Habitat Restoration & Protection Database

As a part of Silver Sands State Park, the Great Creek tidal marsh system is connected to one of the state's busiest beach parks. With a large and very attractive beach nearby, this area quickly became developed with a dense concentration of summer cottages, nearly a century ago. Much of the development was on low-lying areas, and some areas of tidal marsh along the southern edge were filled for development. The tidal connection between the marsh and Long Island Sound was almost completely severed in order to prevent flooding of the developed areas bordering the marsh, which gradually led to a very dense Phragmites infestation in this large tidal marsh system. Restoration of this site was very high on the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection's (DEEP) priority list. An ecologically important part of the Long Island Sound Estuary, the project area houses up to 20% of Connecticut’s wintering population of waterfowl, and the largest concentration of migratory shorebirds in the state.