A NOAA-backed tool shows the hidden value of healthier shorelines

A long time ago, when I was a local newspaper reporter in Calvert County, Maryland, I got a close look at marsh restoration projects after covering a visit by the EPA administrator and the governors of Maryland and Virginia to one such effort. After the officials left, I stayed in touch with some of the volunteers and wound up joining them on smaller weekend projects. We planted marsh grass, cleaned up trash and tracked turtles and other wildlife. It was easy enough to see the local impact as the marsh grass took hold and the shoreline became more stable, but much harder to understand the broader effect of that work.

That is part of what makes SHORE-BET so interesting. Developed by the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) with support from a NOAA Fisheries Chesapeake BayResearch Program grant, the interactive calculator is designed to estimate the community benefits of...

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