It's critical for the many communities that line its shores, for the abundant marine species that use it for critical habitat and food, for the residents of Tangier Island who could become some of the country's first climate refugees, for commercial and recreational fisheries, for the tourism industry, for federal research agencies such as NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton and Jefferson Lab in Newport News and for the area's many military installations that are all learning to adapt to recurrent flooding and sea level rise that's projected to swamp much of their real estate by the end of the century and far beyond.