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In 2011, VIMS, NRCS and the Virginia Marine Resources Commission embarked on a journey to help bring back native oysters lost to over-harvesting, disease and degraded habitat. Beds that lay dormant for decades are now being returned to service to support spat-on-shell production and a growing population of the bivalves, fish and other wildlife.
In the past three years alone, NRCS has provided $776,284 in financial assistance through a Regional Conservation Partnership Program project to support tidal-bottom restoration on leased beds. This new, improved approach to aquaculture yielded 40 contracts with Virginia growers, including 11 in Fiscal Year 2020. When that project ended, the commitment to Virginia oyster growers continued with NRCS now making $260,000 available through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program to sustain these efforts.
A VIMS researcher deploys a tray of oysters. (WYDaily/Courtesy of VIMS)
PENINSULA/GLOUCESTER The Virginia Institute of Marine Science has again partnered with USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) to help support ongoing efforts to restore oyster beds on private shellfish grounds in the state’s portion of the Chesapeake Bay.
In 2011, VIMS, NRCS and the Virginia Marine Resources Commission embarked on a journey to help bring back native oysters lost to over-harvesting, disease and degraded habitat. Beds that lay dormant for decades are now being returned to service to support spat-on-shell production and a growing population of the bivalves, fish and other wildlife.
American Farmland Trust on Tuesday released “Agriculture’s Role in 30×30: Partnering with Farmers and Ranchers to Protect Land, Biodiversity, and the Climate,” outlining agriculture’s role in the effort to “conserve at least 30% of our lands and waters by 2030” as put forth in the Biden administration’s executive order Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad.
AFT recommends that the Biden administration take the following actions in support of the 30×30 initiative:
▪ Commit to protecting and conserving 30% of working farmland and ranchland by 2030 (including permanently protecting 5% of working land with agricultural conservation easements).
▪ Take immediate action to accelerate working lands protection and biodiversity conservation using USDA’s existing programs and authorities.