A few years ago, Donna Bilkovic was doing some sampling at a living shoreline along the Middle Peninsula when a neighbor approached.
The man told Bilkovic, a professor at William & Mary’s Batten School and Virginia Institute of Marine Science, that he was initially opposed to his neighbor’s project.
“But then after the living shoreline went in, suddenly his fishing had greatly improved and now he's a huge proponent of living shorelines in the neighborhood,” Bilkovic said. “So it struck me, that's a story many people don't know.”
She wanted to understand more about the benefits of tidal marshes, which include natural wetlands and living shorelines, where humans plant oyster reefs and native grasses to replicate the natural ecosystem.
Bilkovic and colleagues at VIMS spent the past three years trying to put the advantages of wetlands into economic terms, focused on the Middle Peninsula, which has more than 12,000 acres of tidal marsh and more than 500 living shorelines.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration awarded just under $250,000 for the research.
The team recently published their findings in the journal Nature-Based Solutions. The researchers say that marshes generate about $90 million for the Middle Peninsula each year, which equates to about 3% of the region’s annual gross domestic product.
Marshes absorb wave energy, which lessens erosion and flooding; boost marine habitat, which improves recreational fishing; store carbon that would otherwise be released and contribute to climate change; and help prevent pollution from harmful nutrients that run off the land.
But wetlands face severe threats in coastal Virginia. Experts estimate the region could lose almost 80% of them by the end of the century, largely because of rising waters exacerbated by sinking land and waterfront development.
Andrew Scheld, an associate professor at VIMS and the Batten School, said putting a dollar value on the ecosystem’s advantages is a key way to get lawmakers to pay attention.
“I think a lot of resource management, human development and economic development decisions often might be different if environmental benefits were adequately measured,” he said. “Hindsight is 20/20 and it's hard to go back. In the last decade or two, it's become apparent that we need to quantify those benefits to understand what we're losing.”
The team made the calculations by merging a couple of methodologies. They used complex computer modeling to simulate physical impacts on wetlands, such as strong waves.
The group also interviewed residents and officials to understand benefits that are harder to measure, such as recreational fishing.
Scheld said the researchers could then input those answers into statistical approaches that factor in, for example, the cost of accessing a nearby marsh for fishing versus traveling to another farther away.
The research findings led to an interactive new online tool, called SHORE-BET, which allows people to calculate the economic benefits of a specific marsh restoration project.
For now, the information is limited to the Middle Peninsula. But Scheld said they aim to expand throughout Hampton Roads, depending on future funding.
Local officials are particularly interested in learning how marshes can reduce flood damage, he said.
Bilkovic said she hopes people in power can use the information to maintain and further policies that preserve existing wetlands and encourage building living shorelines.
In rural areas, such as the Middle Peninsula, wetlands have the opportunity to flourish even as waters rise, because the grasses can migrate backwards.
That’s often not possible in highly developed, urban spaces. That makes it more important to highlight the benefits of living shorelines, which can be constructed on private or public waterfront property, Bilkovic said.
As an ecologist, she said she struggles with the concept of only valuing ecosystems in monetary terms.
“But given that currently those benefits are really not part of the equation, I felt like it's a compromise that's worthwhile, to get it into the decision-making process.”
