Audubon Mid-Atlantic is collaborating with local partners and public agencies to launch the Marshes for Tomorrow project that aims to maintain a resilient and balanced salt marsh ecosystem on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. This landscape-scale restoration plan is focused on 25,000 acres of tidal salt marshes that face increasing pressure from sea level rise due to climate change. These unique habitats are home to many animals and birds, including the Saltmarsh Sparrow. This species only breeds in the northeastern US and Maryland is home to an estimated 25% of the population. Through extensive conversations with community members who live, recreate, or work within this region, our team is gathering vital information to identify the specific sites where restoration efforts should be prioritized. 

Another major conservation focus within Marshes for Tomorrow is preserving and rehabilitating nesting islands for imperiled shorebirds along Maryland’s Coastal Bays. Balance is essential for delicate ecosystems like marshes, where too much or too little water can create inhospitable environments for the creatures that call this place home. We are implementing unique approaches and new ecological engineering techniques like spraying dredge material over the marshes to rebuild a vital foundation of sediment.

Audubon will work with our partners and our partners towards a coordinated and ambitious approach to implement strategies and funding to preserve and restore these special places and build on the great work already being done in the state. 

To learn more about our projects:

Marshes for Tomorrow: https://www.delmarvarcn.org/marshesfortomorrow

Coastal Bay Islands: https://www.audubon.org/magazine/fall-2021/an-artificial-island-may-be-lifeline-marylands

Skimmer island: https://mdcoastalbays.org/the-programs/restoration/skimmer-island/

Marshes for Tomorrow Policy Priorities

• Developing a pathway for an ecological restoration permitting track so that marsh restoration projects can be permitted at a expedited pace in order to meet the magnitude of the urgency of the problem our marshes and coastal wetlands face

• Exploring innovative sources of beneficial dredge material to be used more readily for marsh restoration and nesting sand island restoration

• Advocating for funding to meet coastal restoration needs to protect critical bird habitat, disappearing marshes, and threatened tidal coastlines in the face climate change induced sea level rise
• Supporting policies which limit human development in vulnerable or sensitive coastal zones

Amplifying the positive ways coastal habitat restoration benefits cultural landscape heritage, climate action, disaster preparedness, and strong economies in the Mid-Atlantic’s coastal communities