Natural history: The importance of saltgrass to marshes

If you walk along the edge of one of the small tidal marshes bordering Drayton Harbor or Birch Bay, you will likely spot a short grass species called saltgrass (scientific name: Distichlis spicata). 

This grass has a unique growth pattern with its stiff leaves spreading laterally in a symmetrical pattern. It is one of the first grasses I learned to identify when I did a high school science project on a salt marsh in Narragansett, Rhode Island. 

Saltgrass is a wide-ranging coastal marsh species that can be found in such varied places as Maine, Florida and Washington. In addition, it grows in inland saline areas such as the fringe of Great Salt Lake, Utah. Salt glands on the leaves of this plant expell salt, allowing saltgrass to utilize salty water.

Among its benefits, saltgrass serves as food for ducks and geese. It also has an intricate network of underground stems (rhizomes) and roots that helps prevent coastal erosion by holding the marsh soil in place. Like other marsh plants, saltgrass decays after the growing season and the plant remains are carried into the estuary by the tides. These particles contain nutrients that are an important food source for clams, crabs and fish. 

Jonathan Hall resides in Birch Bay. He is a retired biologist who has worked in many regions of the U.S. while employed with the State of New York, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, several environmental consulting firms and the Tulalip Tribes of Washington.