Tag Archives: Resilient Land

State Releases New Resilient Lands Initiative  

Posted on January 5, 2023 by Hillary T.
three tree swallows on wood posts in a salt marsh and water
Tree Swallows

On January 4, the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) released the Resilient Lands Initiative (RLI) Vision. We’re thrilled that this framework to protect and improve the quality of life for residents of every Massachusetts community through nature conservation and stewardship initiatives was among the final actions of the Baker Administration. 

EEA engaged with stakeholders across the Commonwealth when it developed the RLI Vision, and it reflects many of the goals defined in Governor Healey’s Climate Plan—namely those focused on Natural and Working Lands. Importantly, it also supports the incoming Administration’s aggressive goals for affordable housing. 

The actions outlined in the RLI Vision will help the Commonwealth achieve its climate goals, reduce vulnerability to climate impacts such as urban heat islands and coastal flooding, improve water quality, and protect wildlife and natural systems. What’s more, RLI used two lenses in shaping its objectives: 1. diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice and 2. climate change.  

Nature-based climate solutions are essential to improving the quality of life for every resident of the Commonwealth and for meeting our 2030 and 2050 Climate Roadmap imperatives. The RLI Vision is an important framework that should be used to ensure that nature does its part in meeting these critical needs.   

As part of Mass Audubon’s Resilient Landscape goal of our Action Agenda, we are dramatically expanding our efforts to protect, restore, and steward the state’s most important natural lands. Working in close partnership with others, we aim to conserve an additional 150,000 acres of the Commonwealth’s most important and biodiverse habitats, bringing the percentage of protected land in the state to 30%. The RLI Vision is another huge step toward achieving this goal. 

There is much work to be done, and we’re thrilled that the “menu-based” approach offers many potential actions to choose from as future capital budgets are developed, legislative agendas and regulatory updates considered, and decisions on policy and programmatic options contemplated. 

Mass Audubon and the hundreds of advocates that participated in developing the RLI Vision stand ready to support and assist the Healey Administration as it implements its ambitious goals and objectives for climate, resilient lands, and affordable housing.  

Saving the Salt Marsh with Mussels?

Posted on November 22, 2022 by Mass Audubon

Along the southern shore of the Merrimack River near Joppa Flats Education Center, over a mile stretch of salt marsh is struggling. While it’s uncertain exactly why this salt marsh is degrading, excessive nutrients from the Merrimack River and upstream wastewater treatment plants might be to blame.

The salt marsh behind Joppa Flats

When salt marsh cordgrass, Spartina alterniflora, is overloaded with nutrients, it develops more above-ground biomass and less below-ground biomass, leaving it unstable. Top-heavy and poorly rooted cordgrass can slump over when hit by waves, leading to bank collapse and erosion. This, combined with sea-level rise and increased storm activity, could speed up degradation and eventually lead to total habitat loss.

Protecting salt marshes in this area is vital as they absorb wave energy and reduce storm surges. This stretch of salt marsh is also a valuable habitat that houses more than 220 species of birds, including six rare species and three species with state wildlife action plans (SWAP).

Restoring with Ribbed Mussels

Ribbed Mussels

The ribbed mussel, Geukensia demissa, is the East Coast’s most common salt marsh bivalve and has been used in restoration projects for its ability to filter water, remove phytoplankton, transform nitrogen, and stabilize sediments with its byssal threads. However, surveys have not found any ribbed mussels in the salt marshes on the southern shore of the Merrimack River estuary. This might be from a lack of suitable substrate, poor water quality conditions, or ice scouring.

In October 2022, Mass Audubon relocated mussels from a nearby marsh to the salt marsh at Joppa Flats Education Center on the southern shore of the Merrimack River to test the feasibility of ribbed mussel restoration. Mussel survival and water quality will be monitored through the winter and spring of 2023. If they survive, Mass Audubon will start testing possible materials to grow mussels on and assess different ways to introduce them into the Merrimack River Estuary salt marsh.

Mass Audubon has received funding from the Palmer Foundation to collect data to evaluate the marsh and support the design of a salt marsh restoration approach. Results from the ongoing pilot study and future mussel experiments will be incorporated into the salt marsh restoration design process.

Moving the Action Agenda Forward

We are committed to fostering resilient landscapes across Massachusetts, as outlined in our Action Agenda. Learn more about how we are doing this on the coast via our Coastal Resilience Program and how you can support this important work.