PLANT OF THE WEEK Spartina patens Salt Grass

Patents should be in place for Spartina patens including “spartyp”.

True heroes are often ignored. Sound base planning is a good starting point for creating and restoring Salt Marshes. When well done acre per acre no common sense investment can rival this beneficent endeavor.

We all can see the oil-covered bird when the term word “oil spill” is said. What image comes to mind when you hear silt spill? I hope you understand how temporary the oil event is and how impactful the silt situation is. Silt spills are far more profound medium and long term but go largely unnoticed, yet they occur on a basis as frequent as rain events. Clean- ups are similar as to speed but dissimilar as to effectiveness by today’s protocols in the U.S., 40 years after the enactments of the Clean Water and Clean Air Acts. Exemplary of these, now purely political budget empowering alleged regulations has the credibility of the “Environmental Movement” near a new low.

Modern dredging technology can create salt marsh basis of an acre in hours instead of centuries.

Tidal coastal areas and special lake areas as well as riverfront have been the most desirable places for human growth and development. As the glaciers retreated, potable water became less of an issue in both hemispheres. Modern technology and science assures that water for consumption will never be an unsolvable problem. Life per square foot decline in our water bodies is the true underappreciated avertable crisis that needs leadership.

My hometown was named after Spartina patens. Dutch society was and is founded on their understanding of life by the sea. Sailing into my region 40 years before the British they named Greenwich for its salt marshes. Green when they arrived under the guidance of a British contract Captain this reliable source of a wide range of uses was an attention grabber. Widespread salt marshes dominated the coast. After being filled by federal, state and local governments and lack of using dredge yield for creation and enhancement their existence is at the lowest ever.

Before it was reduced to be thought of as only mulch spartyp was THE green solution to everything from milk and steak creation through the cow fodder system to pillows for man and beast. Humans and their farm animals enjoyed many a snooze on grass mattresses. Often described as the most productive habitat in North America it frequently gets pitched as so on Earth. Add in the thick Peat formed by sparty leftovers through generations and it helps us after death. “ Salt marshes are incredibly productive habitats, possibly the most productive on Earth. Periodic salt water from tides flood the marshes, sustaining micro algae, bacteria and fungi that eat the decaying plants and become a source of food for invertebrates such as snails, crabs, amphipods and pill bugs. These are eaten by a large number of forage fish during high tides. These fish then become prey for the larger fish important to fishermen, both commercial and recreational. Waterfowl, shorebirds and long-legged waders also feed on these forage fish. Mussels, oysters and clams live buried in the mud of the low marsh. Inhabiting the grasses of the marsh are various insects such as flies, grasshoppers, crickets and spiders. These provide food for various birds. Within the marsh, creeks and ditches provide habitat for crabs and the diamondback terrapin.” Long Island Sound Foundation opinion as stated above screams out for more marshes.

All marshes are not created equal, spartyp marshes can be born with distinct advantages they share with humans too. Local, State and Federal have begun to recognize policy on filling marshes by them was a cheap dumb way to please. State of Connecticut filled in the largest one in the State to pay off a donor and create a “public beach”. Sounds good, except to the regions’ largest population of waterfowl who were made homeless. Filling marshes to accommodate roadways and commuter parking in the 1950s and 1960s ended the filtration system that the railroad builders in the mid 1800s recognized and avoided. Proud critics of “government planning” now have the opportunity to act not just complain every time of a rain.

Solar orientation of estuaries is crucial to understanding them. East/West orientation is rare in both Hemispheres. Long Island Sound is well known in literature and fear sales as a liquid dump for all the humans who live in the watersheds that feed it a small portion of its cubic mass.

Glacial debris now known as Long Island creates one of the most effective barrier beaches on any planet. Water is a major player in our portion of the universe. Recent data suggests the scientific consensus that it was a fixed element has been overturned. Minims amounts do enter our atmosphere. From where is still a question. No matter, we can measure it and plan for its position. Seventeen periods of global cooling have been recorded. This current attempt at the seventeenth warming is the first to politicized. Not counting three Mini-Ice ages which were highly political, especially the one 4,000 years ago which caused the abandonment of the Pyramids this one should be the most understood.

Spartyp will get through whatever future we donate to time. Gorey or icy creating land for it is a good move. Stability of shorelines from 4 feet above mean high water to 8 feet above can work wonders for most creatures including man. Shellfish yield is one sign of beneficial productivity in human affected estuaries. Properly managed, a sparty marsh can be multiple times more productive. A sparty dredge can forever keep dredge from reverting to its current 4 letter status.  Add in the truly local nature of these efforts local attention will be the answer. Recent Federal efforts to seize control of our estuaries should be taken seriously. Warm and fuzzy marketing of “greenways” is the first blatant step. Connecticut River has provided natives, settlers and my fellow descendants a viable, charming  environment since the most recent glacial retreat thousands of years ago. Flawed Federal Funded Flood creation from roads is the problem and can be fixed one “engineered” outfall pipe at a time. Stripping of private land rights that brought our ancestors here is their method. Blaming farms, golf courses and developers for the mess is again being tried again by the fear based budget builders. With cents declining rapidly in D. C. common sense by local groups has a better chance to prevail.

Putting it all together an aspartydredge would be the best hedge bet we can make.

Look into your estuaries near you. Be they North/South oriented or any of the other 180 possibilities orientation is the first part of understanding the aspartydredge potential they hold.

Here is to a new era: Spartinapatensense.