2 CIRCULAR 520, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



It should never be forgotten that they share with man also the joy 

 of living. No man can possibly get as much pleasure from water 

 as does a porpoise or an otter. However perfect his equipment, 

 man can never be attuned to flying like the terns, the swallows, 

 and other birds whose pliant grace, in calm or storm, is marvel- 

 ous. No man can be at home in a tree like a woodpecker, which, 

 born, cradled, and housed in trees its whole life long, must feel each 

 evening when it comes for rest to its snug retreat that this tree, this 

 nest, is the best and safest place in all the world. 



That wildlife enjoys living in general as much as man, and prob- 

 ably in many ways even more, is a thought that should never be 

 entirely out of mind. Man assumes dominion over wildlife and ex- 

 ercises it as he can, but in so doing he should as far as possible in the 

 case of every creature, respect its right to existence, to its chosen 

 home, and to undisturbed enjoyment of its way of life. As has 

 been so often, but not too often, said, in following out ideas for 

 readjusting wildlife and its environment, man should do only what 

 is necessary and no more. 



THE SALT MARSHES 



Salt marshes reach their best development where the coast has long 

 been slowly sinking. Their extent indicates the degree to which 

 low-lying shores and the estuaries of streams are being "drowned." 

 It does not take a highly skilled engineer to make convincing obser- 

 vations as to the sinking of the Atlantic coast. Anyone seeing stumps 

 of trees standing well out in salt water, sometimes 10 to 15 feet 

 under low tide, knows that where they grew was once dry land and 

 that either the sea has risen or the land subsided, the latter seem- 

 ing by far the more likely supposition. Such groups of stumps 

 standing in natural position, just as they would in a clearing, may 

 be seen at numerous points along the Atlantic coast. Another evi- 

 dence of sinking is the channels of streams that extend far seaward 

 under water where they could not have been cut except when the 

 bottom in that quarter was marsh. Engineers have measured the 

 subsidence of the Atlantic coast and obtained results indicating a 

 sinking of about a foot in a hundred years. 



ZONES OF SALT-MARSH PLANTS 



This sinking is a great aid to the formation of extensive salt 

 marshes. As the ocean slowly creeps up on the land, salt water 

 kills ordinary land plants. Their place is taken by others that can 

 endure a slight quantity of salt in the soil and live through occa- 

 sional overflows of brackish water. Such plants occupy the inner 

 beach zone, further details concerning which are given later. Just 

 outside of this zone, where the soil is a little wetter and there are 

 small channels and sometimes ponds, is the marsh-hay zone. Finally, 

 where salt water stands continuously and there are large channels 

 or guts, lakes, or lagoons, comes the tall cordgrass or thatch grass. 

 Such are the chief parts and plants of the Atlantic coast salt marshes 

 (pi. 1, A). The extent of these zones depends on the flow of tide. 

 On the northern Massachusetts coast it is estimated that the verti- 

 cal scope of the zones is beach, 1 foot; marsh hay, 2 feet; and 

 cordgrass, 6 feet. 



