The New England coastline has many faces, from the rocky slabs on Schoodic Point in Maine to the cascading sand dunes at the Cape Cod National Seashore. One of the coastal resources with which virtually all New Englanders are familiar, however, is salt marshes. Every coastal New England state is blessed with these resource areas. Some are high marshes that are flooded by salt water only infrequently at maximum high tides; others are low marshes that are flooded on every tidal cycle. These marshes are comprised of a variety of rugged marsh grasses and plants that are adapted to this complex environment, as well as mud flats that form below the lowest grasses and can only be seen at the lowest tides.

We say New England is “blessed” with these resources because marshes have been critical to human activities from the earliest days of human presence in New England. In pre-colonial days, Native Americans hunted on the marshes for birds, clams and fish, and the early European settlers harvested salt marsh grasses for hay and took advantage of tidal cycles to set up fishing traps that caught the then-abundant variety of coastal marine fish. Later settlers discovered that these marsh areas could be diked to create valuable upland farmland, a good thing for the struggling farmers but a significant ecological loss to New England.

A salt marsh in Sandwich, MA. Salt marshes perform a number of critical functions for our environment. (CLF photo)

These salt marshes, you see, perform a number of critical functions in our environment. They are essential habitat for a diverse number of resident and migratory birds and juvenile marine fish; they protect the uplands from ocean storms, reducing storm surges and mitigating the power of ocean waves; and they filter the water running off the land and remove sediments and pollution before that run-off reaches the sea. They are also a fundamental part of our New England landscape, as any review of New England art will reveal.

To make way for agriculture, housing, marine commerce, and major urban centers like Boston, Portsmouth, and Portland, thousands of acres of coastal wetlands were filled. Fairly reliable estimates are that the Gulf of Maine, for example, has lost roughly half of its original inventory of rich salt marshes. With sea level rise a certainty in the coming decades, increasing numbers of people will begin to understand the protective role that these marshes once played.

It is not too late to restore some of this lost natural heritage. CLF and other conservation groups around the country formed Restore America’s Estuaries (RAE) in 1996. RAE’s mission is to restore one million acres of wetlands, and we are well on our way. Each year, CLF places more than $100,000 with municipalities and citizen groups to pay for the costs of wetland restoration.  These projects remove dams and dikes and eliminate tidal restrictions, such as highway culverts, that choke many marsh systems of the salt water tidal flows that they need to survive. Through this work, we are making important strides.

On September 24^th, the nation is celebrating National Estuaries Day. We ask you to celebrate it with us: take a walk in an estuary (and pick up any trash that you see), go to your library and read Life and Death of the Salt Marsh—a natural history classic written by CLF Board member Dr. John Teal – join an Audubon Society in your state, visit CLF’s estuaries website page to learn about CLF’s restoration projects and support our work, teach your children about salt marshes, or just spend a sunrise looking out at the ocean over a marsh. New England is blessed by our salt marshes; take some time on September 24th to discover why.

To learn more about National Estuaries Day, visit the RAE National Estuaries Day website. To learn more about CLF’s work with RAE, click here.

On Monday, June 27, the National Ocean Council (NOC) held a listening session in Exeter, NH for New Englanders to learn about and comment on the NOC’s Strategic Action Plans to achieve the nine priority objectives of the National Ocean Policy (NOP). Panels of speakers from diverse backgrounds and organizations, including the NOC, discussed the strategic action plans . However, it was a listening session, and many panelists urged that their intent was not to lecture, but to listen.

Panelists (including our own Sean Cosgrove) at the listening session. (CLF Photo)

Members of an assembled panel and most public comments held great support for the National Ocean Policy and urged its implementation. It’s not lost on ocean users that ecosystem-based management (EBM) and coastal and marine spatial planning (CMSP) are the foundation of the NOP and have overarching effects and influence over the other seven objectives. While discussing EBM, several speakers voiced the importance of focusing on the health of our oceans, making the case that all other objectives of the NOP could be achieved as long as the ultimate goal was a healthy ocean, which would result in both economic and environmental benefits.

Concern for stakeholder engagement was a common theme, with many noting the lack of representation of specific interest groups. Many stressed that an informed and engaged public  and communication and collaboration among a diverse array of interest groups and governmental bodies were vital to the NOP’s success. These are all points on which we certainly agree.

