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People plant marsh grass as a part of the Living Shoreline project in Westmoreland in early August. |
BY FRANK DELANO
A shoreline project at a Westmoreland County farm owned by Longwood College has won a state conservation award.
Completed this year, a low wall of rocks built along a creek protects 400 feet of an eroding bank from wave action. Sand and stone were added, and volunteers planted 4,800 plugs of marsh grasses to help establish 10,000 square feet of tidal marsh. The new marsh will provide additional protection to the shoreline and habitat for wildlife.
The project's contractor, Earth Resources Inc. of Lancaster County, recently received the Ecological Excellence Award for Construc-tion from the Virginia chapter of the Soil and Water Conservation Society.
Longwood College received grants for the work from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration through the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. According to a Longwood news release, the project demonstrates how living-shoreline techniques can be used to control erosion and to enhance habitat of shorebirds, juvenile fish and other wildlife species.
The work took place at Longwood's 643-acre Hull Springs Farm at Erica. The farm was bequeathed to Longwood in 1999 by Mary Farley Ames Lee, a 1938 Longwood alumna.
Frank Delano: 804/333-3834
Email: fpdelano@gmail.com
