Community-Based Approaches to Restoration of Coastal Habitats: Living Shorelines

As seasoned restoration practitioners know, community buy-in and involvement is critical to successful on-the-ground conservation. To date, the Southeast Aquatic Resources Partnership (SARP) has administered and supported a variety of unique community-based coastal restoration projects in the Southeast through its Aquatic Habitat Restoration Program. Several projects have included the bank and shoreline stabilization technique known as “living shorelines”. Living shoreline projects use a variety of structural and organic materials, such as oysters and marsh grasses, and provide excellent opportunities for hands-on volunteer involvement by people of all ages and a variety of backgrounds. Ecologically, these projects are reducing bank erosion and property loss, improving marine habitat and spawning areas for fish and other wildlife, improving water quality and clarity, providing an attractive natural appearance, and creating recreational use areas. Socially, the projects are serving as a valuable means of successfully engaging, educating and involving a broad range of local community members and groups in coastal restoration efforts. Economically, volunteer labor is crucial to the execution of these projects. SARP will share the stories of living shoreline projects implemented by partners along the South Atlantic Coast that are innovative and successful, both in terms of their techniques and community involvement strategies.