Salt Marsh Restoration in Rhode Island

Chaffee, Caitlin; Ferguson, Wenley; Ekberg, Marci Cole

doi:10.5822/978-1-61091-229-7_9

Cited by 3 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…Impaired water quality contributing to the decline in eelgrass habitat and its inability to recolonize stems from point sources such as septic systems and waste water treatment plant discharges, and other nonpoint sources such as polluted urban runoff loaded with lawn fertilizer. Eelgrass survival requires clear water, so increases in water turbidity can limit the spread of eelgrass and lead to plant death (Chaffee et al 2012). Increased water temperatures which are tied to climate change are also a major issue, as warmer water causes eelgrass to stop producing seeds.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Over the last 30 years the water temperature of Narragansett Bay has increased 2°F (Save the Bay n.d.). To compound issues, poor water quality from pollution, increased water temperature, and increased salinity increases susceptibility of eel grass to wasting disease (Chaffee et al 2012 Eelgrass is a food source for many marine creatures including waterfowl such as brant and Canada geese, sea slugs, and green turtles. Crustaceans such as blue crabs, long-clawed hermit crabs, and flat-clawed hermit crabs are known to feed on eelgrass seeds (SeagrassLI 2012).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Green crabs uproot, snip, and shred the bases of eelgrass causing them to drift away in house-size rafts (Beem 2014 The future of these restoration efforts may be to better understand the water quality and sea level rise implications for the selection and maintenance of sites for transplanting eel grass. The benefits of eel grass are numerous and documented (Chaffee et al 2012). In New England eel grass provides habitat for an estimated forty fish and nine invertebrate species.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Based on a similar breakdown in marsh categories, and using the carbon sequestration parameters developed for Quincy Marsh (ICF International 2014), the restoration projects are expected to average an additional sequestration of more than 216 MTCO2e each year. Prior to the 1930s, eelgrass was abundant in Narragansett Bay and all along the Eastern Seaboard (Chaffee et al 2012). However, during the 1930s a wasting disease related to slime mold, Labryinthula zosterae, resulted in the death of approximately 90 percent of eelgrass across the Eastern Seaboard.…”

Section: System-wide and Related Benefitsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Eelgrass restoration efforts have been ongoing in Narragansett Bay and coastal salt ponds for over ten years. While none of the test sites in the northern portion of Narragansett Bay, north of Prudence Island, have survived, there has been some successes in the southern portion of the bay (Chaffee et al 2012). In 2012 it was estimated that there were a total of 231 ha between the Sakonnet River, Narragansett Bay, and East and West Passages of Narragansett Bay (Bradley et al 2012 Historically, Narragansett Bay had reported commercial fisheries for softshelled clam, cultured oyster, and scallop, all of these have disappeared from the bay (Ovaitt et al 2003).…”

Section: Restoration Calculations and Accomplishmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Watershed level effects of multiple ecosystem restoration projects

Foran¹,

Fox‐Lent²,

Chadderton³

et al. 2018

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This assessment in the Narragansett Bay demonstrates a transparent, defensible method to characterize ecosystem restoration projects in a watershed over large spatial scales. The project team compiled multiple completed projects in the Narragansett Bay watershed including salt marsh restorations, fish passage, and dam removals. The approach included the following: identifying and locating restoration projects, utilizing existing data resources for spatial information, quantifying the gains in area and distance, and extrapolating the potential for collective watershed benefit in fish populations, productivity, water quality and carbon sequestration. In total, 177 projects were identified as being implemented between 1999 and 2015: fish passage restoration (46), marsh restoration (35), eel grass restoration (22), shellfish restoration (43), and other projects (31). The collective efforts to improve fish passage have resulted in more than 800 km of newly accessible river herring habitat in the Narragansett Bay watershed.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: System-wide and Related Benefitsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Restoration Calculations and Accomplishmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Watershed level effects of multiple ecosystem restoration projects

Foran¹,

Fox‐Lent²,

Chadderton³

et al. 2018

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Restoring tides to reduce methane emissions in impounded wetlands: A new and potent Blue Carbon climate change intervention

Kroeger

Crooks

Moseman‐Valtierra

et al. 2017

Sci Rep

172

123

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Coastal wetlands are sites of rapid carbon (C) sequestration and contain large soil C stocks. Thus, there is increasing interest in those ecosystems as sites for anthropogenic greenhouse gas emission offset projects (sometimes referred to as “Blue Carbon”), through preservation of existing C stocks or creation of new wetlands to increase future sequestration. Here we show that in the globally-widespread occurrence of diked, impounded, drained and tidally-restricted salt marshes, substantial methane (CH4) and CO2 emission reductions can be achieved through restoration of disconnected saline tidal flows. Modeled climatic forcing indicates that tidal restoration to reduce emissions has a much greater impact per unit area than wetland creation or conservation to enhance sequestration. Given that GHG emissions in tidally-restricted, degraded wetlands are caused by human activity, they are anthropogenic emissions, and reducing them will have an effect on climate that is equivalent to reduced emission of an equal quantity of fossil fuel GHG. Thus, as a landuse-based climate change intervention, reducing CH4 emissions is an entirely distinct concept from biological C sequestration projects to enhance C storage in forest or wetland biomass or soil, and will not suffer from the non-permanence risk that stored C will be returned to the atmosphere.

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Assessment of prerestoration water quality in the Herring River to support adaptive management at the Cape Cod National Seashore

Huntington

2023

Scientific Investigations Report

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The author is grateful to the following USGS personnel who contributed to the study and report. Craig Brown helped with quality assurance analysis, data input into the National Water Information System, and use of gridMET and the Thornthwaite water balance model. Kirk Smith developed software that were used to identify the times for sample collection. Jason Sorenson retrofitted sampling and level-sensor equipment. Ben Rau and Leslie DeSimone helped design the water quality sampling and processing protocols and data review and validation. Mark Nardi and Jason Sorenson provided peer reviews. Janet Barclay provided the R scripts that produced the boxplots included in the report.

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Salt Marsh Restoration in Rhode Island

Cited by 3 publications

References 2 publications

Watershed level effects of multiple ecosystem restoration projects

Watershed level effects of multiple ecosystem restoration projects

Restoring tides to reduce methane emissions in impounded wetlands: A new and potent Blue Carbon climate change intervention

Assessment of prerestoration water quality in the Herring River to support adaptive management at the Cape Cod National Seashore

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