plants and other things like that just to kind of slow erosion and mitigate these impacts,” Trelegan said.

The oyster castles resemble cinder blocks and used to slow down the wave speeds and eventually serve as a home to oysters. The oysters help the water, as they filter large amounts of it help them feed and breathe.

The idea at Greenbackville is two fold, to prevent beach erosion, but also to ensure that that fresh bay water can make it safely to the marshes behind to beach to prevent the forming of stagnant water.

Students who will participate in the field training will learn how to do such things.

“They’ll actually be doing work while they’re out here planting native species, they’ll be installing oyster castles, monitoring the oyster castles and looking at water quality as it relates to some of the big changes that we’re seeing here on the shore,” Trelegan said.

By the students actually learning these practices on-site, college intern Katie Braune believes they’ll get a better understanding for what a living shoreline actually is and why it’s so important.

“It is so hands on and when it’s hands on like this, it’s way better than being in a classroom and getting it from a textbook. You can learn about the living shoreline, but until you actually help build it you’re not going to understand that the marsh is right here and it is blocked off from the bay and why it’s so important to restore that,” Braune said.

An added part of the grant will also give the field station the ability to give sub-grants to other community organizations and non profits so people who want to implement this can do so in other areas.

CBFS has request for proposals out this week and will accept rolling applications.

More information can be found on their website here.