Hampton Roads Area:
Visit the CARA Hampton Roads case study website
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Hampton Roads is located in southeastern Virginia where the James, Elizabeth, and Nansemond Rivers join the Chesapeake Bay. With 1.5 million people, Hampton Roads is the nation’s 39th most populous Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA).
Abundant waterways and its ice-free port gave rise to shipbuilding and cargo handling facilities, in the Hampton Roads area; it has the East Coast’s second largest port. More than 130,000 armed forces employees account for 25% of the local economy. White sandy beaches and colonial historical sites attract more than 2.5 million visitors each year. The climate is pleasant, although occasional hurricanes (e.g., Isabel, 2003) and other storms can disrupt operations and endanger life and property.
Water is key to the Hampton Roads community. The Chesapeake Bay offers boating and sports fishing, as well as commercial fishing and aquaculture. Planning concerns include wetland protection, managing commercial aquatic species for livelihoods, and watershed action plans to reduce river pollution and restore the Bay. Multiple state agencies, including the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, Department of Conservation and Recreation, Chesapeake Bay Local Assistance Department, and the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS), provide administrative and advisory services to help local communities implement effective management and conservation of coastal and estuarine resources.
As part of the CARA team, VIMS is facilitating the Hampton Roads case study. The local stakeholders’ network helped identify sea-level rise (now averaging 0.174 inches/year), and wetlands loss as key concerns related to changes in climate and land use. Case study research is exploring how sea-level rise or land use changes might affect Hampton Roads’ two major ecological restoration programs: the Submerged Aquatic Vegetation (SAV) program in the Chesapeake Bay and the Wetlands Restoration project along the Elizabeth River. Research also is examining how sea-level rise might affect local flooding and property values. Additional efforts are exploring how the uncertainty regarding sea-level rise and development can be dealt with in local decision-making, and how local decision-making can incorporate information about the impacts of changes in climate or land use.
