Botanical Survey of Musquash Marsh
Background
The Musquash Estuary, located in southwest New Brunswick, contains a mix of intertidal saltmarsh habitat, some of which has been sequestered from tidal influence by dykes for more than half a century. An area of previously dyked agricultural land adjacent to Highway 1 (Fig. 1.1) represents an opportunity for restoration of a saltmarsh habitat under controlled and monitored conditions that will help understand the successional processes involved in salt marsh restoration. A preliminary botanical survey of the existing agricultural dykeland and salt marsh in the area was conducted by Acadia University personnel in 2003 (Newell, 2003) to document the vegetation present prior to the initiation of the restoration process. A more comprehensive survey was carried out during the late summer of 2004 with the following primary objectives:
(1) to establish permanent plots in the marshland habitats present at the unaltered salt marsh and the flooded agricultural dykeland,
(2) to characterise these plots in terms of: plant species and composition, seasonal biomass production, soil characteristics and elevation*, and
(3) to establish a protocol for future annual monitoring based upon Neckles et al. (2002).
* The soil characteristics and elevation studies are being carried out by Dr. Jeff Ollerhead of Mount Alison University.