The natural environment of Virginia encompasses the physical geography and biology of the U.S. state of Virginia. Virginia has a total area of 42,774.2 square miles (110,784.67 km2), including 3,180.13 square miles (8,236.5 km2) of water, making it the 35th-largest state by area.[1] Forests cover 65% of the state, wetlands and water cover 6% of the land in the state, while 5% of the state is a mixture of commercial, residential, and transitional.[2]
Virginia is bordered by Maryland and Washington, D.C. to the north and east; by the Atlantic Ocean to the east; by North Carolina and Tennessee to the south; by Kentucky to the west; and by West Virginia to the north and west. Due to a peculiarity of Virginia's original charter, its boundary with Maryland and Washington, D.C. does not extend past the low-water mark of the south shore of the Potomac River (unlike many boundaries that split a river down the middle).[3] The southern border is defined as the 36° 30′ parallel north, though surveyor error led to deviations of as much as three arcminutes.[4]
The state agencies whose primary foci are on the natural environment of Virginia are the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR), and the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ).
- ^ "2000 Census of Population and Housing" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. April 2004. p. 71. Retrieved November 3, 2009.
- ^ "Virginia's Forest Resources". Natural Resource Education Guide. Virginia Department of Environmental Quality. January 21, 2008. Archived from the original on February 11, 2008. Retrieved February 8, 2008.
- ^ "Supreme Court Rules for Virginia in Potomac Conflict". The Sea Grant Law Center. University of Mississippi. 2003. Retrieved November 24, 2007.
- ^ Hubbard 2009, p. 140