August 20, 2020 Coastal wetlands in much of New England and the mid-Atlantic are not keeping pace with sea-level rise. A surprising result is that legacy effects of farming and mosquito control practices are leading to an increase in interior ponding and die off across New York and the five coastal New England states -- resulting in [...]
Dredging and other coastal-restoration techniques offer promising solutions to the urgent problem of habitat loss from sea-level rise. However, unknowns about these relatively new techniques can make it challenging for practitioners to implement them. That’s why the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Philadelphia District partnered with the State of New Jersey, The Wetlands Institute, [...]
Atlantic Coast Joint Venture partners have developed a tool to help identify salt marsh habitat patches with potential to support Saltmarsh Sparrow now and in the future. Learn how this tool can be used to direct restoration efforts to high priority marshes, and identify the most important areas to protect to ensure future marsh migration. [...]
Salt marshes throughout the Atlantic Coast are experiencing a loss of resiliency due to sea-level rise and a legacy of human-made alterations. Join us to hear what researchers (Susan Adamowicz, Geoffrey Wilson, and David Burdick) have learned about the extensive agricultural history of salt marshes and the takeaways for current management and restoration to benefit [...]
This past year was productive for ACJV staff and partners. We are excited to share with you our accomplishments from 2018. Salt Marsh Bird Conservation Business Plan for the Atlantic Coast At a 2014 Partners in Flight meeting in Virginia Beach, a group of bird conservation partners from the Atlantic and Gulf coast began to [...]
Atlantic Coast Joint Venture partners involved in the North American Wetlands Conservation Act (NAWCA) grants program had a very successful year in 2018. Eleven Standard grant projects were awarded $1 million dollars each in six states: Maine, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. These eleven projects conserved nearly 92,000 acres of wetland and [...]
Impoundment and High Marsh Mapping Projects Will Help Identify New Black Rail Habitat Opportunities Close up of Black Rail habitat. Craig Watson Black Rails require specific habitat conditions that include very shallow water and dense vegetation. These conditions are found in the highest and driest portion of the salt marsh (‘high marsh’) and [...]
ACJV Workshop Charts a Path Forward for Black Rails Black Rail. Sergio Bitran In late October, partners from across the Joint Venture convened in Charleston, South Carolina, to begin developing the first components of the ACJV Black Rail Conservation Action Plan. The Plan will lay out a series of high-priority actions needed to [...]
BLRA Pilot Projects Black Rail. Bob Gress Hiding deep in the marsh, inaccessible to even the most dedicated birders and researchers, Black Rails have kept much of their ecology a secret for centuries. Now the species is facing alarming declines and solutions are urgently needed to stabilize the population. Given how little is [...]
Black Rail Adaptive Management Project The ACJV, in partnership with USGS, recently secured a 3-year grant to develop an Adaptive Management (AM) Framework for Black Rail. This project was born out of the urgent need to learn quickly about which management strategies work better than others at creating suitable habitat for Black Rail. Through the [...]