GIVE
GIVE

Living Shorelines & Shoreline Buffers

Our Cost-Sharing Programs Protect Your Home And The Environment 

Interested in restoring the shoreline along your riverside home? Thanks to generous funders, we may be able help share the cost for eligible projects. Living Shorelines and Shoreline Buffers help protect your property from erosion, restore wildlife habitat and help your home adapt to tidal flooding and sea level rise. Learn more and get started today!

What Living Shorelines & Shoreline Buffers Do

  • Prevent Erosion And Land Loss by Creating Wetland Habitat
  • Reduce Polluted Runoff From Your Property
  • Discourage Geese From Entering Your Yard
  • Attract Butterflies And Songbirds With Salt-Tolerant Native Flowers And Shrubs

How Living Shorelines Work

Living shorelines use plants, sand and other natural materials to create a stabilized coastal edge. An eco-friendly alternative to “hardened shorelines” like concrete seawalls, they help purify water, buffer floods, reduce erosion, store carbon and create habitat for wildlife.

Salt Tolerant Native Plants

Explore this informative PDF highlighting a variety of Virginia’s salt tolerant plants, perfect for enhancing your coastal landscaping projects. Take a step towards creating a beautiful and thriving coastal garden by clicking the image below!

What we’ll do

We’ll consider sharing restoration costs with any riverside homeowner that meets the following requirements:

  1. Own a tidal shoreline in the Elizabeth River watershed that is eroding or at risk of erosion
  2. Enrolled in the Elizabeth River Project’s free River Star Homes program
  3. Agree to convert at least 60 linear feet to living shoreline
  4. Agree to maintain the shoreline as a living shoreline and allow annual evaluation by Elizabeth River Project staff and/or project funder. See the following document for an example maintenance document: Living Shoreline Long Term Maintenance Plan
  5. Join or renew as an Elizabeth River Project member upon completion of the installation

Living Shorelines

  • Free site visit from our restoration staff and technical advice
  • Project design with $100 deposit applied to project cost upon installation
  • Restoration staff can design and permit the process on behalf of the homeowner
  • ERP staff will install the project or work with a local marine contractor; Homeowner can also choose their own preferred contractor if necessary
  • ERP can cover some of the cost of the project, typically up to 50% to a maximum of ($5,000) but additional funding assistance may be available for qualifying projects as funding is available.
  • ERP staff will provide a long-term maintenance plan including 1-, 2-, and 5-year annual check-ins. 

Shoreline Buffers

  • Free site visit and technical advice
  • Project design with $100 deposit applied to project cost upon installation
  • ERP staff will install the project or work with a local landscape contractor; Homeowner can also choose their own preferred contractor if necessary
  • ERP can cover some of the cost of the project, typically up to 50% to a maximum of ($2,000) but additional funding assistance may be available for qualifying projects as funding is available.
  • ERP staff will provide a riparian buffer long term maintenance plan
  • Long term maintenance plan includes 1-, 2-, and 5-year annual check-ins. 

From the permitting process, they’ve been there every step of the way. For me, it was about bringing the water quality back up. And it saves your land.

Tom Ivey
River Star Home

How to Apply

Due to high demand, our waitlists for Elizabeth River Project managed or installed projects are currently closed for 2025 projects. We will reopen waitlists this coming fall for 2026 projects. Be sure to follow us on Facebook or Instagram, or join our exclusive River Star Homes Facebook group to get notifications about waitlist openings and upcoming DIY Landscape Design workshops!
 
If you are doing a DIY project or are ready to install a project with another contractor, you may still be eligible to receive a reimbursement for your project through the cost share program without waiting for the next sign up period. To learn more about this process, please reach out to Mandi Pesha, River Star Communications Specialist at mpesha@elizabethriver.org.

Apply Now

Thanks to our partners!

Our cost-sharing programs are only made possible through the generous support of our partners and the hundreds of Elizabeth River Project members and donors.

  • National Fish and Wildlife Foundation – Chesapeake Bay Innovative Nutrient and Sediment Reduction Grant,
  • Chesapeake Bay Small Watershed Grant 
  • Virginia Environmental Endowment
  • City of Norfolk
  • City of Chesapeake
  • City of Virginia Beach
shoreline (1)

Ryan Resilience Lab Event Request

Thank you for your interest in the Elizabeth River Project’s Ryan Resilience Lab. We’re delighted that our site is in high demand. As the Ryan Resilience Lab is operated by a small non-profit with a big environmental mission, please help us make sure your event is a great fit.

Our priority is to host groups with relevance to our mission: to restore the Elizabeth River through equitable collaboration with diverse communities, governments, and businesses. When space and staff support are available, we are happy to host such groups free of charge, but do request that you consider an organizational membership and allow us to offer the opportunity for individual memberships.

Please fill this form out at least 30 days in advance of the event.

Our maximum for indoor seated events is 85 theater style and 45 classroom style. For standing receptions, the maximum is 100 indoors or 125 indoor-outdoor.
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If given the go-ahead for our event, sponsor organization agrees to these Ryan Lab policies:

Yes, we will offer attendees the option to tour the Ryan Lab(Required)
Yes, Elizabeth River Project can make a 3-5 minute announcement at the start of the event regarding mission and ways to get involved(Required)
Yes, we will consider an organizational membership with Elizabeth River Project to support its mission of restoring the Elizabeth River(Required)
Yes, we agree to sustainable/responsible event practices(Required)

Additionally, sponsor organization agrees to these administrative/liability requirements:

  • ERP maintains insurance for its activities at the Ryan Lab. Sponsoring organizations should ensure that they have appropriate insurance coverage as well.
  • Weapons are prohibited.
  • Open flames generally are prohibited (special permission only).
  • Outdoor guests will be required to exit the Learning Park during thunder, lightning, high winds or any circumstance deemed hazardous by ERP.
  • Waiver of Claims: Sponsoring organizations agree to release, waive all claims, discharge, and covenant not to sue Elizabeth River Project, its officers, employees, volunteers, and agents from liability from any and all claims resulting in personal injury, accidents or illnesses and property loss arising from, but not limited to, participation in the event and related tours, due to the negligence of sponsor, sponsor's employees, or event participants.
  • Notice of Claims: Sponsor agrees to provide immediate notice to ERP if any participant either files, or threatens to file, a claim arising from or related to the event, so that ERP can notify its insurance carriers.
  • COVID Statement: Participants will monitor their own health prior to reporting to any Elizabeth River Project event/activity. If any signs or symptoms of infection are present, the individual must not report to the event.
  • Photo Release: Photos of the event may be shared as part of grant reporting or posted on Elizabeth River Project website/social media unless otherwise specified by the sponsor organization.
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