Living Shore: Building Resilience through Education and Collaboration on the Eastern Shore of Virginia
Living Shore: Building Resilience through Education and Collaboration on the Eastern Shore of Virginia
In the face of climate change and visible shoreline erosion due to sea level rise, restoration activities and environmental education open a powerful space for community collaboration. With funding from a Toyota TogetherGreen Innovation Grant Chincoteague Bay Field Station (CBFS) began work in 2014 on the Living Shore Project, which brings together groups in Greenbackville and Accomack County, Virginia, to restore a severely eroding shoreline. In the first year of the project, diverse families, members of a gated community, members of traditional Eastern Shore communities, college students, and college faculty worked together to install Oyster Castles®, stabilize the shoreline, plant native marsh grasses, and remove invasive Phragmites. CBFS is now building on the success of the initial project with the assistance of an EPA EE Local Grant. This spring, CBFS will begin developing an outdoor classroom and a public model for enhancing coastal resilience on the Eastern Shore. Through a community collaborative forum, environmental education, and demonstration of best practices, CBFS will engage diverse learners in creating a climate literate and climate-adaptable community. Participants will learn about CBFS’s community engagement process as well as lessons learned and plans for the future.
Presenter: Anne Armstrong, MS/PhD candidate in the Civic Ecology Lab, Cornell University Department of Natural Resources
