The South Atlantic Salt Marsh Initiative (SASMI) is a voluntary, non-regulatory partnership of individuals working together to protect and restore salt marshes across a four-state region from North Carolina to Florida. This regional initiative is coordinated by NRI’s Amanda Gobeli, who oversees federal, state, and local partner organizations and engagement for the implementation of their conservation plan. We recently sat down with Gobeli to discuss how her role within SASMI is shaping the defense against specific threats to our coastal salt marshes.

Journey to the marsh

When the opportunity to serve as the SASMI project coordinator came around, Gobeli said she was immediately drawn to the possibilities. It was her previous undergraduate work in South Carolina on water quality, and her shift to a wildlife focus in grad school (where she became a self-described “bird nerd”) studying quail species in Texas, that brought her to lead the Reversing the Quail Decline Initiative with NRI. Within that role, she gained a deeper understanding of her strengths and a passion for outreach, education, and coordinating partners to support landscape-scale initiatives.

She knew she was equipped to apply the knowledge and skills she had developed over the last decade in this new context with a diverse group of partners, all aiming for a common goal. She says the dedication and enthusiasm of the SASMI partners were more than enough to fuel her leap.

Kirby and Amanda at the Texas Chapter of the Wildlife Society Annual Meeting

A landscape-scale plan

She learned first that SASMI’s rolodex of partners is made of state and federal agency personnel, NGOs, DoD representatives, academics, and cultural and local community leaders, among others. Gobeli shared that, along with grit and perseverance, the members collectively share an ecological conviction and understanding of the importance of safeguarding the salt marsh. Logistically, SASMI's mission is to bring together these passionate partners to develop and implement the SASMI Plan, a regional approach to the protection and restoration of South Atlantic salt marsh that also benefits the people, communities, military installations, and wildlife that depend on it.

SASMI started in 2021 as an effort modeled after landscape-scale cooperatives like America’s Longleaf Restoration Initiative, led by the Southeast Regional Partnership for Planning and Sustainability (SERPPAS), and coordinated by NRI’s Addie Thornton and The Pew Charitable Trusts. These groups recognized the urgent need for a regionally focused effort to protect the South Atlantic salt marsh and began assembling partners and resources to form the SASMI Coalition, which today includes nearly 400 partners and supporters. SASMI was created for everyone on the coast and barrier islands within their geography, but the benefits of their work extend even further. Because of the role salt marshes play in mitigating the impacts of severe storms and sea level rise, SASMI’s influence extends to inland landscapes, landowners, commercial and recreational anglers, military installations, their surrounding Sentinel Landscapes, and cultural groups. The salt marsh ecosystem is a living frontline defense against erosion and the impacts of severe storms, so preserving those large, connected stretches extends the vital protection along the coast. A connected marsh is a resilient marsh, and water flow is necessary to provide essential sediment and nutrients that help keep the marsh healthy in the long term. There is strength in connectivity, as seen in the diversity of voices and experiences among SASMI partners.

Photo by Joseph Gordon of the Spartina coastline

To support the singular goal of the Initiative—to enhance the long-term abundance, health, and resilience of the approximately 1 million acres of salt marshes within the South Atlantic states to ensure no overall loss of the benefits these wetlands provide to fish, wildlife, and people—Gobeli shared that her day-to-day work is constantly varied. She explained that while she is not the ultimate subject-matter expert on salt marsh ecology and conservation, she benefits from the collective expertise of the many salt marsh specialists in the SASMI Coalition. Her role involves identifying key tasks needed to advance the mission, bringing together the individuals best suited to complete them, and providing the support they need to succeed.

Gobeli proudly praised the partners for their dedication, noting that many have full-time roles within their own organizations in addition to their voluntary work for SASMI. One challenge the group often must overcome is finding the necessary time to coordinate across so many states, organizations, and busy schedules. Thankfully, Gobeli’s educational experiences with the science side of conservation have helped her understand and appreciate the work SASMI’s partners are doing, and her training and experiences in event planning, meeting facilitation, and leadership are vital to keeping such a large organization consistent and connected.

Photo by Nancy Walters of the SASMI Partnership Council

Powerful conservation actions

SASMI partners can engage with the Initiative at many different levels. Gobeli expressed that this setup is by design, encouraging people to become involved at a level that feels sustainable. Coalition members may choose to simply stay informed through monthly newsletters and webinars, they may collaborate with other members on projects or serve on a working group, or—at the highest level of engagement—they may be asked to help direct SASMI’s efforts as a member of its leadership team.

When asked about recent success stories that illustrate SASMI’s regional conservation approach, Gobeli shared that they successfully secured a National Fish and Wildlife Federation – National Coastal Resilience Fund grant totaling more than $1.5 million. The grant includes multiple SASMI partners and aims to identify and advance planning for salt marsh conservation projects. It truly demonstrates how establishing partnerships across state lines can create landscape-scale impacts and is an effective approach for securing resources. This work demonstrates their commitment to engaging local communities in implementing the SASMI Plan and securing funding to support these efforts.

Pressures and threats to the marsh

Gobeli then explained a term heard often in salt marsh conservation, coastal squeeze, which summarizes two major threats to the ecosystem. As sea levels rise, coastal marshes are at risk of being submerged and lost to open water. Because a salt marsh is a living and dynamic landscape, it can move inland (“migrate”) over time as the sea rises, but only if it has somewhere to move to. Development pressure in the southeast is high and increasing, reducing the amount of land that could become marsh in the future. This means the marsh is under pressure on both sides, seaward and landward. These challenges are further compounded by erosion, water quality impairments, disrupted hydrology, and other threats.

Photo by Andy Johnson, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, of a mixed flock backlit by dusk sunlight

Marsh Migration

This year, SASMI released a video series produced in partnership with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology focused on the phenomenon of “marsh migration.” This concept is critically important to the work SASMI does but may not be intuitive to those outside of the organization. Safeguarding the ability of the marsh to move inland over time is essential to ensuring its future long-term, which is why so much effort and emphasis are placed on securing and preserving viable inland areas, or migration corridors.

The Marsh Migration Primer video establishes the benefits of salt marshes, what marsh migration is, and why it matters. The film series explores the implications of marsh migration for human health and happiness: a barrier island confronting sea level rise, a community center threatened by eroding shoreline, and efforts to create space and remove barriers so the marsh has a fighting chance. Gobeli shared that it was important to use videos featuring voices that illustrate how this concept affects real people and communities. The interviews with Krystal and Ami of the Seabrook Village Foundation resonated with Gobeli, as they talked about how their living shoreline project, while small in scope, has enormous significance to the community by protecting a treasured resource. Ami’s proverb, ‘little by little, a bird builds its nest,’ is a good reminder that all wins, big and small, contribute to the overall goal.

For Gobeli, the reasons partners participate in SASMI are as unique as the individuals themselves, and those different motivations mean we have many ways and many advocates to tell our story. This conservation effort speaks to the power of bringing people together over a common conservation goal—to marsh forward.

Learn more about SASMI at https://marshforward.org/.