In early January, the Virginia Beach City Council voted to approve a wetlands restoration project, which will restore a part of the Pleasure House Point Natural Area into wetlands. The Pleasure House Point Natural Area is currently a maritime forest and a popular outdoors recreational area for many local residents. The restoration project, which has been under development since 2014, was fast-tracked at the end of last year to the alarm of some locals who were concerned about the project’s effects on the ecosystem of the area.
Wetlands are areas of land that are either partially or entirely covered by water, and they make up a large part of Virginia Beach’s coastline. Wetlands can be very important, according to the NOAA, as they can act as a water filter between land and larger bodies of water, and also prevent erosion and flooding. The restoration area was once a partially wooded tidal wetland until the 1970s when it became a dumping ground for dredge material, according to the VB Department of Public Works. Over time, it was naturally transformed into a maritime forest, which it has remained as ever since. Now, however, the city will begin the task of restoring the area to its previous state: a tidal wetland.
The motivation behind the project is because of the wetlands credit system used to regulate the destruction of wetlands in our area. If wetlands are impacted when construction occurs, the city must make up for the loss of land somewhere else in the area. So, to move forward on several planned projects for the city’s Flood Protection Program, which will impact local wetlands, the city needs to create new wetlands credits.
While the transformation to wetlands comes with benefits to the area and greater watershed, many local residents brought up concerns surrounding the project, and a petition was created which has now reached over 2,800 signatures. Major issues with the project included its cost and the effect it would have on local species, like the thousands of trees on the land.
Several Princess Anne students who attend the Environmental Studies Program (ESP) spoke out against the project at the city council meeting in January. But since the vote approving the project, students in the ESP have been aiding the city to lessen the potential environmental effects of the project, mainly regarding the number of trees that will be cut down as a result of the project.
“[The city] didn’t know how many trees were on the property, they didn’t have a plan for replanting, and that was primarily the issue,” explained ESP student senior Ysabel Wells. Wells is one of the students who spoke at the January city council meeting, to express her concern about the nature of the project, and the potential environmental impacts it could have. Wells shared that the decision on the project felt very “rushed,” however she said “a lot of that has been addressed by now though, because of that city and community output.”
Senior Aubrey Moore also attended the meeting to express her concerns about preserving water quality in the surrounding area throughout the construction of the project. She also shared that the city council, at the time, did not have a plan for all of the material that would result from cutting down the trees.
The students’ involvement in the project, however, went far deeper than just sharing their opinions. Students at the Environmental Studies program were enlisted by the city to conduct a tree count, to get an accurate number of trees that would be impacted by the project. The city, per Moore, “didn’t have the resources or capacity to conduct a conference of tree studies about what that area looks like.” According to Wells, ESP students, “first did random sampling in grids, to make an educated inference about the total number of trees, and that got us to about 5,200 trees.”
But, in order to get a more accurate number, ESP students went out into the area and conducted a tree count by hand, giving them a number that Wells said was around 6,000. The tree count was conducted in collaboration with the city arborist, according to Wells, and is a process that took the Environmental Studies Program students several weeks to complete.
The students had to first go out into the area and get the measurements of each tree, by calculating the circumference. They were then able to use this measurement to calculate the diameter breast height, which, according to Moore, is the standard way to measure trees. They entered every tree’s measurements into a field map, and marked it with a special kind of spray paint to ensure the same tree was not marked twice. The official map can be found here.
“It’s really tedious, and it’s a lot of hard work,” explained senior Ella Miller, a fellow student who participated in the tree count. But, the students say that despite the considerable effort it took, it was worth it. “ESP had a big part in determining how many trees are going to be replanted because we went out there and did the count,” shared Wells. The students’ tree count is now available on the city’s website for residents to explore.
Their involvement is not ending with the tree count either. Miller is a part of the Green Ribbon Committee, who she says is having a major impact on the wetlands project. And according to Moore, the city is still consulting students on their planning for the project. “We’re currently a part of a strategic team to work on what the restoration and mitigation plan is going to look like for those trees,” she said.
As the project progresses, the students will continue their involvement in making sure that the city focuses on limiting environmental impacts of the project. “It’s been really great to see that the city has been so open to working with us as students,” Moore shared
A current timeline by the Virginia Beach Public Works Department estimates construction on the project to begin in the next few weeks, and will continue until October 2025. When the project begins, the city will receive 15% of the tidal wetlands credits, and will receive an additional 10% when the project construction is completed. After being monitored for a year to ensure that the wetland is successful, the city will receive an additional 15%.
