Salt Marsh Restoration on Barren Island in Chesapeake Bay

The National Aquarium in Baltimore is working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Maryland Conservation Corps, the Friends of Blackwater and community volunteers to restore 10 acres of salt marsh in the northern and central portions of Barren Island. Not only was the project site planted with over 302,000 native marsh grasses, dredge material was put to beneficial use in augmenting and stabilizing the island’s eroding shoreline. Post-planting observations have shown that sediment is accreting at the site and that the newly created habitat is nurturing several species of birds, fish and invertebrates.