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Mosquito control, shoreline stabilization, ditching and invasive
species have led to huge losses in tidal marsh habitat.
The Landowner Incentive Program is helping private landowners restore their
tidal marshes in several projects around the Chesapeake Bay: in Talbot County, LIP is funding the restoration of 50 acres of wetlands
previously drained for agriculture. in Calvert County, LIP is funding the removal of invasive Phragmites reeds along the Patuxent River to open up habitat for sensitive joint-vetch, an
endangered plant that grows in river marshes. |
Maryland's tidal marshes are home to an astonishing number of plants, animals
and fish. Breeding bird species like saltmarsh sharp-tailed sparrow, coastal
plain swamp sparrow, and sedge wren depend on them. So do fish like the spotfin
killifish, which is a species in trouble due to the loss of submerged aquatic
vegetation.