The first of several tributaries was declared Virginia's first waterway to reach oyster habitat restoration goals on Monday. Not long ago, the area had been thought to be dead.

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On Monday, Norfolk's Lafayette River was declared the state's first waterway in the Chesapeake Bay area to reach oyster habitat restoration goals. It was the culmination of community-supported restoration efforts to reduce pollution and restore wildlife that began in the 1990s. Oysters serve as natural filters that clean water, protect shorelines from erosion, and create habitat for fish, crabs, and other aquatic life. Healthy oyster reefs have played a key role in the tributary's revitalization.

Approximately 200 miles long, the Chesapeake Bay is an estuary located between Maryland and Virginia. More than 150 major rivers and streams flow into the Bay's 64,299-square-mile drainage basin, which covers Washington DC and portions of six states, including Maryland, Virginia, New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware and West Virginia.

The 2014 Chesapeake Bay Agreement set a goal of restoring oysters in ten Chesapeake Bay waterways by 2025. Marjorie Mayfield Jackson, Executive Director of the Elizabeth River Project (ERP) said, "It's unbelievable that a part of the Elizabeth River, once presumed dead, now leads Virginia for restoration of the native oyster."

"Chesapeake" comes from the Algonquian, "Chesepiooc." First used as "Chesepiook" by explorers from the Roanoke Colony in about 1585, it is the seventh oldest surviving English place-name in the U.S. The Chesapeake tribe occupied the areas of Norfolk and Virginia Beach near the Lafayette River, so it was fitting that Virginia's first waterway to reach oyster habitat restoration goals was declared on Indigenous Peoples Day. (Indigenous Peoples Day replaces Columbus Day in several states; MN, AK, VT, and OR , along with dozens of other cities around the US. The update was made in honor of First Americans who were on the continent long before Columbus, and who suffered deeply as a result of his "discovery.")

As part of the celebration, project partners led by Elizabeth River Project (ERP) and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF), as well as residents and other officials, formed a flotilla of boats, kayaks, and paddleboards to plant the final oysters on restored reefs just off the Hermitage Museum and Gardens in Norfolk, VA.

According to the CBF, "Regular surveys of Lafayette reefs show they are thriving, reaching levels well above the density goal of 50 oysters per square meter. Biological sampling has discovered that these reefs are home to at least 25 different species of fish, including seahorses, red drum, striped bass, and speckled trout. Surveys and monitoring the health of Lafayette River oyster reefs will continue in the years to come. Lessons learned here will help inform work on other Virginia tributaries targeted for oyster restoration."

About the Chesapeake Bay Foundation

The Chesapeake Bay Foundation has improved the Bay's overall health since its low in 1983, reversing more than 300 years of decline. Their 2012 State of the Bay report showed the Bay's health improved by 14 percent since 2008.

CBF's Clagett Farm is designed to be a model for how to use truly sustainable farming methods. In addition to teaching students and fellow farmers there, CBF operates a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program.

CBF's Litigation Department uses carefully chosen legal action to advance the restoration and protection of the Chesapeake Bay, its rivers, lakes, and streams. As a result, there is an historic and legally binding agreement and plan to remove the Bay from the federal "impaired waters" list. This groundbreaking plan is called the Chesapeake Clean Water Blueprint, and it's the first of its kind.

CBF offers award-winning educational programs to more than 25,000 students each year. To date, more than 1.5 million students of all ages have been through one of CBF's 15 study centers.

CBF has also restored more than 9,000 acres of wetlands and nearly 30,000 acres of forested riparian buffer on agricultural lands in Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, and Pennsylvania by planting more than 3.3 million trees.

CBF was founded in 1967.

Authors Website: http://www.OceanViewArts.com

Authors Bio:

Meryl Ann Butler is an artist, author, educator and OpedNews Managing Editor who has been actively engaged in utilizing the arts as stepping-stones toward joy-filled wellbeing since she was a hippie. She began writing for OpEdNews in Feb, 2004. She became a Senior Editor in August 2012 and Managing Editor in January, 2013. In June, 2015, the combined views on her articles, diaries and quick link contributions topped one million. She was particularly happy that her article about Bree Newsome removing the Confederate flag was the one that put her past the million mark.

Her art in a wide variety of media can be seen on her YouTube video, "Visionary Artist Meryl Ann Butler on Creativity and Joy" at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcGs2r_66QE

A NYC native, her response to 9-11 was to pen an invitation to healing through creativity, entitled, "90-Minute Quilts: 15+ Projects You Can Stitch in an Afternoon" (Krause 2006), which is a bestseller in the craft field. The sequel, MORE 90-Minute Quilts: 20+ Quick and Easy Projects With Triangles and Squares was released in April, 2011. Her popular video, How to Stitch a Quilt in 90 Minutes with Meryl Ann Butler can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrShGOQaJQ8

She has been active in a number of international, arts-related projects as a citizen diplomat, and was arts advisor to Baltimore's CIUSSR (Center for Improving US-Soviet Relations), 1987-89. She made two trips to the former USSR in 1987 and 1988 to speak to artists, craftpeople and fashion designers on the topic of utilizing the arts as a tool for global wellbeing. She created the historical "First US-Soviet Children's Peace Quilt Exchange Project" in 1987-88, which was the first time a reciprocal quilt was given to the US from the former USSR.

Her artwork is in collections across the globe.

Meryl Ann is a founding member of The Labyrinth Society and has been building labyrinths since 1992. She publishes an annual article about the topic on OpEdNews on World Labyrinth Day, the first Saturday in May.

OpEdNews Senior Editor Joan Brunwasser interviewed Meryl Ann in "Beyond Surviving: How to Thrive in Challenging Times" at https://www.opednews.com/articles/Beyond-Surviving--How-to-by-Joan-Brunwasser-Anxiety_Appreciation_Coronavirus_Creativity-200318-988.html

Find out more about Meryl Ann's artistic life in "OEN Managing Ed, Meryl Ann Butler, Featured on the Other Side of the Byline" at https://www.opednews.com/Quicklink/OEN-Managing-Ed-Meryl-Ann-in-Life_Arts-Artistic_Artists_Quilt-170917-615.html

On Feb 11, 2017, Senior Editor Joan Brunwasser interviewed Meryl Ann in Pink Power: Sister March, Norfolk, VA at http://www.opednews.com/articles/Pink-Power-Sister-March--by-Joan-Brunwasser-Pussy-Hats-170212-681.html

"Creativity and Healing: The Work of Meryl Ann Butler" by Burl Hall is at
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Creativity-and-Healing--T-by-Burl-Hall-130414-18.html

Burl and Merry Hall interviewed Meryl Ann on their BlogTalk radio show, "Envision This," at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/envision-this/2013/04/11/meryl-ann-butler-art-as-a-medicine-for-the-soul

Archived articles www.opednews.com/author/author1820.html
Older archived articles, from before May 2005 are here.