
The Virginia Institute of Marine Science has is getting nearly $1 million from the federal government to help protect wetlands that keep pollutants from entering the Chesapeake Bay, the Associated Press reports.
Virginia has already lost half its wetlands, and it continues to lose these critical buffers, Carl Hershner, director of the Institute of Marine Science's Center for Coastal Resources Management tells AP.
Research has shown that the bay's water quality benefits when headwater wetlands are protected, and Hershner says this grant will help develop resource-management plans to provide guidance and tools for preserving wetlands amid increasing pressures from development.
The grant comes from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and will be paid out over three years. The EPA is overseeing the multi-state, multi-billion dollar initiative to restore the Chesapeake Bay.

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