Rising Seas & Sinking Land: How Coastal Virginia is Combating Climate Change

Rollbacks in environmental protection and flood risk management by the Trump administration is forcing states to come up with their own solutions. On Friday, Virginia Governor Ralph Northam mandated one of the country's strictest standards for state-owned properties in an effort to steer development away from flood-prone areas.

The tiny Town of Saxis on Virginia's Eastern Shore is learning to live with water.

Like other communities around the Chesapeake Bay, residents are looking at solutions to the erosion and frequent flooding that comes with climate change.

You’ve probably heard of Tangier— the island of 450 residents in danger of being swallowed by the Chesapeake Bay.

But just a few miles away, the tiny Town of Saxis, whose population is about half of Tangier's, is quietly facing many of the same problems.

The phragmites invasion began when it hitched a ride here with European colonists.  Today, the tall reed lines Virginia's waterways, and wetlands, taking over native habitats and clogging waterways throughout the Chesapeake Bay.

But with climate change, the pesky plant is being considered in a different way.

Scientists in Maryland have transported parts of a marsh into the next century. They are looking at the future effects of global warming and increased carbon dioxide on wetlands around the Chesapeake Bay.