Protective salt marshes along coasts are in danger across the globe but it’s not too late to act, Northeastern researchers say - Northeastern University College of Science

Salt marshes are among coastal habitats endangered by both rising sea levels and urban development.

Preserving and restoring salt marshes is essential not only for wildlife protection and natural flood mitigation, but also for the numerous ecosystem services — such as carbon storage, bird watching and fishing — they provide to urban dwellers.

This is the case a group of Northeastern University scientists is making in a recent study that predicts how New England salt marshes might look by 2100 due to rising sea levels, using the example of Belle Isle Marsh Reservation, Boston’s last remaining salt marsh.

The scientists suggest potential actionable solutions that can help preserve the marsh.

“I don’t think it’s too late to act,” says Jahson Alemu I, who led the study and worked closely with municipalities and communities that border the marsh as a postdoctoral fellow of the Coastal Sustainability Institute, a joint program between the Marine Science Center at Northeastern and the Nature Conservancy, a global environmental nonprofit.