What is SASMI?
The South Atlantic Salt Marsh Initiative (SASMI) is a regional effort and voluntary, non-regulatory partnership that brings together leaders from the Southeast Regional Partnership for Planning and Sustainability (SERPPAS), The Pew Charitable Trusts, and other local, state and federal partners, communities and nongovernmental organizations to determine the greatest threats to the salt marsh ecosystem and opportunities to ensure its survival in the four-state region from North Carolina through Brevard County in east-central Florida. This coalition effort officially launched in May 2021, and since then has brought together over 450 partners across the region.
SASMI’s goal is to enhance the long-term abundance, health and resilience of the approximately 1 million acres of salt marshes within the South Atlantic states to ensure no overall loss of the benefits these wetlands provide to fish, wildlife and people. SASMI’s pathway to the protection, restoration and migration of this great expanse of salt marsh is the SASMI Plan.
Mission
SASMI's mission is to bring together partners and stakeholders to develop and implement the SASMI Plan to the benefit of people, communities, military installations, and fish and wildlife that depend on South Atlantic salt marshes.
MARSH FORWARD: State Roadmaps are Here!
Developed through local, state, and federal collaboration by the State Implementation Teams (SITs), the roadmaps identify and prioritize the objectives, actions, areas, pathways, and partners necessary to implement the regional SASMI plan at the state level.
View the roadmaps for each SASMI state here, and learn more about this effort in this web story by The Pew Charitable Trusts.
SASMI Region
SASMI Overview Film
This short film introduces the South Atlantic Salt Marsh Initiative and explains the importance of our mission to protect and restore salt marsh. Produced by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology
News
Mangrove Presence is Associated with Lower Rates of Coastal Wetland Loss at Marsh-Mangrove Ecotone
7/5/26
Coastal wetland area has declined globally over the last century, but the magnitude of loss rates varies widely, and the drivers of spatial variability in land loss are often unclear.
Visit the SASMI News Archive
Participants Wanted: Salt Marsh Network (North Carolina)
7/1/26
Our partners at the North Carolina Coastal Federation are launching the Salt Marsh Network (SMN) and looking for members! The Salt Marsh Network is a broad, collaborative space for information-sharing, coordination, and engagement among practitioners, researchers, regulators, nonprofits, contractors, community members, students, and other partners interested in or working to protect, restore, and support the long-term resilience of North Carolina salt marshes and coastal communities.
Visit the SASMI News Archive
Marsh Modeling Community of Practice - Summer Newsletter
6/26/26
The Marsh Modeling Community of Practice has released the summer edition of their newsletter! Check it out at the link above.
Visit the SASMI News Archive
Opportunity for Comment: Commercial Leasing for Outer Continental Shelf Minerals Offshore of Virginia
6/23/26
On November 13, 2025, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) received an unsolicited request to lease hard minerals (herein “minerals”) in an area on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) offshore the Commonwealth of Virginia.
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2025 Sentinel Landscapes Accomplishment Report Released
6/9/26
The 2025 Accomplishments Report highlights significant progress across FY 2024, including more than $1.75 billion in combined Federal, state, local, and private investment to date—$368 million of which was leveraged in FY 2024 alone.
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Understanding perceptions of salt marsh in the coastal residential landscape
6/3/26
This recently published paper was the topic of this month's Coffee with SASMI! Residential landowner behaviors can influence the viability of increasingly fragmented ecosystems.
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