News

The past year has been a banner year for salt marsh conservation. With the release of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act, coastal resiliency projects have received unprecedented attention and financial support. Salt marsh restoration is critical to achieving a wide range of coastal resiliency goals. These benefits extend well beyond birds to fish habitat, community protection and carbon sequestration – to name a few – and they impact each and every one of us no matter where we live. 

This year, the ACJV was heavily focused on implementation. Drawing upon the many tools and planning resources already developed, ACJV staff provided coordination services, ghost writing, and leadership engagement on behalf of partners to secure more than $5.6M and apply for an additional $2.7M of pending funding for high priority salt marsh conservation projects. This funding is in addition to the millions brought in through NAWCA and Coastal grants and the many successful proposals submitted by our partners to support salt marsh restoration work across the Atlantic coast. In addition to supporting on-the-ground work, we have been working to bridge the planning-to-implementation gap for Black Rail. In October, we hosted a North American rangewide Black Rail meeting to exchange lessons learned around habitat features affecting rail occupancy and experiences from partners who are experimenting with Black Rail habitat creation. We are also testing the use of innovative drone+LiDAR technology to identify the subtle microtopographic features that can determine whether Black Rails will be present or absent. The ability to identify and create marshes with appropriate microtopography could be a game changing development for advancing Black Rail conservation. 

We are excited about the year ahead and the many opportunities we hope it will bring for coastal marsh conservation. A huge thank you to the hundreds of partners – and growing – who work tirelessly every day to restore our coastal marsh habitats! Our hats go off to you!