In Fall 2011, the American Littoral Society and the Jamaica Bay Ecowatchers kicked off the planning sessions for the first-ever, community led, salt marsh restoration project in a national park. By Summer 2013, we were ready to plant 88,000 plugs of spartina alterniflora and distribute 200 pounds of locally harvested seed. As a result, over 33 acres of fragile tidal salt marsh islands were restored in Jamaica Bay. Over 500 volunteers harvested seed, ferried volunteers in their boats and then performed large-scale plantings on Ruler's Bar and Black Wall marsh islands, resulting in significant cost savings and hands-on engagement with this vital estuarine habitat. This is community pride and conservation at its best! We will continue to monitor and maintain the islands in the years to come, along with launching new habitat restoration projects throughout Jamaica Bay.

With funding provided by the NYS DEC, the American Littoral Society launched its first-ever Restoration Corps as part of the Marsh Restoration Initiative. Restoration Corps is an environmental leadership and green jobs training program for local high school students that teaches participants to enhance and restore the natural environment through shoreline and habitat restoration. 

The Marsh Restoration Initiative is made possible through support from our partners at the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation, NYC Department of Environmental Protection, Gateway National Recreation Area, US Army Corps of Engineers and Mitsui & Co., Ltd.