What is Open Marsh Water Management?
In a nutshell, Open Marsh Water Management is a technique, which provides a greater access to the salt marsh for small fish, which eat mosquito larvae breeding on the marsh. This greatly reduces the need for mosquito spraying in the immediate neighborhood. The work also reverses some of the changes that were done to the marsh when it was originally ditched. OMWM also prevents the encroachment of invasive plants and provides better habitat for waterfowl and other birds. Open Marsh Water Management, was developed in New Jersey in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s and has been conducted in other parts of the eastern seaboard, but has never been implemented in Norfolk County. How will OMWM affect the salt marsh? In the 1930’s, during the depression, the government put many people to work in programs designed to increase employment. One of the jobs created was ditch digging in salt marshes. Over 90% of all east coast salt marshes were ditched. This ditching was originally designed to elimina
