Did you know that healthy tidal wetlands can actually help us fight climate change?
The Elkhorn Slough Tidal Wetland Project (Moss Landing, CA) received $3.9 million in federal stimulus grant funds in July of last year. The project aims to restore potentially 1000 acres of salt marsh ecosystem, an area which has been lost to unsustainable development and erosion. The project is also expected to create 132 local jobs.
Recent reports produced by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and United Nations Environment Programme find that, when healthy, saltwater marshlands are extremely effective at storing atmospheric carbon, therefore mitigating climate change.
Coastal restoration projects like this one should be supported and expanded because they create jobs, restore the environment, and counter climate change.
Image: Plovers flying above
-Steven
References:
Underwater wall may bring balance to Elkhorn Slough
http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/localnews/ci_14075938
The Management of Natural Coastal Carbon Sinks, IUCN
http://cmsdata.iucn.org/downloads/carbon_managment_report_final_printed_version_1.pdf
