Scientist Eric Mill’s assessment of Sand Dollar Beach Wetlands
I can weigh in on the status of the Sand Dollar Beach salt marsh.
There is no question that this "wetland" is a salt marsh. Its vegetation is a typical mix of salt marsh grass species, including at least two species of the salt marsh cord grass, Spartina, plus other grasses (Juncus spp.) that occur in all Nova Scotian salt marshes, along with salt marsh goldenrod and other species.
The marsh includes mud flats populated by a mixture of invertebrate animal species (polychaete worms, clams, crustaceans) that typically occur in all salt marsh flat areas. And the marsh itself owes its existence to a dune system (just inside the beach) that is consolidated by marram grass, itself very sensitive to disturbance.
The major breeding bird species in the salt marsh inside Sand Dollar Beach is Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrow. I estimate that there may be a dozen breeding pairs there, of a total of only a very few hundred pairs along the whole South Shore of Nova Scotia. There is some concern that this species is under threat in the whole area, so the breeding pairs in the Sand Dollar Beach salt marsh make up a significant fraction of a threatened species.
Of equal importance is the role of the marsh in providing food for migrating shorebirds. A variety of plover and sandpiper species (I can provide a list if it's needed; James Hirtle has a more detailed one) use the marsh area for feeding especially during the fall migration, August through November. These species are putting on weight for a very lengthy migratory flight from Nova Scotia to the southern USA and in many cased to South America. Feeding adequately and without disturbance is crucial to their survival. The Sand Dollar Beach flats are among the most productive and important in Lunenburg County.
Eric Mills teaches topics in the history of Marine and Canadian Sciences in the History of Science and Technology Programme at King's College. He is also Professor Emeritus in the Dalhousie Department of Oceanography where he has taught biological oceanography and benthic ecology since 1967. Dr. Mills completed his PhD in Biology at Yale in 1964 after receiving his BSc at Carleton and his MS at Yale. He has 40 years as a marine ecologist and biological oceanographer, and is familiar with the plants, and especially the animals, of coastal salt marsh habitats in Nova Scotia and along the northeast coast of North America.