This measure is designed to track progress on eelgrass restoration on the seaside of Virginia’s Eastern Shore funded by the Virginia Coastal Zone Management (CZM) Program. Eelgrass, which grows rooted to the bottom of shallow bays, provides habitat for fish, crabs and bay scallops. It was wiped out on the seaside (along with bay scallop fishery that depended on it) by hurricanes and diseases in the 1930’s and was absent until the CZM Program initiated restoration through grants to the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) in 2000. Expanding eelgrass beds provide multiple benefits to the seafood industry; in addition to providing a safe nursery for young fish to hide from predators eelgrass also takes up nitrogen thereby improving water quality, which in turn also helps maintain healthy seafood production and ensures clean water for the shore’s expanding ecotourism industry.  Eelgrass also helps to trap sand and dampen the effects of wave action which causes erosion of private property thus providing another benefit to Virginia’s citizens. Over 200 acres of eelgrass seeds have been planted and through annual aerial surveys and mapping, we now know they have spread to about 4,000 acres. Virginia CZM continues to fund the effort and this measure tracks the number of acres planted. The data are updated by reviewing semiannual and final progress reports from the VIMS.