Project Profile: Increasing Coastal Resilience through Salt Marsh Restoration and Conservation

Thompson Island salt marsh, Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area.

NPS / E. Bernbaum

Inflation Reduction Act
Resilience | FY24 $2,500,000

The National Park Service will work to restore degraded sea grass and salt marsh systems which provide valuable habitat and a buffer against storms and sea level rise.

Why? Salt marsh ecosystems are disappearing due to development and climate change, and over the last decade the United States has led the world in rates of salt marsh loss. A globally rare ecosystem, salt marsh is home to unique, native species that can live nowhere else; many birds, fish and other wildlife rely on salt marshes, including most commercial and recreational species that support a multi-billion-dollar industry. These marshes buffer coastal communities — and billions of dollars in infrastructure —from flooding due to major storms, which are intensifying due to climate change.

What Else? Salt marsh are a keystone initative in the Department of the Interior’s Restoration and Resilience Framework.