Maryland Released New Tool for Marsh Restoration
The Marsh Resilience Portfolio now provides state managers with data to prioritize coastal protection and habitat restoration.
Updated on Oct. 12, 2026 in Geography
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The Maryland Department of Natural Resources has released the Marsh Resilience Portfolio, a new tool within the Maryland Coastal Atlas. This system evaluates marsh health to guide restoration efforts across the state's 282,000 acres of Chesapeake Bay tidal wetlands.
Why it matters
The tool enables land managers to target protection efforts for marshes that provide essential wave attenuation and flood mitigation for coastal communities. It arrives as the state faces accelerating erosion and sea-level rise risks.
The tool integrates US Geological Survey spatial datasets and NOAA-funded wave attenuation data to assess site-specific marsh health. It improves upon the 2016 Marsh Protection Potential Index by providing more granular recommendations based on current marsh elevation and vegetation.
The players
Maryland Department of Natural Resources
The state agency responsible for managing Maryland's natural resources and implementing coastal resilience strategies.
US Geological Survey
A federal science agency providing the spatial datasets that power the state's new marsh mapping tool.
The details
The Marsh Resilience Portfolio utilizes spatial data to analyze how specific marsh habitats mitigate wave energy, a process known as wave attenuation. By examining elevation and vegetation characteristics, the tool identifies which marshes are best suited for living shorelines, which are natural coastal defense structures. These metrics help managers prioritize areas like Dorchester and Somerset counties, where high-value wetlands face intense impacts from erosion.
Timeline
The original Marsh Protection Potential Index was released in 2016.
The Marsh Resilience Portfolio was officially released on October 12, 2026.
The Tech Race
The new tool replaces the 2016 Marsh Protection Potential Index, marking a shift toward more integrated spatial modeling for coastal resilience. It updates the state's management capabilities by centralizing diverse datasets into a single decision-support interface.
Users can access the tool immediately through the Map layers button within the online portal. It serves as a resource for land managers and developers identifying sites for living shoreline installations and coastal risk mitigation.
The takeaway
This tool centralizes complex coastal data to provide actionable site-level management recommendations. Watch for how the state adjusts its restoration budget allocations in the coming fiscal cycles based on the health rankings generated by this portfolio.
What happens next
The Department of Natural Resources will utilize the data provided by the portfolio to inform future funding decisions for state-led marsh restoration projects.
Further reading
Learn more about the state's landscape through the Geography section.
More information
Access the full interface and layers via the Maryland Coastal Atlas mapping tool.
Source note: This article includes information reported by The Bay Net.
Live Poll
Should your community prioritize wetland and marsh restoration to reduce the risk of coastal flooding?
