How Can Tidal Forested Wetlands Help Address Climate Change?

Tidal forested wetlands, including brackish tidal swamps, are important ecological transition zones between land and sea. Influenced by tides and freshwater, these ecosystems feature woody plants that sequester “blue carbon”—carbon captured from the atmosphere and surrounding water and stored in branches, leaves, roots, and soils. In fact, tidal wetlands are among the world’s most effective natural carbon sinks, sequestering carbon at higher rates than inland terrestrial forests. They also filter water, buffer coastal communities from storms and flooding, and provide habitat for economically and ecologically important wildlife, such as fish and rare birds.

But logging, draining, and land-use conversions have contributed to a staggering 95% loss of forested wetlands in some regions of the U.S. over the past century, drastically reducing their carbon-capturing capabilities. And they are now also threatened by rising sea levels.

Join The Pew Charitable Trusts at 2 p.m. EDT on Oct. 1 for the next Blue Carbon Network webinar, where leading experts will discuss efforts to conserve and restore tidal forested wetlands. The session will highlight these ecosystems’ role as an important blue carbon habitat and nature-based strategy for adapting to climate change and will emphasize the need to conserve and restore them to maximize that potential.

Because tidal wetlands occupy the transitional place between terrestrial and marine ecosystems, managers who focus on either forests or coastal wetlands alone may overlook these habitats. This intermediary role also makes tidal forested wetlands difficult to map, which is required to measure their health and carbon sequestration abilities now and into the future. In addition, recent changes in federal wetlands regulations may leave some of these habitats vulnerable to development. The webinar will explore these and other issues with a focus on:

• Emerging science on the important role these ecosystems can play in climate change strategies.
• Key needs to better understand and map tidal forested wetlands.
• Policy and management challenges and opportunities to conserve and restore these habitats and make them more resilient to climate change.

Speakers:

• Moderator: Jazmin Dagostino, associate, The Pew Charitable Trusts
• Ken Krauss, research ecologist, U.S. Geological Survey Wetland and Aquatic Research Center
• Josh Eagle, law professor, University of South Carolina School of Law
• Michelle Moorman, field biologist, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
• Craig Sasser, refuge manager, Waccamaw National Wildlife Refuge, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Register today