Federally-Funded Post-Graduate Fellow to Advance Environmental Planning Efforts for Great Marsh

March 3, 1998
Contact: Anne Donovan
(617) 727-9530 x411

Massachusetts Coastal Zone Management successfully competed with other states to host a full-time post-graduate Fellow, who is funded through the national Coastal Services Center's Coastal Management Fellowship Program. The Fellow will work to coordinate the extensive efforts being conducted to develop a resource management approach for Great Marsh, which covers 25,500 acres in Essex, Gloucester, Ipswich, Newbury, Rowley, and Salisbury. The Fellow will directly benefit these communities by providing hands-on staff support to their local officials, volunteers, and nonprofit organizations that are currently working together to protect the Marsh.

"The people in the Great Marsh area clearly have the vision and the commitment to protect this tremendous environmental and recreational resource," said Peg Brady, Director of Massachusetts Coastal Zone Management (MCZM). "With the Coastal Fellow on board, the state can better support local efforts and enhance regional coordination to ensure long-term resource management for the Great Marsh."

The Great Marsh is the largest continuous stretch of salt marsh north of Long Island, New York, and includes the Parker River/Essex Bay Area of Critical Environmental Concern, which is a specially-designated area with a higher standards of environmental protection because of its significant natural resources.

MCZM competed with coastal programs throughout the country for a Coastal Services Center Fellow, who will work with both MCZM and the state's Department of Environmental Management for two years on the project. This Coastal Services Center support is equivalent to approximately a $75,000 cash award and the Fellow selected will be a top graduate in a marine policy masters program.

Specifically, the Fellow will first collect and catalogue information about natural resources, local and regional goals, and existing municipal planning approaches. This information will then be used to develop strategies and local implementation tools. In addition, an outreach program will be developed and conducted locally to increase public awareness and local support for long-term management efforts in wetland restoration, land protection, water quality improvement, and fisheries/shellfish restoration. During the project, the process will be documented as a model for other similar areas in the state and nationwide. In the final phase of the project, the model will also be applied to Rumney Marshes and refined to test how well it can be applied to urban areas.