On a summer morning along Delaware Bay, the scene can be deceiving. At high tide, cordgrass sways and egrets stalk the shallows. But as the water recedes, the truth emerges: broad stretches of bare mudflats, pools choked with algae, and subsided marsh that can no longer keep pace with the ebb and flow of the tides.

This isn’t just a natural cycle. It’s the legacy of centuries of human use. As early as 1675, salt marshes along New Jersey’s Delaware Bay shore were impounded to harvest salt hay — a crop valued for bedding and livestock feed. Farmers built dikes and dug extensive ditch networks to drain marshes and make them more “productive.”

See Full Page