As used in this section, unless the context requires a different meaning:
"Living shoreline" means a shoreline management practice that provides erosion control and water quality benefits; protects, restores, or enhances natural shoreline habitat; and maintains coastal processes through the strategic placement of plants, stone, sand fill, and other structural and organic materials. When practicable, a living shoreline may enhance coastal resilience and attenuation of wave energy and storm surge.
"Other structural and organic materials" means materials or features that provide added protection or stability for the natural shoreline habitat components of a living shoreline that attenuate wave energy and do not interfere with natural coastal processes or the natural continuity of the land-water interface. "Other structural and organic materials" may be composed of a variety of natural or man-made materials, including rock, concrete, wood fiber, oyster shells, and geotextiles; however, structural features shall be free from contaminants and shall be adequately secured to prevent full or partial dislodging or detachment due to wave action or other natural forces.
This is in effect July 1, 2022.
Image: VIMS Living Shoreline in Gloucester County, Va. by Chesapeake Bay Program. Used under Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC 2.0) license.
Image description: "Marine scientists Scott Hardaway and Karen Duhring of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS), visit VIMS' living shoreline at the mouth of the York River in Gloucester Point, Va., on Feb. 12, 2013. Hardaway is director of the Shoreline Studies Program and is a leading authority on the design and implementation of "headland breakwaters" such as those at VIMS. (Photo by Steve Droter/Chesapeake Bay Program)"