This marsh is on the south end of Shepard State Park, and does not require park access to reach it.
Salt marshes are coastal wetlands common throughout the globe and visible just about any time you drive over a bridge along the coast.
They help ecosystems by improving water quality by filtering out pollution and providing a habitat for commercially and recreationally important finfish and shellfish. Additionally, waterfront property owners value the erosion control and shoreline stabilization they provide. In fact, scientists have estimated conservatively that coastal marshes provide more than $20 billion worth of shoreline stabilization and storm protection services in the United States alone.
In this area, you can see that marsh plants and grasses create a natural form of erosion control, but there is also a prominent man-made erosion control device in place here, even if it wasn't originally designed for this purpose. Man-made erosion control devices like breakwaters, seawalls, rock jetties, and other forms of bulkheads are used to control the erosion of the shoreline, and in conjunction with natural barriers, they can be quite effective at reducing erosion from wave energy.
The techniques used in living shorelines are extremely site specific, but most essentially involve the construction of a nearshore breakwater to help reduce wave energy before it hits the marsh. Depending on the site, these breakwaters can be made of temporary materials, such as biodegradable coir logs or short, board fences, or longer-term materials, such as loose stone, concrete structures or oyster shell cages. Temporary breakwaters are intended to persist long enough for plants to get established or rerooted. In higher wave energy environments, the more permanent breakwaters may be needed for sustained shoreline protection in conjunction with the shoreward salt marsh. This area has natural breakwaters in the form of barrier islands that keep large waves from reaching the shore.
In order to claim this cache, you must send me a message with the following answers. A photo taken with Ingalls Shipyard in the background (can be seen southeast of this spot)Â would be appreciated, but is not required.
1. What type of marsh is this?
2. What is the man-made erosion control device located at this spot of the marsh?
3. What material of this man-made device comes in contact with the water?
