New York City volunteers planted 20,000 marsh seedlings in 2003; 80% were healthy by 2005

PC: National Park Service In 2003, a restoration effort at New York City’s Big Egg Marsh took a major step when National Park Service scientists and 100 volunteers planted 20,000 smooth cordgrass seedlings across an area that had been raised with clean sand. The work was part of an experiment to restore a salt marsh in Jamaica Bay, where marshes had been disappearing for decades. The seedlings faced early setbacks, including grazing by geese, tides and marine debris. The vegetation continued to spread. Just two years into the restoration, more than 80% of the experiment site was reported to be vegetated and healthy, offering an encouraging result for the damaged marsh.20,000 seedlings planted on New York City’s dying salt marshOnce the marsh had been raised, the restoration team needed to establish vegetation across the treated area. In October 2003, National Park Service scientists and 100 volunteers planted 20,000 seedlings of smooth cordgrass, known scientifically as Spartina alterniflora. The planting covered the part of Big Egg Marsh where the sand had been sprayed.Smooth cordgrass was particularly suited to the difficult conditions of a salt marsh because it can thrive in hig...