Geoff Wilson and Susan Adamowicz
Figure 1. Management of salt marshes in late 1600s to 1700s. Diagram by G. Wilson.
Salt marshes have always played an important role in providing for the needs of people. Middens, fish weirs, and other archeological findings show that indigenous people benefited from salt marshes for more than 5,000 years. Once early colonists settled in New England, they used the marshes for salt hay, thereby starting an agricultural tradition that lasted for more than 300 years (Hawes 1986, Sebold 1992).
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