A salt marsh in Lido Beach is being restored nearly seven years after it was destroyed by Superstorm Sandy.

It's Long Island's first defense against major storms and the nursery and food pantry for coastal marine life, which is why the state has given $433,000 in grant money to the Town of Hempstead to restore and preserve the salt marshes of the South Shore.

Hempstead Town officials say the project will include dredging local waterways and using clean soil to elevate and fill in areas where erosion has diminished the tidal wetlands.

Dr. James Brown, who will oversee the project, says the restoration is desperately needed. Rising sea levels and erosion caused by boat traffic is damaging the fragile ecosystem.

Marine scientists say the salt marshes at one time covered the South Shore of Long Island and reached Sunrise Highway. But over the decades, hundreds of acres were filled in to build housing developments. In the Town of Hempstead, just under 7,000 acres of tidal wetlands still exist.

The salt marsh restoration project is expected to get underway later this year.

The South Shore salt marshes are home to the diamondback terrapin and more than 280 other marine animals and shore birds.