By Vanessa Remmers
Tangier Island exists in constant conversation with the Chesapeake Bay.
For many, the conversation with the rising water is deeply personal. Looking out into the waves with a map of his island home in his hand, Tangier Mayor James “Ooker” Eskridge remembers what used to be a general store.
“There was a two-story home there, too. Lots of sand dunes. You used to be able to go pick wild blackberries south of there, if you can believe it,” he recalls. “And then we had a hurricane, and it was never able to recover. It’s all underwater now.”
This flat, low-lying landscape, where historic watermen’s shanties huddle close to the shore, is a place of unique beauty, deep heritage, and tenacious community spirit.
But Tangier Island is one of the nation’s communities most at risk from sea level rise and erosion. Tangier Island has lost about two-thirds of its land since the 1850s, and research finds that much of the rest of the island is under threat within 50 years.
The urgency to save a disappearing homeland was palpable earlier this November when the Town of Tangier hosted a town hall meeting to identify parts of the island most in need of protection.
CBF’s Vice President for Education Tom Ackerman joined about 40 to 50 residents. The turnout was a strong signal of commitment in a community of only about 400.
“The community resolve is clear,” Ackerman said. “People came out to talk in detail about the areas of the island at greatest risk, and to learn what can be done to protect the community for as long as possible.”
The Path to Protection: Shoreline Adaptation Plan
To transform that resolve into a fundable strategy, the Town of Tangier has secured a major award. This year, the town received a $356,500 National Coastal Resilience Fund (NCRF) grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF).
This critical funding will be used to develop the Tangier Island Shoreline Adaptation Plan, an essential, comprehensive roadmap to protect the island’s shores from accelerating coastal erosion, intense storms, and long-term sea-level rise.
CBF will administer the grant and the coastal engineering firm Bayland will execute this critical work. The plan’s technical scope is massive and vital: It will evaluate erosion impacts, assess more than seven miles of shoreline and inland marsh, prioritize the most vulnerable areas, and identify specific, implementable protection projects. Crucially, the plan will prioritize nature-based solutions — like marsh restoration, oyster reefs, and living shorelines — to strengthen the island’s natural defenses and maximize ecological benefits.
A Stepping Stone to Security
This effort won’t be starting from scratch. It is an important offshoot of essential resiliency work that CBF and the town began more than a year ago, recognizing the imperative to secure the island’s future. The new Adaptation Plan is expected to be finalized by December 2026. This timeline ensures a thorough, science-based approach that can withstand rigorous review.
“Having this comprehensive, engineering-backed strategy in hand is the only way we can compete for the large-scale funds — like the state’s Community Flood Preparedness Fund (CFPF) and other federal grants — that will be needed to physically build the sea walls and living shorelines to protect our community,” CBF Virginia Policy Manager Jay Ford said.
The plan’s benefits could also extend beyond Tangier’s own municipal boundaries. The strategies developed to protect Tangier’s coastline and vital marsh habitats are anticipated to help protect CBF’s nearby Port Isobel Island Environmental Education Center, protecting the community, and also some of the Bay’s most important natural habitats.
Echoes of the Bay
The fate of Tangier Island remains, as it always has, wrapped up in its constant, intimate conversation with the Chesapeake Bay. But today, the urgency of that dialogue is met with palpable action.
The incredible turnout at the recent town hall and the successful push for the major NFWF NCRF grant prove that the people of Tangier are not resigned to simply watching their shores disappear. And a broad partnership of stakeholders organized by CBF including local, state, and national partners shows that the Town is not alone.
The Tangier Island Shoreline Adaptation Plan is the community’s bold, engineering-backed reply to the rising tide — a comprehensive strategy that will weave living shorelines and oyster reefs back into the coastline.
This vital roadmap is their declaration that this flat, low-lying sanctuary of deep heritage and tenacious spirit will not fade away quietly, ensuring that the enduring, centuries-old conversation between the island and the Bay continues, full of resilience and renewed hope.
Tangier Island, Virginia 