A regional partnership spanning North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida released targeted plans for each state this month to conserve coastal salt marshes—grassy wetlands that fill with saltwater and drain as the tides ebb and flow. These habitats protect communities and more than a dozen at-risk military installations from floods, provide fish breeding grounds, and offer recreation and seafood to millions of people.
The plans, which are part of an effort to conserve and restore 1 million acres of salt marshes—roughly the size of Grand Canyon National Park—were developed by state-based member teams from the South Atlantic Salt Marsh Initiative (SASMI), a group of more than 400 stakeholders working to save marshes from encroaching seas, polluted runoff, unsustainable development, and other threats. SASMI members include state and federal agencies, the U.S. military, scientists, businesses, Gullah Geechee representatives, and nonprofit organizations.
“These state-specific plans are a roadmap for successfully conserving one of the country’s most spectacular and valuable areas of intact salt marshes. Communities can expect real benefits from protecting this habitat that absorbs floodwaters, provides us delicious seafood and shapes our coastal lifestyle,” said Lora Clarke, a senior officer with The Pew Charitable Trusts, which founded SASMI along with the Southeast Regional Partnership for Planning and Sustainability, a group that brings together governments, the military, and others to address conservation and resilience issues.
The initiative released a regional plan in 2023 that outlined broad strategies to conserve and restore marshes. And now, the individual state plans build on that regional plan by identifying actions that are most important for each state.
Here in Georgia, we have an estimated 368,000 acres of salt marsh along our coastline, which accounts for more than a third of the connected marsh habitat corridor along the southeastern United States coast.
Georgia’s salt marshes provide nearly $2.7 billion per year in protection from storm surge and flooding. They also support the commercial and recreational fishing industries that contribute more than $1.37 billion and $200 million, respectively, to the state’s economy every year. The habitat protects vital military installations and training grounds, including Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay, Fort Stewart-Hunter Army Airfield, and Townsend Bombing Range.
However, our salt marshes face growing threats from sea level rise, coastal development, and fragmentation.
To address these challenges, Georgia’s SASMI Roadmap, led by the Georgia Conservancy, calls for financial incentives for private landowners to choose living shorelines and other nature-based solutions over hard structures such as bulkheads, enabling marshes to migrate naturally as sea levels rise. The plan also calls for helping owners of working lands, such as farms, conserve their property if it’s affected by saltwater intrusion; oyster shell recycling for use in living shorelines; use of sediment to sustain, create, or enhance marshes; and working with transportation agencies to identify and prioritize removal of barriers, such as culverts, that interfere with marshes.
“We are so excited to be able to announce the release of the Georgia SASMI Roadmap,” says Georgia Conservancy Coastal Director Courtney Reich. “The Georgia SASMI Implementation Team has worked hard over the last few years to understand the threats facing our coastal marshlands and how they are impacting local communities. This Roadmap represents our collective commitment to protect our unique salt marsh habitat now and into the future. We hope that this plan will result in more and more opportunities for partners to restore our eroding shorelines, restore coastal hydrology, and conserve our coastal river and wetland corridors across Georgia.”
In concert with the Roadmap and guided by its strategies, Georgia Conservancy is currently leading several marsh conservation and restoration projects along our coast.
At Martha Randolph Stevens Park in Liberty County, Georgia Conservancy and partners have completed construction of a living shoreline. As project leaders, we have worked with funding agencies, engineers, and state managers to design and construct an oyster-based living shoreline that will fix eroded areas, restore marsh vegetation and oyster reefs, and prevent future shoreline loss, allowing the Seabrook Village to safely use its community center, which sits just yards from the shoreline.
As part of the process, volunteers with the Georgia Conservancy, Seabrook Village Foundation, and UGA Marine Extension & Sea Grant salvaged and replanted Spartina salt marsh grass to use in the stabilization of the newly constructed living shoreline. After volunteer service days in March and April to install bags of recycled oysters, we anticipate the project to be fully completed later this Spring.
By utilizing nature-based practices and enacting recommended strategies, programs, and projects, we can work together to “Marsh Forward” in Georgia and protect, restore, and conserve the benefits of these ecosystems for centuries.
Our press release announcing the Georgia SASMI Roadmap can be read here: https://georgiaconservancy.org/south-atlantic-states-release-roadmaps-for-salt-marsh-conservation/
See all four state plans by visiting www.marshforward.org or reading a post from the Pew Charitable Trust here: New Plans Would Conserve Salt Marsh to Protect Southeastern Coastal Communities, Military Installations | The Pew Charitable Trusts
Click here to view and explore the Georgia SASMI Roadmap
Click here to read an Executive Summary of the Georgia SASMI Roadmap. Click hereto learn more about the Georgia Conservancy
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