Our Colors are Green and Blue

Earth Day 2024 is a good time to reflect on the ways we are caring for our local environment. We want to thank our loyal supporters and volunteers for helping us accomplish so much. It is your commitment to the environment that inspires us! Thank you.

Since Earth Day last year, Salem Sound Coastwatch has made significant progress on these issues:

• • Salt Marshes. We monitored 49 acres of salt marsh to preserve this valuable resource for animals and humans. Salt marshes provide vital habitat for many species, protect shorelines from flooding and erosion, reduce wave action, and sequester approximately 1,940 pounds of carbon per acre per year.

• • Water Quality. We collected 150 water samples and tested them for bacteria from 27 sites across our watershed because what happens on the land affects the water. We share this data with our local towns to help monitor and safeguard water quality.

• • Trees. Through our work with Greening the Gateway Cities, we helped bring the number to 1,000 trees planted. Tree canopies make our community more livable, climate resilient, and beautiful.

• • Environmental Outreach. To help build a climate resilient community, we offered a combined 145 volunteer opportunities and outreach events in our watershed towns of Marblehead, Salem, Beverly, Danvers, Peabody, and Manchester.

• • Cleanups. We have collected more than 3,150 pounds of litter since Earth Day 2023, preventing it from washing into Salem Sound and becoming marine debris that degrades water quality and harms aquatic life.

Help us mark Earth Day 2024 — and all the future Earth Days — by joining us in our efforts to protect and improve the environmental quality of the Salem Sound watershed.

Are your colors Green and Blue? Please give generously today!