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The fight to save Maryland’s salt marshes will be won in places like Irish Grove Sanctuary on the state’s Eastern Shore. Last month, I stood on a sandy road that runs through the heart of the sanctuary, from the forest edge down to the open water of the Chesapeake Bay. 

It is a postcard-worthy landscape of crabbing boats and lush marsh grass that extends to the horizon. But take a closer look, as I did with ̽����ѡ Mid-Atlantic Coastal Program Director Dave Curson, and the landscape tells a more nuanced story, one that is both troubling and hopeful. 

From my vantage point, I could see bright green meadows of healthy salt hay, also known as Spartina patens, and the tiny flags that ̽����ѡ field staff had planted to mark nearby Saltmarsh Sparrow nests. This furtive species is rapidly declining—scientists predict it could go extinct in the coming decades—and a quarter of the global population nests right here on Maryland’s Eastern Shore.

On the other side of the road, I could see where flooded marsh had visibly detioriated into shallow ponds. Without intervention, the ponds grow and convert marsh into open water.

Across the Chesapeake Bay, salt marshes are collapsing and eroding in similar fashion, battered by rising seas and land subsidence. If we do nothing, Maryland stands to lose this habitat in the coming decades.  

This is bad news for more than just birds. Marshes serve as critical nursery habitat for blue crabs, the state’s most iconic and important fishery, all while providing communities with protection from flooding and erosion. 

That is why ̽����ѡ is committed to advancing salt marsh conservation across Maryland and our hemispheric network, recognizing these ecosystems as essential habitat for birds and an important natural defense for coastal communities. Marshes also serve as one of nature's most effective carbon sinks, trapping "blue carbon" in waterlogged soils and helping to slow the impacts of climate change. 

In Maryland, ̽����ѡ’s mid-Atlantic coastal team are leading an effort to turn the tide on marsh loss through the ̽����ѡ-led Marshes for Tomorrow initiative. Working alongside many partners, ̽����ѡ scientists mapped Maryland’s remaining 172,000 acres of salt marsh, identifying the highest-quality habitat that will benefit from conservation action. As a result, we know what it will take to give this critical ecosystem a chance: the restoration of 7,000 acres of marsh over the next ten years. 

Now it is time to roll up our sleeves and do the work. We hit a significant milestone last month, when ̽����ѡ received a $13.2 million grant through a partnership with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources and its Roots for Resilience program. Total investment in Marshes for Tomorrow now tops $18 million. This is a great start, but the opportunities and the need are enormous. 

I was reminded of this during a visit with Maryland Secretary of the Environment Serena McIlwain and Department of Natural Resources Secretary Josh Kurtz. Both are deeply invested in stewarding Maryland’s natural landscapes and are vital partners in Marshes for Tomorrow.  

We all agreed that healthy marshes are critical for birds and much more. They sustain vital fisheries like the blue crab, all while supporting communities by reducing flooding, filtering pollution, sequestering carbon, and protecting homes and farmland from storm surge.  

The first Marshes for Tomorrow project will break ground at Irish Grove later this year in partnership with the landowner, the Maryland Ornithological Society. In the coming years, ̽����ѡ and partners will use different restoration techniques over many thousands of acres, from traditional approaches like sediment placement and ditch clearing to low-tech, cost-effective solutions like runneling, which involves digging shallow channels to drain water and regenerate vegetation.  

We need every tool in the toolbox, and the sooner we act, the less costly restoration becomes. 

Despite the stakes, I left Maryland’s Eastern Shore with a sense of optimism. At ̽����ѡ, we’re committed to “bending the bird curve” and reversing the decline of bird species across the hemisphere. The bold, collaborative effort underway in Maryland to save the Saltmarsh Sparrow is exactly what this looks like in action and will strengthen a marsh ecosystem that supports birds and people.