NEWBURY — The region’s Great Marsh received a significant boost when the Healey-Driscoll administration announced it would pump in more than $750,000 to monitor the vitally important ecological network.
The money comes from a pool of more than $2 million in new funding to protect salt marshes along the Massachusetts coastline. Salt marshes are key toward protecting communities from flooding and preventing damage from storms and rising seas. They also serve as a habitat for fisheries and wildlife, and absorb carbon that would otherwise contribute to climate change, according to the state.
“The actions we take today to protect our salt marshes will affect our climate resilience for generations,” Massachusetts Climate Chief Melissa Hoffer said Tuesday. “These restoration and monitoring efforts will create a stronger, living ecosystem that will defend our communities against harsh storms and flooding. This funding goes a long way toward protecting natural resources and addressing climate change.”
The Salt Marsh Restoration and Monitoring grants, administered by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, will fund seven projects to restore and monitor degraded salt marsh ecosystems. The resulting data will help identify particularly effective restoration techniques, and combinations of techniques, for future restoration efforts and investment.
“Salt marshes play a vital role in filtering pollutants, improving water quality, and protecting the health of our ecosystems and communities,” said MassDEP Commissioner Bonnie Heiple. “We’re grateful to the many partners who have long prioritized protection and restoration of these unique ecosystems and look forward to ongoing work together to ensure salt marshes can perform these critical functions for generations to come.”
Of the seven grant proposals selected for funding, two directly affect the Great Marsh.
Boston University’s Fulweiler Lab will receive $389,079 to study and measure carbon dioxide flux in restored salt marshes.
The Trustees of Reservations will receive $330,000 for post-restoration monitoring of salt marsh restoration.
“Marshes are important resources that provide valuable habitat, efficient carbon sequestration, and extremely effective natural defenses against the powerful forces of coastal storms. These benefits, however, depend directly on marshlands being healthy and capable of outpacing such threats as those posed by invasive species, rising sea levels, and increased absorption of carbon,” Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr, R-Gloucester, said in a statement.
State Rep. Kristin Kassner, D-Hamilton, called salt marsh restoration “key to coastal resilience.”
“The Great Marsh helps to store massive amounts of carbon, reduce flooding, and support fisheries and biodiversity. These ecosystems are disappearing rapidly, making restoration an urgent climate‑resilience priority for Massachusetts. Thank you to MassDEP for recognizing and investing in these important projects for our region,” Kassner said in a statement.
The grants are the latest step in the Healey-Driscoll administration’s work to promote resilience and support ecological restoration projects. Other recent initiatives have included streamlined provisions for permitting restoration projects in the Mass Ready Act, and MassDEP’s issuance of guidance documents to promote salt marsh restoration.
Additionally, these projects support the state’s biodiversity goals, which name salt marsh restoration as a priority, and the Department of Fish & Game’s Blue Carbon Program, which is exploring financial incentives to drive protection of these critical habitats to help the state meet its net-zero goals, according to the state.
Dave Rogers is the editor of the Daily News of Newburyport. Email him at: drogers@newburyportnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @drogers41008.