Jan 31, 2018 · Salt marshes serve as critical habitat for a host of important animals species including fishes, shellfish, and birds. Due to the critical nature of these systems, the Cape Cod National Seashore has undertaken an ambitious program …

Dec 18, 2023 · Cape Cod’s salt marshes provide miles of natural beauty while offering a safe habitat for several wildlife species and protecting the shores from erosion. In this article, we look at the natural benefits of the Cape Cod salt marshes, how the development of the Cape is impacting them, and where to go if you want to see one.

On Cape Cod, 36 percent of our historical salt marshes have been lost or severely degraded. Roads and railroad beds bisect and damage marshes by restricting the tidal flow that nourishes them.

Extensive trails bring you to a panoramic salt marsh, sandy barrier beach, and pine woodlands. Explore Wellfleet Bay. Known for its 1,000 holly trees of 65 varieties, Ashumet Holly also features an eight-acre coastal plain pond, considered a globally rare natural community attracting over 30 species of dragonflies and rare pondshore wildflowers.

The Great Sippewissett Marsh has been a popular research site for scientists and students of the nearby Woods Hole science community, and it remains one of the most studied salt marshes in the world. 2 Cape Cod’s coastal wetlands help maintain water quality in adjacent coastal waters.

f salt marsh being filled or drained. Mosquito ditching has created unn tural cuts and barriers in the marsh. It is estimated that 36% (7,000 acres) of Cape Cod’s salt marshes have been lost or severely degraded as a result of direct human impact, therefore it is vital that we protect a

Town maps showing the locations of tidal restrictions to salt marshes along the Cape Cod coastline. Charts for each town and its identified sites that provide site characteristics that are useful for prioritizing and planning future remediation projects.

Apr 18, 2024 · In some affected marshes, large swaths of marsh vegetation have disappeared. The empty areas of bare peat continue to expand as more of the saltmarsh plants perish. What is Salt Marsh Dieback? The word “dieback” was originally used on Cape Cod to describe areas experiencing an unexplained loss of salt marsh vegetation.

The modest increase in tidal exchange between East Harbor and Cape Cod Bay has triggered a profound recovery of estuarine animals. Besides the usual flock of gulls that have used the harbor for decades, it’s now common to see least and common terns, cormorants and ospreys, ever watchful for new op-portunities, hunting the newly abundant ...

Oct 14, 2016 · By analyzing aerial photographs taken between the years of 1984 and 2013, Cape Cod National Seashore plant ecologist Stephen Smith observed major changes in the ecology of local salt marshes. By comparing the images, Smith calculated that in the past thirty years 190 acres of high marsh grasses have disappeared.