The Virginia Security Corridor is comprised of two sentinel landscapes: Potomac and Tidewater. This region encompasses over 2.9 million acres of land and water in Virginia’s “Golden Crescent,” an area of high military concentration, population growth, urban sprawl, and a growing technology industry. It is also home to some of the Commonwealth’s most abundant resources, including intact forests, open and agricultural lands, and complex marsh and riverine systems that connect to the nation’s largest estuary – the Chesapeake Bay. The Virginia Security Corridor supports 10 military installations representing every branch of the U.S. Armed Forces. Specifically, the Tidewater Sentinel Landscape is anchored by Joint Base Langley- Eustis and the Potomac Sentinel Landscape is anchored by Marine Corp Base Quantico. Founded in 2013 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Department of Defense, and Department of the Interior, the Sentinel Landscapes partnership mission is to strengthen military readiness, conserve natural resources, bolster agricultural and forestry economies, increase public access to outdoor recreation, and enhance community resilience. The Virginia Department of Forestry led the Commonwealth’s effort to achieve a Sentinel Landscapes designation in 2023 and were awarded two, the Potomac and the Tidewater. Sentinel Landscapes are areas where conservation, working lands, and national defense interests converge. They are characterized as areas where natural open space and sustainably managed working lands used for farming, ranching, and forestry provide vital ecological and recreational services and support the nation’s economy through agriculture and forestry. These lands also provide critical buffers for military installations and ranges by maintaining land use that is compatible with their testing and training missions.
The Tidewater Sentinel Landscape is anchored by Joint Base Langley Eustis, a high-value military installation that contains high priority lands for the Commonwealth, USDA, DOD, and DOI.
The goals and objectives of each sentinel landscape are established by local partnerships that are led by a State Level Coordinating Committee and Partnership Group that includes federal, state, and local government agencies, tribal governments, nonprofit organizations, and academic institutions. These groups represent relevant working lands, conservation, recreation, and landowner interests. This Tidewater coordinator will lead an array of public and private partners to achieve diverse natural resource conservation goals within the Partnership’s geographic boundaries. This individual will also collaborate with the coordinator from the Potomac Sentinel Landscapes located in the northeastern portion of the state. The Tidewater coordinator will work with the Sentinel Landscapes Partnership-State Level Coordinating Committee, the Watershed Program Manager and the Potomac Coordinator to put into action a work plan that is essential to achieving mission critical conservation needs and planning. This is an exceptional opportunity to help advance an extraordinary natural resources conservation partnership to achieve landscape scale conservation projects that improve the lives of Virginians.
