Here at the New England Wildflower Society, our goal for the next six months is to assist in preparing for restoration of salt marshes in New England, many of which have been degraded by natural disasters, such as Hurricane Sandy, as well as human activity. Since this project is the first of its kind for SOS on the East Coast and most of the land east of the Mississippi is not owned by the federal government, we have spent much of our time over the past week contacting landowners, state governments, universities, tribal groups, and watershed associations in order to obtain permission to survey sites for potential seed collection and restoration. Since associations between these groups and government agencies that provide them grant money are often complex and convoluted, it has lately been a little difficult to contact the right people who can grant us the necessary permissions. Nonetheless, we persevered, and we managed to visit three wildlife refuges in Rhode Island this week to scout for potential seed collection and restoration: Chafee and Satchuet on 6/10, and Ninigret on 6/12.

Common reed (Phragmites australis)

Blue iris (Iris versicolor)

White waterlily (Nymphaea odorata)

Oxeye daisy (Leucanthemum vulgare)

All three of these refuges featured a typical marsh ecosystem, with the cordgrasses Spartina alterniflora, Spartina patens and the rush Juncus gerardii dominating, with smaller amounts of the small succulent Salicornia and assorted sedges of the Carex genus, all of which we hope to collect from for Seeds of Success.  However, all the marshes also seemed to be significantly disturbed, especially by boating traffic.  And all three were plagued with nasty infestations of an invasive strain of the weedy reed species Phragmites australis.  On higher ground we saw a bit more floral diversity, including meadows of the daisy Leucanthemum vulgare and thickets of shadbush, Amelanchier.  Looks like we have our work cut out for us — but we’re excited to start!

James