Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection

Researchers took advantage of Great Meadows Marsh's altered state to test a new restoration technique benefitting saltmarsh sparrows. Their gamble paid off for the birds, as well as the state-endangered marsh pink plant. The local community has also embraced the changes.

Once big enough to fit 1,400 football fields and seasonal home to Indigenous peoples, Great Meadows Marsh has been through a lot in the last four centuries. Now half the size and ailing from historical efforts to drain and fill it, as well as invasion by nonnative plants, the Stratford, Connecticut...

The first-ever “Salt Marsh Steward” program at Great Meadows Marsh in Stratford, Connecticut, employed 12 students from nearby high schools during Spring 2022. In a mutually beneficial arrangement, students worked part-time replanting portions of the marsh that had been excavated and graded as...

Saltmarsh sparrows are among the species most imperiled by climate change, especially as sea level rise degrades their marsh home. But, as researchers track changes in the marsh in order to protect the birds, the birds are also teaching researchers about how to bolster the entire marsh system from...