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Major projects like these have helped us restore miles of polluted river bottom, shoreline, and wildlife habitat. But we’ve still got miles to go. Do Something Beautiful. Join the Elizabeth River Project.
Stretching from Hampton Boulevard on the Elizabeth River into some of Norfolk’s oldest and most popular residential neighborhoods, the Lafayette branch of the Elizabeth was perhaps the closest to returning to health of any stretch of the Elizabeth – it just needed a good push.
In 2011, The Elizabeth River Project and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation brought together over 100 people to create the Lafayette River Restoration Plan. They included homeowners and scientists, government agencies and businesses. Since putting the plan into action, more than 1,200 homeowners, 26 businesses and 22 schools have enrolled in the River Stars program. Government agencies have completed more than $200 million in water treatment and municipal sewer line repairs. The tributary now hosts eighty acres of healthy oyster habitat, including The Elizabeth River Project’s largest oyster reef yet, seeded with 3 million oysters from the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. Scoop the Poop stations now line riverside pathways, landowners are restoring shorelines and wetlands, boaters are practicing proper sewage handling, and innovative “tree box” systems installed by the City of Norfolk and The Virginia Department of Conservation are filtering polluted street runoff before it ever reaches the river.
By 2014, the community’s efforts had paid off. That year, the Lafayette River met state water quality standards for recreational contact. Four years later, it became the first Virginia river fully restored for the safe harvest of native oysters.
There’s still so much more to do for a healthy Lafayette, with your membership support. Lafayette continues to suffer from runoff pollution; a problem that is only escalating with rising seas. Each summer algal blooms appear meaning oxygen plummets and fish can die. Your gift helps us help River Star Homes, River Star Businesses and Resilient River Star Schools take hands-on action to improve stewardship of the Lafayette and our other river branches.
