Saltmarsh restoration project
Saltmarshes are coastal heroes
Not only do they support a huge biodiversity – from tiny critters within the mud, fish in the creeks, to birds on the shore - they also support and protect us. As one of our key allies in fighting the climate crisis, saltmarshes are a key focus of Essex Wildlife Trust's coastal and marine work.
Saltmarsh restoration project
In 2018, Essex Wildlife Trust and the Environment Agency (EA) established an experimental, low-cost saltmarsh restoration project. The project involved installing coir roll structures (which we affectionately refer to as “saltmarsh sausages”) in low-energy saltmarsh channels at two locations: Essex Wildlife Trust’s Abbotts Hall nature reserve, Blackwater estuary and Moverons Farm, Colne estuary.
The concept is simple enough: large coir rolls, are strategically placed and secured with chestnut stakes and hessian rope in low-energy channels within the saltmarsh. This encourages sediment to build up behind and around the structures and encourages vegetation to establish. Carbon is captured by the plants growing in the saltmarsh through photosynthesis and is stored both in the plant and the sediment beneath.
In 2021, we were thrilled to secure funding from The Wildlife Trust’s Nature-based Solutions Fund. With a grant from players of People’s Postcode Lottery, awarded by Postcode Planet Trust, we initiated the next exciting phase of the project. Through a combination of fieldwork with the University of Essex (including some exciting drone flights), mapping and data analysis, we evaluated the success of the coir roll structures as well as developing our student saltmarsh fieldwork and raising the profile of saltmarshes, nature-based solutions and blue carbon.
How are our saltmarsh 'sausages' doing?
The saltmarsh ‘sausages’ are now decorated by vegetation and sediment. Both findings are important because the roots of the growing plants help to stabilise the marsh and, importantly, they lock in carbon. This is a positive step for saltmarsh restoration, and our initial findings provide a solid baseline to springboard future research, establish future targets, and ultimately roll out this restoration on a landscape scale.
We still need more data to definitively measure the success of the structures and we are continuing our exciting collaboration with University of Essex to help us do this.
Saltmarsh structure at Moverons Farm, Colne estuary, June 2021
Saltmarsh Restoration Project Toolkit
How can you help?
To combat our climate emergency, we need action now. Through restoration approaches such as this, both nature and people become more resilient to climate change. Our Saltmarsh Restoration Project Toolkit is designed for practitioners and those considering different options for saltmarsh restoration.
