The National Park Service, in its official description of Tangier Island, calls it “little more than a sandbar, barely rising above the raging waters of the Chesapeake Bay.”
Even still, a multimillion-dollar effort is now underway to improve the degrading situation at the island, which recreational boaters have long considered a charming destination to visit. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is spending $300,000 this year on an engineering and analysis study to determine what, exactly, it needs to build. Expectations are that another $500,000 will be spent next year on engineering design and environmental authorizations, followed by a $10 million expenditure for construction of some kind of structure in 2025.
The goal? To better protect at least part of a place that has lost about two-thirds of its landmass since 1850. Some studies estimate that what’s left of Tangier Island is on track to become uninhabitable wetlands around 2050. This project would protect part of it—specifically, the part that is used by boats.
“One of our main priority areas is maintaining navigation,” says Keith Lockwood, chief of the water resources division of the Norfolk District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. “It’s a federal navigation channel. We maintain that on an annual basis so they can bring goods and supplies in, especially in the winter months.”
The project is not without controversy. In 2016, The New York Times ran a feature with the doomsday headline, “Should the United States Save Tangier Island from Oblivion?” More than a few people argue that federal dollars should go toward building climate resilience into highly populated coastal cities where millions of people live, as opposed to trying to save any part of a low-lying island whose population totals less than 800.
Those who support efforts to help the island cite the fact that it’s listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It’s a unique spot on the planet where the people speak with their own accent, one that anthropologists find fascinating. There’s also the wildlife factor, with the Chesapeake Bay’s trademark blue crabs often found nearby, as well as migrating birds that stop on the island to rest.
Lockwood says the Army Corps of Engineers looks at the project as part of its nationwide effort to change the way dredged material is used. Historically, only about 30 percent of dredged material was put toward anything purposeful; the rest was kind of just dumped somewhere in what’s known as an “unconfined manner.” The goal today is to use 70 percent of dredged material beneficially nationwide, including projects like building a structure that will hold the material in place off Tangier Island.
“What has occurred over time is erosion, and there has been a breach that we’re monitoring,” Lockwood says, citing the Uppards region of the island, north of the channel. “We utilized a drone this summer to fly that shoreline as a survey of the erosion rate. We are concerned about increased erosion of the Uppards, and some of that material being deposited in the channel.”
Building a structure for beneficial use of dredged material is not a novel concept, Lockwood says. It’s done all across the country. Just one example is on the Chesapeake Bay, at Poplar Island, where a structure was built to try and mimic the natural stone. At Norfolk, Virginia, another example is Craney Island, which looks different from Poplar Bay’s, to match what the Norfolk area needed. The current analysis phase of the Tangier Island project is, in part, to try and determine what construction materials would make the most sense and look the most natural.
“We’re going through that initial analysis now: What are the physical features that are out there right now, and how big could our placement site be?” Lockwood says. “What would those materials be?”
Also in the plus column for the project, Lockwood says, is that the Army Corps of Engineers is already required to keep the Tangier Island channel clear, as part of regular operations. That fact makes it easier to get a project like this one funded. “There’s a portfolio of navigation projects we manage, and this is a high-priority navigation channel because it’s a critical harbor refuge, a subsistence harbor,” he says. “For that community, their only access to goods and supplies is by the water.”
Going forward, he adds, there should be no issues with access for recreational boaters who want to visit Tangier Island and explore ashore. Especially with the focus on keeping the navigation channel clear, boaters should be able to get in and out for years to come. “Shoaling can occur and sand moves, so you always want to be aware of that,” he says, “but the marked navigation channel is one where you can easily navigate. We’ve been able to receive adequate funding to maintain the channels so boaters can have safe access in and around Tangier Island.”
This article was originally published in the October 2023 issue.
