YORKTOWN — Leadership from Naval Weapons Station Yorktown was on hand to receive a Governor’s Environmental Excellence Award at the 35th Annual Environment Virginia Symposium held at the Virginia Military Institute on Tuesday, April 8.
Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s Administration, along with leadership from the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, Virginia Department of Conservation & Recreation and other state and federal partners, recognized 11 winners and three honorable mentions during the symposium.
The Governor’s Environmental Excellence Awards recognize successful and innovative efforts that improve the state’s environment. Additionally, the awards recognize a broad range of efforts that protect and improve Virginia’s environment, including projects that reduce impacts, encourage sustainability, conserve land, and demonstrate exemplary implementation of the Virginia Outdoors Plan.
Among those organizations that were recognized during the awards was Naval Weapons Station Yorktown, which took home a Gold Award. The award was specifically for the installation’s innovative Penniman Spit living shoreline project, which was completed in November 2024. The nearly five-year-long project stabilized and reclaimed nearly two acres of the Penniman Spit area onboard Cheatham Annex. Surveys conducted in 2019 revealed that the spit itself had deteriorated to just 1.7 acres due to the ebb and flow of York River.
This tidal flow divided the previously continuous spit into two separate landmasses that was in severe danger of being washed away completely. During the summer of 2024, nearly 10,000 tons of rock and 24,000 tons of sand were brought in and strategically placed to stabilize the deteriorating shoreline and shield the shoreline from further landmass loss.
Oyster reefs were also strategically placed to catch sediment and promote the reclamation of lost land. Additionally, over 90,000 plugs of native salt marsh cordgrass were planted to aid in capturing sediment and add to the existing habitat. The combined use of traditional rock revetments along with a living shoreline to control erosion and planting of native grasses to further prevent erosion, which added to the existing environment, resulted in a continuous shoreline as opposed to two separate landmasses.
Another Gold awardee that was recognized was the Department of Defense’s Chesapeake Bay Program. The DOD was one of the first federal departments to be formally involved in the Chesapeake Bay watershed restoration efforts. These efforts included the design and installation of living shorelines, identifying and designating Sentinel Landscapes, along with initiating best agricultural management practices on federal properties. These combined efforts not only sustain the Chesapeake Bay watershed but also improve the overall health of the Bay and the welfare of all who utilize this watershed.
“I applaud this year’s recipients for their continued commitment to improving Virginia’s natural resources through innovation and collaboration,” said Youngkin. “The results [that] each project has delivered are shining examples of what can be accomplished working across sectors.”
