At a population of about 44,000, the Accomack Northampton Planning District Commission (ANPDC) region covers Accomack and Northampton Counties, the Town of Chincoteague, and 19 other incorporated towns of the Eastern Shore including Tangier Island.

The Eastern Shore is about a 75-mile long peninsula between the Atlantic Ocean and the Chesapeake Bay.  It is one of the few remaining rural regions on the Atlantic seaboard despite consistent pressure from development.  It hosts critical migratory bird stop-over habitat along the North American Flyway, 23 barrier islands that make up the longest stretch of undeveloped shoreline on the East Coast, and a rich history tied to agriculture and seafood.  Virginia CZM has partnered with the ANPDC on many efforts, including groundwater protection, habitat and species restoration, and ecotourism. 

What Role Has Virginia CZM Played in the Region? 

Protecting Groundwater Quality 

The Eastern Shore of Virginia is the only region in coastal Virginia whose public water supply has been designated by EPA as a Sole Source Aquifer.  Since the region is solely reliant on groundwater for its public water supply, protecting this aquifer is critical.  In 1992, Virginia CZM funded ANPDC to assist Accomack and Northampton counties in the development of ordinances to protect groundwater quality.  This work also helped the counties adopt groundwater protection amendments into their respective comprehensive plans.  Since 1999, ANPDC has also used their Technical Assistance funding to staff and otherwise support the Eastern Shore of Virginia Groundwater Committee, whose primary charter is to study and plan for groundwater protection.

Seaside Heritage Program

From 2002 to 2006, ANPDC participated in Virginia CZM’s “Seaside Heritage Program” to restore Seaside habitats on the shoreline and in the barrier island lagoon system, while promoting sustainable industries such as ecotourism and shellfish aquaculture.  Virginia CZM convened a variety of partners to coordinate efforts.  ANPDC and the Eastern ShoreKeeper used Virginia CZM funds to develop a Seaside Water Trail and construct floating docks and interpretive signage.  Floating docks were built at Willis Wharf, Chincoteague and Quinby, and decking supplies and a binocular stand were purchased for the Willis Wharf Wildlife Observation Deck.

In the 1930s the region suffered a catastrophic ecosystem state change due to an eelgrass wasting disease and a series of hurricanes.  The change from eelgrass to an “unvegetated” bottom dominated by benthic algae resulted in the loss of critical ecosystem services, including the provision of food and nursery habitat for numerous avian and marine species, including the bay scallop.  As eelgrass beds were successfully restored through Virginia CZM grants to the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, in 2009 Virginia CZM began to focus on bay scallop restoration. 

Seaside Special Area Management Plan 

In 2007 - 2012, Virginia CZM initiated a Seaside Special Area Management Plan (SAMP).  This initiative included four grants to ANPDC: one to conduct a community build-out scenario on the Seaside; and three others to work with CZM, VIMS and the Marine Resources Commission to develop an alternative management approach for underwater lands that would de-conflict eelgrass restoration, recreation, shellfish aquaculture and other commercial uses.  ANPDC worked with partners and local watermen and shellfish aquaculturists to try to identify an appropriate eelgrass restoration goal that would support a healthy bay scallop population, while also allowing adequate space for other uses such as clam and oyster cultivation.  This information was ultimately used to help inform how the various uses of this seaside environment can sustainably coexist.

Enhancing Ecotourism

More recently, Virginia CZM has funded ANPDC to lead efforts to enhance ecotourism through water trails, a marketing strategy, and Virginia Ecotour Guide Certification Classes. 

This work began in 2017-20 with the Virginia Oyster & Water Trail Ecotourism Promotion project.  This project developed a bayside water trail on the Eastern Shore to complement the Seaside Water Tail.  It also revived an Ecotour Guide Certification Class that had been developed in the 1990s by Virginia CZM and the Department of Conservation and Recreation.  Virginia CZM continued to fund and expanded the effort to include other rural PDCs (NNPDC, MPPDC, and the Lower Chickahominy portion of PlanRVA), to market the Virginia Water Trails and to align marketing efforts with the Virginia Oyster Trail.  This project is now a six year effort (FY 2017 - FY 2022). 

The Ecotour Guide course trains future ecotour guides and certifies them to be responsible and knowledgeable ambassadors for the rich ecological assets of coastal Virginia.  In fact, The Nature Conservancy only allows these certified ecotour guides and their customers to visit their Volgenau Virginia Coast Reserve, located on several seaside islands of the Eastern Shore. 

Economic Resilience

In 2020, the focus shifted to economic resilience of the rural coastal Virginia ecotourism industry. During the first two years of this project, the team developed a small business resiliency training program and conducted an assessment of different access points to evaluate their resilience to sea level rise. 

Coastal Resilience

Finally, since 2012 Virginia CZM has supported ANPDC through technical assistance grants to staff and lead the Eastern Shore Climate Adaptation Working Group (CAWG).  From this early stage, the goal of CAWG was to increase awareness of climate-related impacts among the general public and local government officials and to develop adaptation planning products.  With this funding CAWG has published regular newsletters, supported the development of tools such as a regional marsh migration model, conducted public outreach, and collected local knowledge and experienced changes resulting from sea level rise and climate change as a part of the Eastern Shore Coastal Change Archive.  Since 2020, CAWG has been working with partners to develop a list of resiliency projects, to identify regional resilience needs such as data gaps and local capacity, and to establish regional resilience priorities.  All of this work under CAWG has advanced resilience efforts in the region, and benefitted coastal zone wide efforts, like the development of the Coastal Resilience Master Plan. 

ANPDC Projects Funded by Virginia CZM

The table below lists ANPDC projects funded by Virginia CZM since fiscal year 1992. This list includes annual Coastal Technical Assistance grants from Virginia CZM to ANPDC that focused on the development of ordinances to protect groundwater quality.  Virginia CZM funds are typically matched 50/50, but the table below only includes federal funds provided by Virginia CZM. Any Project Names that are linked in the table below will take you to the Project List for that fiscal year where you can open the Task Number at the bottom of the page to find more information on the corresponding project.