The event provided an opportunity for the public to voice opinions on the National Ocean Policy. (CLF Photo)

New England is already a national leader in ocean planning, and has many organizations, institutions and policies already in place to assist in the creation of New England’s regional ocean plan. We recognize the necessity of a national, comprehensive policy, but also the importance of recognizing the differences between regions and using different approaches to solve region-specific needs. Without a doubt, New England should be a priority region for the implementation of the National Ocean Policy.

Public speakers also stressed the fundamental need for fiscal resources to implement the plan. CLF’s Sean Cosgrove highlighted the need to recognize the Gulf of Maine as a nationally significant water body in the NOP and various action plans. He urged specific recognition to be written into the policy – an idea that was reiterated throughout the public comments. (Watch the video here.)

Most notably, the importance of swift and steady implementation of the NOP was of primary concern. The public didn’t want another “plan to plan.”  With ocean conservation a time-sensitive area of strong interest, constituents demanded a plan to act.

Do you love the Earth? Fantastic concerts? Free stuff? Learning about the awesome work of your friendly neighborhood environmental non-profits? No matter what you and your family are into, celebrate it with CLF at EarthFest this Saturday, May 21, at the Hatch Shell in Boston. This annual event, presented courtesy of Radio 92.9, features hundreds of environmentally-friendly vendors and sponsors along with local non-profits doing green work in your community. And if that’s not enough rockstars for you, stick around for a stellar lineup featuring Atomic Tom, Sponge, LIVE’s Ed Kowalczyk and Ok Go, among other acts of musical greatness.

So tomorrow, come out and show your support for CLF and New England’s environment! Stop by our booth for environmentally-themed games, prizes and more. We’ll be strategically located between Lovin Spoonfuls and Boston Harbor Alliance in the non-profit exhibitor area between the Main Events area and the Vendor Cafe. We’ll see you there!

Let’s review:

Radio 92.9 EarthFest
Saturday, May 21
10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Hatch Shell, Boston, MA

In honor of the 41st anniversary of Earth Day, CLF Board members from across New England have banded together to make an extraordinary $41,000 investment in CLF’s – and our region’s – future. Every new or increased gift you make now through Earth Day – April 22– can be matched, dollar-for-dollar, up to $41,000.

Your gift today will go toward solving the region’s toughest environmental problems, and help us ensure a healthy, thriving New England for generations to come. From Maine to Rhode Island, CLF stands up for your favorite places, for the health of your families and your communities, and for the prosperity of our region. Since the last Earth Day, we:

• Cleaned up the air in Somerset, MA by closing the doors on an old, polluting coal plant
• Won tougher standards for phosphorus pollution in Lake Champlain, VT
• Preserved the fragile ecosystem of Great Salt Pond on Block Island, RI
• Saved Mainers millions of dollars on electricity infrastructure
• Helped NH cities and towns save energy and money by increasing energy efficiency

As Earth Day approaches, we are reminded that around the world and right here in New England, our land, our oceans and our air are in peril. On the heels of the 2010 elections, many in the new Congress are pursuing a clear anti-environment agenda, one that cuts directly to the core of the most fundamental protections for our health, safety and well-being. With leadership in Washington sorely lacking, CLF is uniquely poised to take the reins in protecting New England.

Today, we are asking you to help us continue our progress by taking part in our Earth Day Challenge. Your commitment enables CLF to safeguard our oceans, clean up our lakes, rivers and forests, promote clean energy innovations and build healthy, livable communities. We hope you will take part in our Earth Day Challenge by making a donation today to help CLF protect our small but mighty corner of the world.

Larry King gets a shocker when guest star, Sarah Palin, makes an intelligent and logical pitch for mass transit in Maine!

Bottom line: If you don’t want to listen to us, at least listen to Sarah. The ZOOM proposal would expand mass transit between Maine’s largest cities, increasing the current service between Portland and Biddeford and Saco and adding routes between Portland and Lewiston/Auburn and Augusta–and with full buses and park-and-ride facilities at capacity, it’s a service that Maine commuters desperately need. The proposed bill, introduced in January, would increase commuter transit options, reduce household expenditures on gasoline and diesel, increase employment opportunities and productivity and reduce government expenditures.

