The Middle Peninsula of Virginia—including the York River, Piankatank River, and Mobjack Bay—faces some big challenges. It suffers from the highest rate of sea level rise just about anywhere on the East Coast, and its coastal communities are changing fast. As ocean levels are rising, marshes are deteriorating and flooding in the marshes is increasing. It’s affecting the local oyster industry and the communities that depend on local fisheries.
It’s exactly these challenges combined with a bevy of partners that are making NOAA’s investment in the Middle Peninsula, which started in 2022, show early pay offs. Watch the video Improving Habitat for Community Resilience: The Middle Peninsula Habitat Focus Area (and below) to learn more. And, read Virginia’s Middle Peninsula Is the Newest NOAA Habitat Focus Area.
Habitat Focus Areas backstory
Read up on the history of NOAA Habitat Focus Areas, starting with Habitat Focus Areas:
The NOAA Habitat Focus Areas (HFAs) are targeted places where NOAA focuses its programs and investments to address a high priority habitat issue by working with partners and communities. The HFAs are tangible examples of the NOAA Habitat Blueprint.
Local communities and economies are threatened by widespread loss and deterioration of coastal and marine habitats. NOAA designates HFAs nationwide and each works in a unique, local context to address a specific habitat challenge.
In each HFA, we have a significant story to tell and can demonstrate how NOAA’s science, service, and stewardship come together to improve habitat conditions for fisheries, coastal communities, and marine life, and to provide other environmental, economic, and cultural benefits.
To learn more, visit these sites: