Constructed Salt Marshes Provide Important Services in New York City

There is great interest in restoring and/or creating ecosystems to provide a wide range of services to society, ranging from better water and air quality to recreational and aesthetic opportunities. Wetlands have been successfully created and restored for multiple purposes, but little work has been done in ultra‐urban environments with high pollutant loads, high demand for ecosystem services, and limited space.

A group of researchers from New York evaluated denitrification, an important water quality maintenance function, in four constructed salt marshes and a series of wetland habitat basins in Newtown Creek, an urban Superfund site in New York City. The marsh habitats were created through a unique collaboration among LaGuardia Community College of the City University of New York, the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, and the Newtown Creek Alliance.

The team’s results suggest that constructed wetlands can support wetland vegetation, soils, and microbial life and contribute to nitrogen removal under ultra‐urban conditions. These wetlands also provide aesthetic and recreational ecosystem services and strengthen communities by facilitating new partnerships among diverse municipal, academic, and community groups.