The Nature Conservancy’s Virginia Coast Reserve (TNC VCR) has been conserving land on Virginia’s Eastern Shore for over 50 years. The 133,000 acres of protected barrier islands, salt marshes, mudflats, forested uplands, and agricultural lands serve as nature-based protection for the communities of Northampton and Accomack Counties. This portion of coastline, along the Eastern Coast of the U.S., is experiencing accelerated effects of climate change with a sea level rise rate three times the global average and more frequent tidal flooding associated with sea level rise and more severe storms. TNC VCR’s Coastal Resilience Program consists of (1) employing nature-based solutions such as oyster reef and seagrass restoration, (2) creation and use of the Eastern Shore of Virginia Coastal Resilience Tool to help community stakeholders make more informed, science-based decisions, and (3) community engagement focused on working with and providing resources for local seaside and bayside communities in creating adaptation and resilience plans and projects. This presentation will highlight past, present, and future projects that are led by TNC and driven by the needs of the Eastern Shore of Virginia community.

As Director of The Nature Conservancy’s Volgenau Virginia Coast Reserve, Jill Bieri leads a staff of fourteen working to protect, restore, and sustain the barrier islands, coastal lagoon, and bayside ecosystems of the Eastern Shore of Virginia. Jill holds a master’s degree in marine science from the College of William and Mary’s Virginia Institute of Marine Science and has 30 years of experience working on the Chesapeake and Coastal Bays. She has worked as a scientific researcher (seagrass ecology), an environmental educator, public grants writer, and founder/director of a small environmental non-profit. Her interests include coastal and bay ecology, environmental education, and non-profit leadership. Jill is an avid long-distance runner and enjoys both living and working in the last expanse of coastal wilderness on the East Coast of the U.S.

CCPO Innovation Research Park Building I 4111 Monarch Way, 3rd Floor Old Dominion University Norfolk, VA 23508 757-683-4940