Interjurisdictional Coordination for Alternatives Assessment for the Northern Seaside of Virginia’s Eastern Shore, Accomack County Bibliography

Volume 3’s appendices to the Chincoteague and Wallups Island National Wildlife Refuges Final Comprehensive Conservation Plan and Environmental Impact Statement includes the following the following sections:

15. 
    Compatibility Determinations. These include:
    
    • 
      Wildlife Observation Wildlife Photography, and Interpretation
      
    • 
      Environmental Education
      
    • 
      Fishing (Recreational)
      
    • 
      Migratory Game Bird Hunting
      
    • 
      Big Game Hunting
      
    • 
      Commercial Filming, Still Photography, and Photography Workshops
      
    • 
      Grazing of Chincoteague Ponies
      
    • 
      Horseback Riding
      
    • 
      Research and Studies Conducted by non-USFWS Staff
      
    • 
      Shell Collection
      
    • 
      Big Game Hunting (Wallops Island NWR)
      
    • 
      Research and Studies Conducted by non-USFWS Staff (Wallops Island)
      
16. 
    Findings of Appropriateness
    
17. 
    Summary of Public Comments and USFWS Responses on the Draft Comprehensive Conservation Plan and Environmental Impact Statement for Chincoteague and Wallops Island National Wildlife Refuges
    

USR Group, Inc., November 2009. Benthic Habitat Survey of Two Offshore Borrow Sites/Wallops Flight Facility Shoreline Restoration and Infrastructure Protection Program. (Appendix B to Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement Wallops Island Flight Facility Shoreline Restoration Infrastructure Protection Program.) Gaithersburg, Maryland. Prepared for NASA Goddard Flight Center, Wallops Island, Virginia, 30 p.

This Technical Memorandum summarizes results of a video survey of benthic habitats conducted in July 2009 at the two potential offshore borrow sites for the SRIPP. The video survey was conducted on two offshore sand shoals (Unnamed Shoal A and B) that are being evaluated as potential borrow sources for beachfill sand for NASA’s SRIPP. The report concludes that sub bottom profiler data analysis for both Unnamed Shoal A and B indicated that these sand features have relatively poor bedding, which indicates that the sands are homogenous in nature. This sediment homogeneity has likely resulted from long-term preferential grain size sorting by current, wave action, and large storm events. Bbnthic habitats and epifaunal communities were similar on the two shoals. The majority of the benthos on the shoal crests are adapted to the energetic conditions, live within the sediment, and were not visible to the camera. They do not construct tubes or feeding mounds, resulting in the “clean” appearance of the sand (Cutter and Diaz 1998).

USR Group, Inc., October 2010. Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement/Wallops Island Flight Facility Shoreline Restoration and Infrastructure Protection Program. Volume I of II. Prepared for the NASA Goddard Space Flight Facility, Wallups Island, Virginia. Gaithersburg, Maryland, 429p.

NASA has prepared a Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) for the Shoreline Restoration and Infrastructure Protection Program (SRIPP) at Wallops Flight Facility in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act to assist in decision making for the SRIPP. The BOEMRE and USACE have served as Cooperating Agencies in the preparation of this PEIS. The purpose of the SRIPP is to reduce the potential for damage to, or loss of, existing NASA, U.S. Navy, and MidAtlantic Regional Spaceport assets on Wallops Island from wave impacts induced by storms. The potential effects to physical, biological, and socioeconomic environments were studied to determine how the Proposed Action Alternatives and the No Action Alternative could affect these resources. The Proposed Action would have both adverse and beneficial impacts on environmental resources. Adverse impacts would be mitigated to the greatest extent practicable. Volume II contains the following appendices to this report that can be found at:

The appendices are:

