Working with Emerald Tutu and Northeastern University Hughes Lab, Youth Climate Corps fellows built “crescent-shaped marsh starter modules” — prototypes for nature-based infrastructure — and set them up on the coastline of East Boston.
Emerald Tutu is on a mission to create nature-based infrastructure on urban coastlines.
The coastline of East Boston used to be surrounded by coastal marshes that filtered nutrients and pollution from the water, protected communities from rising sea level and harsh storms. However, by centuries of industrialization, the marshes were destroyed.
Emerald Tutu wants to restore these marshes by “engineering with nature” – creating hybrid human-natural systems that enable marshes to establish on urban coasts.
Currently, Youth Climate Corps fellows are helping to build “crescent-shaped marsh starter modules”. These modules are built with biomass (phragmites — an invasive wetland grass — to be precise), staked out along the coastline, and will become hosts for salt marsh grass to grow.
To build the modules, the fellows worked at a site in East Boston to harvest phragmites straws, tie them into a tube shape, bend the tube, and combine multiple tubes to create the crescent shape.
Then during an afternoon with low-tide, the fellows set the modules up by staking them on the shore.
Last week, the fellows put out 5 modules in total. They also planted spartina (a type of salt marsh grass) in between the structures.
The fellows were so proud to see the modules they made being set out on the coastline, and learned so much about engineering for coastal resiliency!
