General Information
 
The INSTAR program began in 2003 as a collaboration between the Center for Environmental Studies at VCU and several agencies, including the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation and the Virginia Coastal Zone Management Program. The program goal is to develop and promote statistically sound analytical and decision-support tools for blue infrastructure assessment, especially throughout the Virginia Coastal Zone.  Specifically, INSTAR supports detailed geospatial analyses of aquatic living resources, in-stream and riparian habitat, and measures of the ecological integrity of streams and watersheds (i.e., Virtual Stream Assessment, VSA; Modified Index of Biotic Integrity, mIBI). INSTAR, and the extensive aquatic resources database on which it runs, were developed to support a variety of stream assessment, management, and planning activities aimed at restoring and protecting water quality and aquatic living resources throughout the Commonwealth.

Background Information

Mapping Application

Download Maps (pdf)

Stream & Watershed Assessments