What is blue and green infrastructure?

Blue or green infrastructure comprises those natural features on the land (e.g. forests, wildlife habitat, wetlands, etc.) or in the water (e.g. anadromous fish use areas, oyster reefs, underwater grass beds, etc.) that are critical to maintaining ecosystem and human health and survival.

What is the Virginia CZM Program doing to protect these important resources?

The Virginia CZM Program is coordinating a Blue Green Mapping and Planning Initiative, and providing funding support for DGIF, DCR, VCU and the eight planning district commissions, to identify and map the best remaining blue and green natural features within Virginia's coastal zone. 

As part of this initiative, the Coastal Virginia Ecological Value Assessment (VEVA) (image below) was developed to provide guidance to local governments engaged in land use management and conservation planning. VEVA is a collaborative effort among several state programs to synthesize the best available natural resource information into a single geospatial product. VEVA combines scientific data and best professional judgment to rank terrestrial and aquatic areas for their ecological value. These values can be used to prioritize areas for preservation, develop strategies for special area management actions, or to build awareness about Virginia’s natural communities. 

Coastal VEVA Fact Sheet (pdf)

Coastal VEVA is an important layer on Virginia Coastal GEMS: a gateway to Virginia’s coastal resource data and maps, coastal laws and policies, facts on coastal resource values and direct links to collaborating agencies responsible for current data; a growing inventory of water and land based natural resources, conservation planning tools, and planning examples that can help us to protect Virginia’s coastal ecosystems; and, a tool to promote community involvement and environmental education.

Please contact Shep Moon at (804) 698-4527, or Beth Polak at (804) 698-4260 for more information about Virginia CZM's blue and green infrastructure initiative and the grant projects below.

Virginia CZM Program Blue/Green Infrastructure Mapping and Planning Grant Projects

(For project details, click on the links in the table below.)

For comments or questions concerning this program's web pages, contact Virginia Witmer.

This website is provided by the Virginia Coastal Zone Management Program through a federal Coastal Zone Management Act grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, US Department of Commerce.