Virginia Ecological Solutions Foundation is actively involved in biogenic oyster reef demonstration projects at three locations
- A major pier protection project in Saxis, VA, including participation from Christopher Newport University (CNU), OCVA and the Town of Saxis.
- A partnership with the Tangier Island Community, CNU, OCVA, the Accomack-Northampton Planning District Commission, and the United States Army Corps of Engineers to provide shoreline protection using a variety of novel, prefabricated concrete oyster reef designs.
- A demonstration project at Long Point in Topping, VA on the Rappahannock River in collaboration with OCVA and Biogenic Solutions Consulting, LLC,. The site is at the VESF headquarters.
For each one of these efforts, a detailed engineering prospectus was undertaken to determine the optimal number of Living Memorial Oyster Reefteks and mini- Reefteks that would be needed. While the total numbers combined run into the hundreds, it is our intention to initially target at least 10, 5-stack units for each area during 3 crowd funding campaigns. These would represent appreciably large-dollar campaigns even for the Crowd Funding platform; however, it is felt that the “storyline” around the need will garnish potential donor support. Suggested contributions would start at the $50.00 level and progress upwards. Such a campaign will also enable us to gather email addresses, areas of interest and a box can be provided for membership in VESFs mission. It will also allow them to point them to the VESF website for full details about the organization. We intend to seek companies as donor match to leverage some of the funding.