Another Conservation Award for Hull Springs Farm Project

Longwood University’s Hull Springs Farm “Living Shorelines” project has won a second award for its environmentally-friendly approach to protecting an eroding shoreline.

The Sustainable Development Award was presented to Earth Resources, Inc, the contractor who installed a new fringe marsh on the shoreline of Hull Springs Farm. The award was from the Tidewater Resource Conservation and Development Council, and was presented at their annual meeting in July 2009.

Earth Resources constructed a toe revetment in 2007 and in July of 2008 completed the project with the installation of a sill (a low-elevation, shore-parallel stone structure installed channelward) and a fringe marsh.  The project was designed as a research tool as well as bank protection and habitat enhancement incorporating both a window and a weir in the sill to permit the movement of animals during the changing tides.  This project will be a demonstration site so other property owners, government researchers/scientists and wetland board members can learn about the environmentally-friendly techniques used in Living Shorelines, and help protect Virginia’s shorelines.

“Earth Resources is professional, knowledgeable and does superb work,” said Hull Springs Farm’s executive director Bobbie Burton. “They did an outstanding job, and we would recommend them to anyone considering an environmentally-sound marine construction project.”

In the month prior to winning the award, shoreline experts from the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (of the College of William and Mary) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) visited the site and were exceedingly pleased with the accuracy of the installation and the related success of the vegetation in a relatively short period of time.  They were highly complementary of the technical expertise that was applied by Earth Resources, Inc. The project was made possible thanks to two grants from NOAA through the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. This research and educational project involved the expertise of many partners, including Longwood University, VIMS, NOAA, Virginia Commonwealth University, Northern Neck Soil and Water Conservation District, Northern Neck Planning District Commission, Burke Environmental Associates LLC, Clean Virginia Waterways, and community volunteers.

Learn more about Living Shorelines and the previous award won by HSF.

 

Learn more about Hull Springs Farm and its Shoreline Erosion Control/ Living Shorelines project.

To learn about future volunteer events at Hull Springs Farm, or to visit the Living Shorelines project at Hull Springs Farm, please send an email to hullspringsfarm@longwood.edu or call 804.472.2621