Mathews Gardening Group Monthly Meeting

Join Mathews Gardening Group on Wednesday, January 24^th at 10AM for an insightful presentation on the Use of Native Plants in Shoreline Stabilization: Living Shorelines.

What is a Living Shoreline?  A Living Shoreline is a management practice that provides erosion control and water quality benefits; protects, restores or enhances natural shoreline habitat; and maintains coastal processes through the strategic placement of native plants, stone, sand fill, and other structural and organic materials. The Middle Peninsula Planning District, comprised of six counties, is the primary planning agency for over 1,000 miles of shoreline.  Rural Mathews County, with its over 300 miles of shoreline, comprises a third of that catchment area.  Are you aware of agencies and resources available to you to help combat failing shorelines?  What can property owners who are experiencing erosion from increasing storm intensity and wave energy do and who can help them?

Guest speaker Aaron Wendt currently serves the Commonwealth as a Shoreline Engineer with the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) and will address these and other questions. Working in the agency’s Shoreline Erosion Advisory Service (SEAS), Aaron provides technical assistance and  conducts site investigation and analysis, issues written recommendations and advisory reports, reviews engineering designs and construction plans, and conducts on‐site construction inspections.  The presentation will be held at the Virginia Cooperative Extension office at 10494 Buckley Hall Road, Suite B  Mathews, VA 23109.

Comprised mostly of beginner or intermediate gardeners, Mathews Gardening Group meetings are held the fourth Wednesday of each month and will offer regional experts as speakers to continuously improve and sharpen each member’s gardening skills.  For more information, please contact the Mathews VCE office at (804) 725-7196 or by email at r.morris@vt.edu for more information.