Promoting erosion, loss of (State 3) saltmarsh to create open mudflats

This restoration route will only normally be taken where there is a rapid and extensive colonisation of tidal mudflats by vigorous saltmarsh grasses, which in the UK and Europe principally involves the hybrid grass Spartina anglica. Control is usually deemed to be necessary where the invading plants cause a significant reduction in the areas of tidal flats and hence their availability to wildfowl and waders. There are a number of areas where control has been undertaken in the past to reverse the accretionary phase State 3 to State 2. Factors such as, the apparently natural 'die-back' and a reappraisal of the role of Spartina in the 'natural' succession has raised questions over this form of restoration (see Chapter 6, Doody 2001).

Comment: Spartina control continues to take place at a few sites in the UK though today the concern for control is much less than it has been in the past. It does remain a significant issue in the USA including areas such as San Francisco Bay.

References

Doody, J.P. 2001. Coastal Conservation and Management: an Ecological Perspective. Kluwer, Academic Publishers, Boston, USA, 306 pp. Conservation Biology Series, 13