Wetlands Restoration: A Viable Military Defense Strategy?

A recent article published in April 2026 issue of Anthropocene Magazine, entitled: “Forget border walls. The new national defense could be a restored wetland” 1 makes the case for the national security benefits of marshes, mangroves and wetlands as a deterrent to invasive forces. The authors, Jelliman, Schmidt, and Chandler suggest that coastal environmental restoration not only protects against storm surges, erosion, and provides carbon sequestration, but that a “rewilded” coastline could also deliver a cost-effective national defense strategy.

In addition, the authors point out “models such as the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) demonstrate that a dual mission of civil engineering and environmental management can be effectively integrated into a military

structure.” And, military history is full of examples where a well-placed wetland, mangrove, or peat bog thwarted enemy advances. The US Department of Interior has emphasized the importance that “public lands have played in safeguarding national sovereignty.” (2)

We could learn much from nature with its built-in defensive strategies. Armadillos have an armored carapace, trees have thick bark and deep roots, the Everglades are a vast web of shifting water ways with dense impenetrable mangroves, and abundant kelp forests “create uncharted underwater obstacles” against hostile underwater incursions.

Military enthusiasts might scoff, but imagine, for a moment, the possibility of a nationwide power grid disruption rendering our air defense systems impotent, and our military deployed halfway round the world and completely preoccupied by conflicts elsewhere. Could restored and enhanced coastal zones, wetlands, and kelp forests provide a cost-effective defensive strategy, against covert surveillance by enemy submarines or invasion by amphibious landings at vulnerable coastal access points where cities and power plants hug the water’s edge?

Reading this article, I became curious about quantifying the value for environmental restoration and conservation for our national defense. California has 840 miles of coastline and if you include inlets and bays the total shoreline

grows to 3,427 miles 3. Vast kelp beds could add a layer of defense that is cost-effective and self-regenerative. Efforts being undertaken through the Climate Resilient Monterey Bay (CRMB) work include converting low-lying farmland back to wetlands, fortifying dunes along our beaches to protect infrastructure from storm surges. Could these dunes also provide protection against possible amphibious vessel surges? Would California’s southern border be better served and more cost effective managed by a nature-based solution, working with the

environment instead of against established environmental regulations?

Could economic valuation of ecosystem services formulas include a dollar value attributable to national defense, reinforcing future environmental restoration an advantageous national security strategy?

Something to think about.

1 Sam Jelliman, Brian Schmidt & Alan Chandler (07 Apr 2026): Defensive Rewilding: A Nature-Based Solution for National Security, The RUSI

Journal, DOI: 10.1080/03071847.2026.2646067 To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/03071847.2026.2646067

2 [AP News]. (2025, December 10). Trump administration adds militarized zone in California along southern US border. APNews.com.

Militarized zone: https://apnews.com/article/trump-adds-militarized-zone-border-california-b592a6a82351c4a632e861e92d71a181

3 Source: NOAA Shoreline Website at shoreline.noaa.gov, https://coast.noaa.gov/data/docs/states/shorelines.pdf

Photo Credits: Lauryn Cummins

Emily Franc, MBCAAN Coordinator | Emily@californiamsg.org | mbcaan.org