EDGE of the EARTH

Salt marshes and the wildlife that inhabit them have inspired painters for centuries.

- JOHN O'HERN

Salt marshes form in sheltered areas of the shore J where sediments can be deposited and replenished by the tides. Salt resistant grasses, herbs and shrubs bind the material together.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration NOAA) describes their importance: These intertidal habitats are essential for healthy fisheries, coastlines and communities—and they are an integral part of our economy and culture. They also provide essential food, refuge or nursery habitat for more than 75 percent of fisheries species, including shrimp, blue crab and many finfish. Salt marshes also protect shorelines from erosion by buffering wave action and trapping sediments.”

Cold Brook flowed through the salt marsh behind my family home. The Wampanoag called it Satuit, a name that eventually morphed into Scituate, Massachusetts. The town has many marshes from the tiny bit behind our home to vast stretches along the North River, a 12-mile tidal river that is the boundary between Scituate and Marshfield near its mouth, and the upstream towns of Norwell, Pembroke and Hanover. When my parents acquired our home which was built in 1833), no longer did legal deeds for acres of salt marsh along the North River came with it.

The salt marshes were valuable property from the time of the first settlers in the early 17" century.