The Salt Marsh of Hilton Head

This doesn’t have anything to do with selling real estate; yet, I think it is important to understand what you are looking at in the coastal regions of Georgia and South Carolina. These two states make up for about 50% of the marsh on the East coast. At first glance it seems like you are looking at grass and mud. It looks like wasteland! But look closer!

Marshes are transitional areas between Upland and Under water lands. The areas provide food and shelter for both aquatic and terrestrial animals such as blue crabs, small fish and marsh birds. When you stand there you see hundreds of birds flying in and out of the marsh. The marsh is a highly productive system and contributes to aquatic food webs through the growth of algae and the export of waist and debris. Marshes also improve water quality and help reduce erosion. Grass roots help to improve water quality by filtering groundwater and holding sediment in place.

The marsh is a biological factory in a way. It feeds and gives shelter to young shrimp, crustaceans and fish: It has been said that up to 75 percent of commercial seafood species spend part of their lives in the marshes. The marshes do much for us, purifying sewage and generating 20 percent of the world’s oxygen.

Marshes show considerable natural elegance. Simply put, it is beautiful, and real estate with marsh view are expensive. Some of the plants that make up the marsh are Black Needle Rush, a highly adaptable short grass with sharp tube-like leaves that dominates in the bay marshes. Smooth Cordgrass, a broad-bladed plant that grows up to three-feet high, and clings to the outer, drier edges of the bay. And Ripcord, a common grass in Georgia coastal marshes, that lives only on the inner, wetter edge.

When you get close to the marsh, you smell it. That odor is anaerobic bacteria, which emits hydrogen sulfide when they digest organic material. It is possible to sink up to your knees, the firm ground is below.

All kinds of birds feed and nest in the marsh. Oysters proliferate, as do hermit crabs and periwinkle snails, which slide up and down cordgrass stalks feeding on microscopic protozoa. Stuffing themselves with nutrient-rich mud, herds of fiddler crabs race to tiny burrows if threatened, their collective stampede sounding like soda pop fizz.

So, the next time someone asks, What is the Marsh ? . . . You can answer and look like you are a regular native here!