Blue Carbon in the Comox Valley: The Benefits of Eelgrass and Salt Marsh Restoration in Coastal Communities
Presentation Abstract
The restoration of eelgrass and salt marsh habitats in areas where they formerly existed is widely recognized as a valuable activity due to their importance as habitat for estuarine inhabitants and for foreshore resilience. These restoration activities can also play a role in sequestering carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and putting it into long-term storage. Blue Carbon, where aquatic plants act to store carbon in the sediments below the plants, is another benefit to eelgrass and salt marsh rehabilitation. The Comox Valley Project Watershed Society (CVPW) formed a team of professional and volunteer members to develop a protocol to measure the amount of carbon permanently sequestered by eelgrass and salt marsh, while at the same time restoring habitat that had been lost due to urbanization. If habitat restoration efforts could be credited toward mitigating climate change by sequestering carbon, it may be possible to monetize further habitat restoration.
This project is partially funded by Commission for Environmental Cooperation. Sediment cores of eelgrass and saltmarsh habitats were analyzed for C/N content and sedimentation rate was calculated using 210-Pb radiocarbon dating. Seagrass meadows in the Pacific Northwest are dominated by a single species, Zostera marina. Preliminary results suggest these seagrass meadows sequester less carbon than reported in the literature for tropical seagrass meadows.
Session Title
Bringing Communities Together to Embark on Major Estuarine Restoration
Conference Track
Protection, Remediation and Restoration
Conference Name
Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference (2016 : Vancouver, B.C.)
Document Type
Event
Start Date
2016 12:00 AM
End Date
2016 12:00 AM
Location
2016SSEC
Type of Presentation
Poster
Genre/Form
conference proceedings; presentations (communicative events)
Contributing Repository
Digital content made available by University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University.
Subjects – Topical (LCSH)
Seagrasses--Northwest , Pacific; Wetland conservation--Northwest, Pacific; Salt marsh ecology--Northwest, Pacific
Geographic Coverage
Salish Sea (B.C. and Wash.); Northwest, Pacific
Rights
This resource is displayed for educational purposes only and may be subject to U.S. and international copyright laws. For more information about rights or obtaining copies of this resource, please contact University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA 98225-9103, USA (360-650-7534; heritage.resources@wwu.edu) and refer to the collection name and identifier. Any materials cited must be attributed to the Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference Records, University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University.
Type
Text
Language
English
Format
application/pdf
Blue Carbon in the Comox Valley: The Benefits of Eelgrass and Salt Marsh Restoration in Coastal Communities
2016SSEC
The restoration of eelgrass and salt marsh habitats in areas where they formerly existed is widely recognized as a valuable activity due to their importance as habitat for estuarine inhabitants and for foreshore resilience. These restoration activities can also play a role in sequestering carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and putting it into long-term storage. Blue Carbon, where aquatic plants act to store carbon in the sediments below the plants, is another benefit to eelgrass and salt marsh rehabilitation. The Comox Valley Project Watershed Society (CVPW) formed a team of professional and volunteer members to develop a protocol to measure the amount of carbon permanently sequestered by eelgrass and salt marsh, while at the same time restoring habitat that had been lost due to urbanization. If habitat restoration efforts could be credited toward mitigating climate change by sequestering carbon, it may be possible to monetize further habitat restoration.
This project is partially funded by Commission for Environmental Cooperation. Sediment cores of eelgrass and saltmarsh habitats were analyzed for C/N content and sedimentation rate was calculated using 210-Pb radiocarbon dating. Seagrass meadows in the Pacific Northwest are dominated by a single species, Zostera marina. Preliminary results suggest these seagrass meadows sequester less carbon than reported in the literature for tropical seagrass meadows.
