US Interior Secretary Deb Haaland touts salt marsh preservation in Rye: Here's why

RYE — Snow-covered Fairhill Marsh at Odiorne Point served as the backdrop Tuesday for a member of the Biden administration touting its salt marsh preservation efforts and other conservation priorities nationwide.

U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, the country’s first Native American cabinet secretary and a former New Mexico congresswoman, visited the site alongside local and state environmental advocates. A previously announced $2 billion federal funding pool, part of President Joe Biden’s America the Beautiful Challenge, will be dedicated to projects across America centered on salt marsh preservation and eight other “keystone initiatives,” Haaland said.

When complete, leaders hope the at-risk saltmarsh sparrow, a bird found mostly in coastal marsh habitats, can return in the spring and flourish at Odiorne Point.

“Through targeted investments and local collaboration, this new salt marsh keystone initiative will help to protect the more than 44 million Americans who live on the Atlantic coast from coastal flooding, safeguard important wildlife such as the saltmarsh sparrow, and foster partnerships across federal, tribal and local governments,” Haaland said Tuesday. “I always say nature is our best ally in our fight against climate change. We have an obligation to our world, to these ecosystems, and together we can build a future in which we respect nature, restore balance to our environments and value every living creature on this planet.”

In November, the Biden administration and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation announced more than $141 million in grants for public-private conservation projects. The New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services received $2 million of those funds for three salt marsh projects, including restoration efforts at the 62-acre Fairhill Marsh, ditch remediation at the Hampton Seabrook Estuary salt marsh, and drainage at Philbrick Pond Salt Marsh in North Hampton.

Salt marshes are coastal wetlands that are flooded and drained by tidal salt water, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

“As the climate crisis threatens biodiversity, wildlife communities and their economies everywhere, investing in our landscapes and expanding nature-based solutions are critical to maintaining that connection to the land for future generations,” Haaland said.

The $2 billion dedicated to conservation projects comes from the bipartisan infrastructure law and the Inflation Reduction Act, two achievements touted by Biden’s administration.

Other keystone initiatives the Interior Department will address with the funding includes rebuilding the country’s sagebrush ecosystem lost due to wildfire, increasing drought resilience in the Klamath Basin, restoring the bison population to the grasslands, and preventing the extinction of Hawaiian Forest Birds.

“To foster resilience across coastlines and support robust economies and communities, the Department will work to restore coastal wetlands using nature-based solutions to improve coastal and estuarine habitats and increase resilience against hazards such as storm surge and sea level rise, while protecting important natural carbon storage opportunities,” the Interior Department states about its coastal resilience goals.

Haaland was joined Tuesday by Martha Williams, director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Steve Couture, administrator of the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services’ coastal program, and Jay Diener, president of the Seabrook Hampton Estuary Alliance.

Saltmarsh sparrows have declined

According to the National Audubon Society, the saltmarsh sparrow population has declined with the loss of coastal marsh systems.

“Saltmarsh sparrows nest only in the salt marshes of the Northeast and their numbers have declined, ... because of rising seas,” Williams said. “That then drowns out their chicks and their nests, so without help from our partners, the saltmarsh sparrow could face extinction. But we’re here to prevent that.”

“The proposed project will use salt marsh restoration techniques, including runnels and ditch remediation, as primary methods to preserve and restore high marsh plant communities,” Couture added.

The restoration work at Fairhill Marsh is a testament to what can be achieved when agencies and stakeholders collaborate, Williams said.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service director noted that coastal wetlands prevented an estimated $625 million in property damage on the East Coast during Hurricane Sandy in 2012.

“Conserving salt marshes is critically important to people and communities. Healthy salt marshes offer communities clean water and flood protection,” she said.

Salt marshes additionally store carbon at a rate 50 times greater than terrestrial forests, Haaland furthered.

“At the heart of this effort is collaboration and partnerships, a mandate to follow the science wherever it leads us, innovative problem solving that creates jobs and supports healthy communities,” she said of the America the Beautiful Challenge. “That is exactly what we see on display here today.”

Seventy-four grants were distributed by the Interior Department in November, totaling $141.3 million. The America the Beautiful Challenge seeks to conserve and restore 30% of America’s land and waters by 2030.

Biden cabinet members visit state ahead of NH primary

Haaland is the latest member of Biden’s cabinet to stop in New Hampshire in the weeks leading up to the state’s first-in-the-nation presidential primary on Jan. 23. The president is not on the ballot for the primary, but a write-in campaign is urging Democratic voters to support Biden.

On Monday, U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm was in Nashua and U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack visited the University of New Hampshire’s Durham campus. These Granite State appearances were preceded by numerous other administration officials last month.

Williams said while Haaland and her team’s visit “seems like sudden interest,” the local, state and federal environmental partnerships have been long standing.

“We’ve built this extraordinary relationship with the state of New Hampshire and many of the other partners that are here. That’s not new,” she said. “We just now, with this administration, have an investment that’s able to amplify those relationships that we’ve built over time.”

The visit to Fairhill Marsh was part of Haaland’s first trip of 2024.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Interior Secretary Deb Haaland touts salt marsh project in Rye NH