In 2000, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE) intitated a long term restoration effort in the lower Chesapeake Bay in cooperation with the Virginia Marine Resources Commission (VMRC), the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS), the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF), and the NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office (CBO). This program is a multi year comprehensive effort designed to facilitate rehabilitation and restoration of native Eastern oyster (Crassostrea virginica) stocks in the lower portion of the Chesapeake Bay. The collaborative effort focuses on rehabilitation and restoration of Chesapeake Bay oyster populations by a combination of:

• Restoring physical two dimensional and three dimensional reef structures at selected sites in Chesapeake Bay tributaries that historically sustained natural oyster populations. Restoration activities on these historic reef footprints will consist of shell plantings (2 dimensional reefs) or reef construction from oyster shell materials (3 dimensional).
• Establishing populations of native oysters on restored (constructed) oyster shell habitat through deployment of disease resistant cultured oysters combined with natural annual settlement events from existing oyster stocks within the tributary of interest.
• Restoration sites are locations at which shell planting, reef construction, addition of broodstock oysters, and/or natural annual settlement events have occurred.
• Monitoring oyster populations at restoration sites over time to provide biological data to support adaptive management strategies, objectively evaluate progress towards established restoration goals or success criteria, and identify unexpected stresses that positively or negatively effect the restoration project over time.