Wetlands
By GreenWorks Assistant Producer, Dave Beste
 etlands are not all soggy,
gushy, and mosquito infested.
They are not all useless pieces of real estate just begging
to become a parking lot, highway, or a department store. Wetlands
are actually unique, diminishing, and very local.
 
here are two types of wetlands: coastal and inland. They are
generally described as marshes, bogs, or swamps. Each type
may have varying characteristics depending upon the region.
Some wetlands may, in fact, seem quite far from even being
"wet". These are actually seasonal wetlands that
follow a delicate cycle in order to maintain the native plants
and wildlife that call it home. An overwhelming majority of
wetlands in the continental United States are fresh water.
In fact, there are slightly more than twenty times more freshwater
wetlands than saltwater wetlands.
he function
of wetlands is multi-layered. Because of its amazing ability
to hold large amounts of water, the soil is able to support
plant and animal life that could exist under no other circumstances.
Not only does a wetland possess unique inhabitants, but it
is also instrumental in protecting nearby human inhabitants.
Wetlands, such as those that cradle the coast of Louisiana,
are wonderful barriers. During huge storms, such as hurricanes,
the heavily saturated wetland soils greatly reduce the size
of the waves hitting the coast. Without wetlands acting as
a buffer, there is serious threat of heavy damage being done
to the mainland.
e are losing
our wetlands. The wetland total in the continental United
States during the Colonial Era approached 220 million acres.
Since that time the total acreage of wetlands in the present
day is less than half that, at 105.5 million acres. The major
cause of this loss, unfortunately, is due to progress and
urbanization. What we would normally accept as a common convenience,
such as a paved highway or interstate that crosses a wetland
instead of going around it, can drastically change the environment.
An impervious surface, a road or a parking lot for example,
prevents water from entering the soil. And as water runs off
of the impervious surface it takes with it debris, pesticides,
fertilizers, road salts and other foreign agents into the
wetlands and eventually will bring about an unnatural change
to these sensitive environments. Pollutants exist not only
in the water, but also in the air falling onto plants, often
suffocating them.
astewater,
such as storm water and sewer water is also filtered into
wetlands. These polluted waters have a destabilizing affect
on the fragile eco-system. Once introduced, these pollutants
can produce harmful algal blooms or raise the water temperature
within the wetland. Both of these results can have deadly
consequences for wetland inhabitants because both deplete
oxygen levels in the water, robbing fish and other wildlife
of their life-sustaining nutrients.
he original
loss of wetlands was blamed mainly on agriculture. And although
farmers are no longer permitted to convert wetlands into agriculture
or farmlands, a large part of the damage has already been
done. Years of irrigation, pesticide and fertilizer use, animal
waste and grazing, and the building of dams and levees has
greatly changed the water quality and ability to sustain life
of many wetlands.
  et
another threat to this precious resource has been our need
to control our waterways. Levees have been built to divert
waterways and control their direction, keeping water from
ever getting to a quickly drying up wetland. For instance,
in the 1960's the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers constructed
canals throughout Louisiana to make it easier and quicker
for ships to transport goods up the Mississippi River. The
results have been disastrous, as the banks of the canals have
helped only to erode wetlands at a furious pace. Today, Louisiana
loses the equivalent of one football field of wetland habitat
each day. Similarly, California and Iowa have lost nearly
ninety-nine percent of their original wetlands. And twenty-two
states have lost at least fifty percent of the original wetlands.
he contributions
of levees, canals, and urbanization in Louisiana alone have
all aided in the loss of “between 25 and 30 square miles of
marsh and swamp a year, 80 percent of total annual wetlands
loss nationwide." It has been, in a large part, a direct result
of human interference that has caused the depletion of these
important wetlands. A growing population has placed an impossible
demand on the soil that it lives on.
he problem
that has been created has been recognized. Plans to stop wetland
erosion andloss have begun and progress has been made. But
the fact still remains that as a nation we are losing our
wetlands at an alarming rate.
  t
is human meddling and manipulation that has created this enormous
problem. But hopefully it will be human intervention that
will help to create a wetland resurgence. The levees that
have denied floodwaters from reaching thirsty wetlands for
years are now having holes strategically placed in them to
direct the water towards the needed area. In man-made canals
tiny islands are beginning to surface and change is being
made.
 s usual,
change has come only when society begins to pay the price
for it's lack of foresight. The neglect of wetlands has now
forced communities in many places to consider how they can
rectify the problem and maintain their homes. The answer is
not easy, but it is imaginable. By caring and preserving our
wetlands the answers will eventually unfold.
References and Links:
EPA
Office of Water
National
Wetlands Research Center
Information
on Wetlands
Coastal
Louisiana
California
Wetlands
Pennsylvania
Wetlands
National
Wildlife Federation- Wetlands
America's Vanishing Treasure Video
produced by Barataria
Terrebonne National Estuary Program
National Wildlife Magazine: Swamping Louisiana
Laura Tangley; April/ May 2002
See past topics of National Watersheds here!
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