Salt Marsh Restoration in Rhode Island

Abstract

Historically, Rhode Island experienced significant salt marsh loss as large areas were filled to create upland for development such as that in the urban center of Providence. It is estimated that 60 percent of the state ’s salt marshes have been lost as a result of filling. Loss and degradation of salt marshes resulting from human impacts continued to occur through the twentieth century. From the 1950s to the 1990s alone, Rhode Island experienced a net loss of over 120 hectares or 10 percent of its estuarine marshes. As of the mid-1990s, salt marshes in Rhode Island were estimated to represent over 1400 hectares of the state ’s estuarine habitat as embayment and fringing marshes throughout the Narragansett Bay estuary and associated with the coastal ponds located along the south shore barrier island region. Of that area, nearly half, or over 690 hectares, have been impacted by human activities such as ditching and impoundments (Tiner et al. 2003, 2004).