Maine coast heritage trust (mcht) partners closely with the gulf of maine coastal program to advance priority salt marsh restoration projects throughout the coast of maine and strengthen collaboration…

Maine coast heritage trust (mcht) partners closely with the gulf of maine coastal program to advance priority salt marsh restoration projects throughout the coast of maine and strengthen collaboration efforts with partners and private landowners. This award will further progress on priority salt marsh restoration projects by providing funding for project implementation, pre-restoration monitoring supplies, restoration designs and capacity building, as needed. Several of these priority salt marsh restoration projects are in progress and are at different stages of planning and implementation. Cousins river marsh is one of the priority marshes where marsh restoration planning is in progress and implementation will occur over the next several years. This award will support a larger effort to restore over 70 acres of marsh restoration on public and private land. This overall effort is organized by the cousins river marsh collaborative, an informal group of state, federal, municipal, non-profit, and university institutions focused on this system. This group has successfully developed permit-ready restoration design plans with expert partners, has facilitated outreach events to local communities, and is working to prioritize privately owned parcels for future outreach and potential implementation funding. Other high priority marshes in the suite of projects that mcht is actively working to restore with partners include: york river marsh (york), long marsh (harpswell), and gamble marsh (brunswick), and may utilize this funding as needed. Maine coast heritage trust will continue to work with gulf of maine coastal program to determine needs for this funding on these project sites and any new project sites that develop.