Milligan, DonnaHardaway, C. ScottGreen, Cameron W.Wilcox, Christine A.2025-10-062025-10-062023-09https://scholarworks.wm.edu/handle/internal/19678Captain Sinclair’s Recreational Area (CSRA) is located on the Severn River and Whittaker Creek in Gloucester County, Virginia. In 2016, a shoreline management plan was developed for CRSA, and a hybrid gapped stone sill living shoreline system and oyster bag sills were installed on the site in 2016 and 2017, respectively. Recently, the 100-acre western peninsula, Captain Sinclair’s Recreational Area–West (CRSA-W), with 2 miles of shoreline across Whittaker Creek from the original shoreline management area was acquired by the Middle Peninsula Chesapeake Bay Public Access Authority (MP-PAA) and assimilated into CRSA. The goal of this project is to determine how erosion can be managed at CSRA-W in coordination with MP-PAA’s goals. The objective was to create a plan that provides the reasoning and knowledge to incentivize reach-based shore protection, habitat enhancement and future coastal resiliency that best aligned with the property owner's preferences, priorities, and ability to fund the project. Shore erosion and coastal resiliency was analyzed holistically to find ways for problems to be solved on a reach basis in a manner that aligns with the property owner's personal priorities and available funding resources. A remote site assessment of the property was conducted to determine the physical characteristics, habitat shifts, and shoreline change rates over time of the site. This was followed by an on-site real-time kinematic elevation survey, nearshore sediment sampling, and up-to-date photography of the site. The site has both low energy and medium-energy wave environments. The western shoreline has low energy, and the eastern shore has very low energy. The southern points are exposed to medium energy, but the shoreline between them is low energy. The site has a low elevation, with an average marsh elevation of 3.25 ft MLW and a maximum upland elevation of 5 ft MLW. As such, the area is especially threatened by flooding from storm surge and sea level rise. Overall, it was determined that the western and southern shorelines are experiencing the highest rates of erosion, which has been increasing in recent years. Ultimately, four different management options were created. The first option is to do nothing and allow the marsh to retreat naturally. The second option is the construction of hybrid stone sill living shoreline systems along the site. The third option is the construction of intertidal oyster reefs along the site, and a variety of proprietary and non-proprietary design examples have been presented. The final option is to incorporate the use of thin layer placement (TLP) to restore and build the marsh habitat with dredged sediment. The MP-PAA regularly utilizes its public properties to help facilitate and test shoreline protection products which are both innovative and new to the Commonwealth. One such product, Quickreef, offered to donate units to demonstrate technology at a low to moderate energy shoreline location on an MP-PAA owned property. Since the effectiveness of the Quickreef units will be evaluated and better understood by the time construction occurs at the CSRA-W property, Middle Peninsula Planning District Commission staff on behalf of the MP-PAA selected to design Quickreef sill living shoreline systems as a first possible targeted location solution amongst the proposed concepts in areas with firmer nearshore sediment with the higher upland areas, along with the construction of both larger Natrx concrete oyster reef structures and smaller intertidal oyster reefs in the softer nearshore areas. They have also expressed interest in pursuing TLP and marsh enhancement in the future. The shoreline management plan has factored in strategies for the MP-PAA to acquire funding and permitting for these designs, and is focused on the implementation of this project. This report provides an overall summary of the site assessment, shore survey, data analysis, and management planning undertaken for the site.en-USTechnical Report