Tangier Island Aquatic Ecosystem Restoration Study

Accomack County, VA


Contact:Thomas J. Lochen, P.G. (757) 201-7539

Authorization:

  • Section 206 of the Water Resources Development Act of 1996 (Public Law 104-303), as amended.

Location and Description:

  • Approximately 90 miles southeast of Washington, D.C.
  • 2000 Census population (approximately): 600.
  • 2020 Forecast population: 450.
  • Per Capita Income: $24,042.

Tangier Island is located in the Chesapeake Bay approximately 90 miles southeast of Washington, DC, and is entirely within the political boundaries of Accomack County on Virginia's Eastern Shore. Three Army Corps of Engineers projects already have been constructed on Tangier Island in the vicinity of the proposed project. One is a navigation channel to the Chesapeake Bay that provides a channel seven feet deep at mean lower low water and 60 feet wide. The channel runs from the anchorage basin at the Town of Tangier northwesterly to the Chesapeake Bay, a total length of approximately 3,820 feet. The second is a navigation channel to Tangier Sound that provides a channel eight feet deep and 100 feet wide. It runs from the anchorage basin northeasterly for a distance of approximately 4,800 feet. The third is existing project is a seawall that provides over 5,700 feet of shore protection to the island's west coast, south of the navigation channel.

The waters in the vicinity of Tangier Island formerly had among the most extensive and dense submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) in the entire Chesapeake Bay. Today, these waters still have considerable SAV, but losses have been severe. SAV is the primary nursery habitat for blue crabs in the bay and is an important nursery and foraging habitat for a variety of finfish and shellfish species. The proposed project consists of seven offshore breakwaters along the western side of the northern half of the island known as the Uppards (which is unpopulated) and one offshore breakwater at the northern tip of the island. The primary benefit of the project would be to restore and/or protect almost 1,300 acres of estuarine wetland, SAV, sheltered shallow water, beach, riparian zone, and dune habitat. It is expected that the additional SAV beds would increase blue crab juveniles by approximately 29.6 million animals, a 140 percent increase when compared to the current population. Adult blue crabs would be expected to increase by approximately 2.96 million, a 140 percent increase when compared to the current population.

A draft report that proposed the basic project described above was approved in 2004; however, funding for this study, as with many studies nationwide, was subsequently suspended until recently when funds were received to complete the report. While the funding was on hold, the physical conditions in the study area were not. Erosion proceeded at a rate of approximately 16 feet per year on the western side of the Uppards. The final report documents the revisions to the 2004 proposed project, based on the changed conditions in the study area. The total cost of the design and construction of this project is estimated to be $9.21 million with the Federal share being $5 million and the local sponsor share being $4.21 million. To date, only Federal funds have been spent on this project.

 

Updated: 27-Oct-2011