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Salt Marsh Program
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What are Salt Marshes?
Salt marshes are coastal wetlands that form transition zones between land and sea. They provide habitat for wildlife, serve as nurseries for fish and shellfish, store floodwaters, and protect our shorelines against storm surge damage. Salt marshes also act as natural purifiers by filtering pollutants and sediment and by absorbing excess nutrients from streams, rivers, and surface runoff before they can reach coastal waters and drinking water supplies. Subjected to the daily rise and fall of the sea, the salt marsh environment is constantly changing. Incoming freshwater from rivers, streams and groundwater mixes with tidal saltwater resulting in frequent and rapid changes in salinity, temperature and water depth within the salt marsh system. Salt marshes are characterized by plants and animals that tolerate changes in water temperature, depth, and saliniity (ranging from 0-35 ppt). Cape Cod salt marshes provide nesting, feeding and breeding habitat for a variety of animals, including rare and endangered species. Among these are the rare and protected northern harrier, least tern, king rail, river herring, the Massachusetts-listed diamond-backed terrapin and eastern box turtle.
Since colonial times, a significant portion of our nation’s salt marshes have been degraded or altered by agriculture, mosquito-ditching, channeling, urban development and other legacies of human activities. On Cape Cod 38% or about 7,000 acres of our historical salt marshes have been lost or severely degraded. Roads and railroad tracks bisect and damage marshes by restricting the tidal flow that nourishes them. When tidal flow is restricted, these once-saline environments change to a brackish or freshwater condition in which native salt marsh vegetation suffers. Typically, these marshes become colonized by the invasive common reed (Phragmites australis), which forms dense stands 12 feet or higher. As invasive species take over, a major shift in wildlife occurs, and formerly diverse communities of salt marsh inhabitants are replaced by fewer species. In 2003 APCC launched its salt marsh monitoring program. In consultation with the Massachusetts Offices of Coastal Zone Management and Mass Bays Program to:
APCC staff train and work with volunteers to monitor salt marsh sites on
Cape Cod. Our program has 16 salt marsh sites across Cape Cod. The list of sites is developed in consultation with staff at the Massachusetts Division of Ecological Restoration. These sites span the Cape and are in various stages of restoration, ranging from feasibility assessment to post-tidal restoration. The monitoring focuses on four areas of study. These parameters were selected because they are measurable indicators of salt marsh health:
Through the Salt Marsh Program we are building a scientific framework from which to base future restoration projects. By measuring and collecting salt marsh health indicators, we are providing invaluable data for the scientific community to use in the assessment of future restoration sites and projects.
It takes a team to monitor a salt marsh. APCC’s salt marsh program relies on the dedication and enthusiasm of its volunteers. In salt marshes across Cape Cod, numerous volunteers monitor critical indicators of salt marsh health. Through this experience volunteers become stewards of the salt marsh and gain appreciation for its wonders, functions and benefits. Without their involvement the program would not be possible. To find out more about becoming a salt marsh monitor, please email Tara Nye at tnye@apcc.org or call the APCC office at 508-362-4226.
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