#WetlandRestoration and Improvement Projects Receive $4.6 Million in Funding

February 09, 2026 | #Maine

AUGUSTA, Maine — "The Maine Natural Resource Conservation Program (#MNRCP) awarded over $4.6 million for 10 projects that will restore and enhance freshwater and coastal wetlands and streams, the Maine Department of Environmental Protection (#MaineDEP) announced today.

The projects awarded funding include:

- Improving degraded #SaltMarsh around the #YorkRiver
- Restoring #eelgrass in the #GreatSaltBay
- Removing dams on the #RoyalRiver in #YarmouthME and the #NezinscotRiver in #BuckfieldME
- Reconnecting a side channel and reestablishing #wetlands along the Upper #MagallowayRiver
- Expanding and enhancing the #RiparianBuffer of a brook in #WaldoboroME
- Upgrading a culvert to a bridge on a tributary to the #AroostookRiver
- Restoring and reconnecting #wetlands in #AcadiaNationalPark

"In total, $4,633,343 was awarded to restore wetlands that will improve water quality, enhance fish and wildlife habitat, and mitigate flooding impacts.

"#MNRCP is one of the most important funding sources for wetland restoration and conservation projects in the state. Since it began in 2008, the program has awarded over $36 million for 183 wetland restoration and conservation projects. Public agencies, municipalities, Tribes and nonprofit conservation organizations are all eligible to apply for funding. MNRCP funding can cover the costs of wetland consultants and engineers who support project design and implementation.

"The program provides opportunities for restoration projects that help improve a broad range of critical habitats, both inland and along Maine’s coast."

Read more:
https://www.nature.org/en-us/newsroom/mnrcp-awardees/

#SolarPunkSunday #MaineRivers #MaineWetlands #WetlandRestoration #RestoringNature #DamRemoval

Puget Sound has crabs.

An invasive species of European green crabs, “one of the world’s most harmful marine species,” has been detected in the Salish Sea. They “damage bed sediments, leading to the loss of eelgrass, an essential habitat for Dungeness crab and Pacific salmon.”

The Tulalip Tribes reported “detection of a green crab in the southern Whidbey Basin at Mission Beach” earlier this year.

Get outta here, crabbies!

#SalishSea #PugetSound #WhidbeyIsland #Swinomish #Tulalip #Washington #Crab #Crabs #Crabbing #Invasive #Invasivespecies #Dungeness #Salmon #Eelgrass

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/invasive-european-green-crabs-discovered-in-was-skagit-bay/

To learn about how to identify European green crabs and to volunteer with Molt Search, visit https://wsg.washington.edu/crabteam/moltsearch/

I was thrilled to work as an editor for the fall issue of Ecology & Action Magazine, particularly on writer Bianca Marzan's piece on EAC's pop-up bike hub. The entire magazine is beautiful and worth the read! #biking #diy #ecology #eelgrass #climate #art

https://ecologyaction.ca/sites/default/files/2025-11/MagazineFall2025.pdf

#EelGrass

"“They're a nursery habitat — a lot of young fish and crustaceans and other organisms grow up in them,” he said. “If we don't have seagrasses, we don't have bay scallops at all in these ecosystems.”

Eelgrass also protects against coastal erosion, Long said. The meadows absorb some of the energy from waves before they hit the coast, and the plants' roots help stabilize mud and sand in coastal bays. Plus, they help keep climate-changing carbon out of the atmosphere by storing it in sediment.

(. . .)

But this critical plant is in decline. If scientists can't find a way to help eelgrass flourish, the results could hurt fishermen and coastal communities."

https://www.wbur.org/news/2025/01/16/massachusetts-eelgrass-seagrass-climate-change-new-england-carbon

#Seagrass-#oyster facilitation at risk under future #ocean conditions
https://jecologyblog.com/2024/10/14/seagrass-oyster-facilitation-at-risk-under-future-ocean-conditions/

Shifting seagrass-oyster interactions alter species response to ocean #warming and #acidification: Katherine DuBois et al. https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2745.14406

"When grown in co-culture, #oysters and seagrass have may offset the negative effects of #climate related stressors on one another... Under future ocean conditions with higher temperatures & lower pH, oysters’ positive impact on #eelgrass growth disappear"

Part of the ongoing #rewilding & #nature #restoration work I do with fellow caring local #environmentalists is planting #EelGrass in areas where we are trying to bump up #ocean #oxygen levels & bring back more #biodiversity in the seas. Eel grass purposeful planting into ocean beds(with divers) & beaches at low tide is an essential part of restoring biodiversity back to human damaged areas in ocean.

#ClimateAction #VancouverIsland #Nature #Stewardship #Wsanec #Saanich #GoodNews #PacificNorthwest #PNW #VanIsle #Ecological #Ecosystems #Marine #OceanScience #naturalists #SalishSea #Aquatic #SeaPlants #botanical #Cascadia #SeaGrass