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Protecting Salt Marshes and Ecosystem Services

These students from Charleston Development Academy, a frequently flooding school in Charleston SC, make a strong case for conserving and protecting coastal salt marsh ecosystems.  We hope you will consider joining our collective effort to preserve, protect, and restore salt marshes.  Here's why salt marsh ecosystems matter: 

  • They can and do mitigate the flood risks by buffering storm surge.

  • They provide vital habitat for shrimp, blue crabs, fish, oysters, and clams (the heart of many local coastal economies).

  • They provide recreational opportunities for families and neighborhoods.

  • They filter pollutants  and sediments from stormwater run-off.

  • They, along with other coastal plants, sequester 100 million times more carbon (a greenhouse gas) than forest plants. 

                   Photo courtesy Frank Baker

© 2018 by Merrie Koester, Ph.D.

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