1. 
   Storm Damage Reduction Project Design for Wallops Island, VA
   
2. 
   SRIPP Benthic Video Survey Technical Memorandum
   
3. 
   Biological Assessment
   
4. 
   U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Biological Opinion
   
5. 
   National Marine Fisheries Service Biological Opinion
   
6. 
   SRIPP Cultural Resource Remote Sensing Survey of Two Proposed Offshore Sand Borrow Locations in Federal Waters
   
7. 
   SRIPP Proposed Groin, Breakwater, and Shoreline Cultural Resources Surveys, Accomack County, VA
   
8. 
   Federal Consistency Determination and Virginia Department of Environmental Quality Resource
   
9. 
   Essential Fish Habitat Assessment
   
10. 
    Essential Fish Habitat Consultation
    
11. 
    Section 106 Consultation
    
12. 
    Comments received on Draft PEIS
    
13. 
    Response to Comments Received on Draft PEIS.
    

Wells, D.V., Hennessee, E.L., and Hill, J.M., 2003. Shoreline Erosion as a Source of Sediments and Nutrients Middle Coastal Bays Maryland. Baltimore, Maryland: Maryland Department of Natural Resources, Resource Assessment Service, Maryland Geological Survey/Coastal and Estuarine Geology File Report No. 03-07, 163p.

The Maryland Coastal Bays Program has developed a four-pronged action plan to restore and protect natural resources of the State’s coastal bays (MCBP, 1999). The plan addresses (1) water quality, (2) fish and wildlife, (3) recreation and navigation, and (4) community and economic development. Meeting the goals associated with the first three of these depends in part on understanding the sediment and nutrient input contributed by shoreline erosion to the coastal bays. Shoreline erosion releases sediments to the water column. Finer-grained sediments tend to remain suspended in the water, reducing water clarity and affecting underwater habitat (e.g., reducing light penetration for submerged aquatic vegetation). The eventual deposition of eroded

Sediments contributes to the in- filling of navigational channels. Shoreline erosion also acts as a non-point source of nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus), which affect the water quality of the coastal bays.

Although shoreline erosion has been identified as a source of sediments and nutrients to nearby waters, there has been little effort to quantify that input and to compare it to other sources. Thus, the Maryland Geological Survey (MGS) began a multiyear study to determine the flux of sediments and nutrients eroding from unprotected shorelines bordering Maryland’s coastal bays. The first year of the study focused on the northernmost coastal bays: Assawoman Bay, Isle of Wight Bay, and the St. Martin River. Results of that study were detailed by Wells and others (2002). The second year of the study focused on the middle third of Maryland’s coastal bays: Sinepuxent Bay, Newport Bay, and the northern third of the Chincoteague Bay. To estimate nutrient and sediment loads contributed by shoreline erosion to the middle coastal bays of Maryland, MGS set the following objectives: (1) Identify unprotected reaches of shoreline at greatest risk of erosion, based on historical linear rates of change; (2) Measure certain physical, chemical, and biological properties of eroding sediments; and (3) Determine the volume of eroding sediments and the flux of sediments and nutrients into the middle coastal bays. Examine the flux of material from shoreline erosion in the context of existing nutrient budgets for the study area. Results for the second year study are presented in this report.
Wikar, C.P. (editor). September 2, 2010. Navigation and Dredging Planning Guide for Maryland’s Coastal Bays. Navigation and Dredging Advisory Group. Web.23 September 2015, 64p.

Worcester County residents worked together to devise common sense ways of protecting the bays adjacent to Ocean City and Assateague. This effort, the Maryland Coastal Bays Program, has culminated in a comprehensive conservation and management plan (CCMP) aimed at preserving this precious coastal resource. The CCMP deals with a variety of topics including water quality, fisheries resources, and economic development. An entire section is devoted to recreation and navigation issues, covering boating safety, water based recreational opportunities, harbor and marina management practices, and navigation and dredging management issues. Due to the relatively shallow nature of Maryland’s Coastal Bays, the maintenance of navigable waterways to support recreational and commercial boating is a critical regional need. Improved planning and coordination between federal, state, local and private interests is needed to enhance the economic and recreational benefits of navigation improvements and dredging while minimizing their adverse effects on natural resources. The Mission of the Navigation and Dredging Advisory Group is to develop a Master Plan to guide the management of navigation and dredging in the Coastal Bays, provide a forum for public input into related decision-making, and enhance and protect natural resources either at risk or that may benefit from navigation-related activities.