Sustainable Wetlands

Healthy wetlands are the foundation of New England’s waterfowling and a resilient coast. The New England Waterfowl Association advances “sustainable wetlands”—systems that function naturally, support people, and endure. For waterfowl, intact tidal marshes, beaver ponds, floodplain forests, and eelgrass beds provide food, cover, brood-rearing sites, and winter refuge along the Atlantic Flyway. For communities, wetlands filter pollutants, trap sediments, recharge aquifers, blunt storm surge, store carbon, and keep fisheries productive—delivering cleaner water from headwaters to harbors.

NE Waterfowl’s approach is practical and collaborative. We help towns and landowners keep fill out of floodplains, protect marsh-to-upland buffers so marshes can migrate with sea-level rise, and upgrade road-stream crossings to restore natural flow and fish passage. We support living shorelines, tide-gate modernization, and sediment management that rebuilds marsh elevation; we fight invasive plants and excess nutrients that choke creeks and kill eelgrass.

Sustainable wetlands pay dividends: stronger migrations, safer drinking water, healthier shellfish beds, reduced flood risk, and local jobs. With partners across the region, NE Waterfowl turns shared values into projects that keep wetlands working—today, and for the next generation.