Ecosystem restoration
Saltmarsh Project
Thirteen partners and six artists working for over three years to survey, restore and communicate saltmarsh life along the Dart Estuary. Sharing river knowledge, finding paths to understanding and action for communities of interest along the way.
Helping to protect this vital ecosystem and carbon store
You might be surprised to hear that saltmarshes absorb and lock away more carbon than equivalent areas of any type of forest. And yet more than 85% of England’s saltmarsh has been lost in recent centuries to development and changing land use, and more is at risk through rising sea levels and climate change.
Muddy, grey and brown in the winter, the Dart's saltmarshes often go unnoticed. But they are fragile and sensitive communities full of flowering plants and creatures despite being regularly flooded by the saltwater tides. Saltmarsh plants grow along the upper shorelines of the estuary—a surprisingly harsh habitat. They absorb tidal and wave energy and help prevent flooding. They regulate water quality by absorbing excess phosphates and nitrates in river water as well as salt from the incoming tides. They are important places for wading birds to breed, spend the winter and stop off during migration. Saltmarshes are essential.
Every part of a river, like every part of our body, has a role to play in keeping us healthy. And as with the human body, what we put into it finds its way downstream, washes up on shore and then out to the sea.
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Described as 'what happens when BLC steps in', BLC's role in The Saltmarsh Project demonstrates what bioregioning looks like on the ground: ecologically and socially important, inviting, visible, ambitious, with long-term commitment.
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