Want to know more? Now’s the perfect time to get on board. Speak out in support of the ZOOM bill at a public hearing this Tuesday, March 22 at 1 p.m. at the State House in Augusta. Prior to the hearing, CLF and the Maine Alliance for Sustainable Transportation (MAST) will host a press conference beginning at noon in the same location. It’s the perfect chance to learn more, get your questions answered and hear straight from the bill’s co-sponsors why they think the ZOOM proposal is essential to Maine’s development. Details at www.clf.org/events.

ZOOM Press Conference
Tuesday March 22 at 12 p.m.
Welcome Center at the State House, Augusta, ME (map)

CLF and the Maine Alliance for Sustainable Transportation (MAST) will be hosting a press conference on the new bill to expand the ZOOM commuter bus service between Portland and York County and add new service between Portland and Lewiston and Auburn and between Portland and Augusta to keep up with rising demand.

Those in attendance will include Jane West, CLF staff attorney and steering committee member of MAST; Representatives Bradley Moulton (R-York) and Ben Chipman (I-Portland), both sponsors of the bill; Nicola Wells, communications director and organizer at the Maine League of Young Voters and steering committee member of MAST; and Christian MilNeil, citizen activist. Read the full media alert >

Learn more about ZOOM

Power Hour discussion and feedback
Wednesday, February 23
7 p.m.
Two Echo Common House (at the end of Echo Rd.)
Brunswick, ME (directions)

Have an idea that you think will reduce energy use, costs, and greenhouse gas emissions in Cumberland County? Share it at tonight’s Power Hour discussion and feedback session, facilitated by CLF Maine Staff Attorney Jane West in coalition with the Brunswick Permaculture Group and Transition Greater Brunswick.

The ideas gathered from this and future Power Hours will form the foundation of a Cumberland County energy and climate plan, which will inform the ways in which municipalities, their communities and the private sector conserve, generate, use and diversify energy in the County. It will focus on priority measures to reduce energy, greenhouse gas emissions and costs 17 percent by 2017.

The event is open to the public. Cost is $2/person. More details >

Please Join CLF and our many organizational partners, including VPIRG, VNRC, VT League of Conservation Voters, Democracy for America, and Toxics Action Center, at the Vermont Environmental Action 2010 Conference.

What: Environmental Action is the largest grassroots activism conference in the state of Vermont. The conference provides an excellent opportunity for environmentalists, community leaders, and local activists to come together, learn from experts, and network with one another. This year the conference will have 26 workshops on a wide range of environmental issues and organizing skills from Using Free Internet Tools for Online Organizing to How to Bring Solar to Your Community.

Where: Vermont Technical College, Randolph, VT

When: 8:30-5:30

You can register online here.

If you come, please drop by my workshop at 3:15

Millions of music fans the world over cheered last year’s news that the band Phish was getting back together and heading on the road for another one of their epic tours.  CLF was cheering too.

For close to a decade, Phish’s charity–the Waterwheel Foundation (and check them out on Facebook)–has been a strong supporter of CLF’s work to clean up New England’s waters.  Phish has focused much of the giving on CLF’s Lake Champlain Lakekeeper initiative.  With strong Vermont roots, the band clearly understands how important protecting and restoring New England’s “Great Lake” is to the state’s overall environmental health.  And the band also understands how important a group like CLF is when it comes to championing that cause.

Waterwheel raises money to support groups like CLF in two ways.

• the band has donated royalties it gets from the sale of Ben & Jerry’s Phish Food Ice Cream.  That’s right, “Phish Food” no longer needs to be a guilty pleasure for you.  Next time you house a whole pint in one sitting, just remember that you are doing your part to help the environment
• the band also invites groups like CLF to work its Waterwheel Merchandise tables at its different shows.  The proceeds from sales of exclusive Phish merchandise, including rare autographed posters, and organic tee shirts and hoodies, go to support the charities who work the tables.

CLF is honored to have been invited to work a table again on this year’s tour.  This Tuesday evening, we’ll be at the Comcast Center Show in Mansfield, MA. Happily for Phish, the show is sold out.  If you are one of the lucky ones with a ticket, please consider dropping by the Waterwheel table at the venue to say hi to me and the other CLF volunteers who are teaming up with Waterwheel to support CLF’s work on behalf of New England’s clean water, clean air, healthy forests, oceans, and communities.