Introduction
Wetlands can be considered the vital link between water and land. The term “wetlands” is actually a collective term for marshes, swamps, bogs, and similar areas found in generally flat vegetated areas, in depressions in the landscape, and between dry land and water along the edges of streams, rivers, lakes, and coastlines. Wetlands can be found in nearly every county and climatic zone in the United States.
Because they are so varied, wetlands can be difficult to recognize. Some are wet all of the time; some may look completely dry most of the time. Our ideas of what a wetland should look like may not include all types of wetlands. Some wetlands are large and some are very small. Many have been altered by human activities such as farming, ranching, and the building of roads, dams, and towns.
Wetlands have often been regarded as wastelands– sources of mosquitoes, flies, unpleasant odors, and disease. People thought of wetlands as places to avoid or, better yet, eliminate. Largely because of this negative view, more than half of America’s original wetlands have been destroyed– drained and converted to farmland, filled for housing developments and industrial facilities, or used to dispose of household and industrial waste
Based on research of books written by those who have studied the problem of wetland destruction thoroughly, this report examines (a) the different types of wetlands, (b) the benefits these wetlands offer to the environment and the people around them, and (c) the problems that have arisen through the drainage or other such destruction of these wetlands.
This report covers four major topics: how the term “wetlands” is divided into several sub-classifications, how both the environment and humans alike benefit from wetlands, how America’s wetlands have been systematically destroyed, and how the future of America’s wetlands can be preserved.
Collected Data
Types of Wetlands
Wetlands are characterized as areas that are inundated or saturated by water at a frequency and duration sufficient to support a prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions (Niering, 11). Wetlands generally include swamps, marshes, bogs, and similar areas.
Bogs (See Figure 1 on next page)
Lakes that have relatively steep banks and poor drainage often become bogs. Most bogs are recognized by their dense cover of knee-high evergreen shrubs, growing in a moist light green mass known as sphagnum. If there is open water, the moss and shrubs often form a floating mat that may accumulate up to forty feet. Beneath this mat, there is usually a deep accumulation of partly decomposed vegetation, also known as peat. Most bogs occur primarily in formerly glaciated areas of the Northeastern and North central United States and often develop in deep glacial lakes (Niering, 22).
Marshes (See Figure 2)
Marshes are formed from shallow ponds and backwaters of river margins. As a pond fills in, the vegetation slowly converges on the remaining open water. Water lilies choke the water surface, and bulrushes, sedges, and other emergents reach steadily inward from the edge of the pond. As the pond becomes increasingly shallow, pond life disappears, and marsh life moves in. Depending on where they form, marshes can be either salt-water or fresh water. Salt marshes occur along the coasts near river mouths, on broad coastal plains, and around protected lagoons. Coastal fresh marshes are located directly inland from salt marshes where the salinity is usually low (Niering, 44).
Figure 2 Atlantic coastal marsh. (Source: http://www.aquatic.uoguelph.ca/wetlands/chintro.htm)
Figure 1 Bog. (Source: Microsoft Clipart Expansion Pack)
Swamps
A swamp is basically a wetland covered with trees. As the water level diminishes out of a marsh, one set of plants and animals is replaced by another, and the scenery changes as a swamp is born. If the water level rises again, possibly due to beaver dams or rises in sea level, the trees die because they cannot tolerate the high water level. The swamp then becomes a marsh once more (Niering, 49).
Other Types of Wetlands
There are a few names given to bogs, swamps, or marshes that are more definitive. A wetland that tends to fill up in spring and dry up in summer is called a vernal pool. A forested wetland (swamp) that covers and extensive floodplain is referred to as a forested floodplain wetland. Pocosins are basically bogs that are characterized by the overabundant growth of shrubs. A few other names given to wetlands are tideflats, sea grass meadows, and mangrove swamps.
Benefits of Wetlands
Habitats for Birds and other Wildlife
Up to one-half of North American bird species nest, feed, or rest in wetlands. Evidence of the importance of this is reflected in the finding that, as our wetlands have been destroyed, the continental duck breeding population has fallen from 45 million to 31 million birds, a decline of 31 percent (Simmons, 25). Also, nearly half of all federally threatened and endangered species rely on wetlands. A majority of fish and many species of amphibians, insects and plants are wetland dependent. In dry climates, the value of wetlands to birds and other wildlife is magnified. For example, in the Rocky Mountains, wetlands occupy only one percent of the landscape but support 81 percent of the area’s migratory bird populations (Disilvestro, 61-62).
Clean Water
Wetlands are vital to cleansing the nation’s water, trapping sediment and capturing nutrients from waters that flow through them. Wetlands save communities millions of dollars every year that otherwise would be spent on drinking water treatment plants. For example, if the wetlands of the Congaree bottomland hardwood swamp in South Carolina were destroyed, the cost to the community to install a water treatment plant would be $5 million (Middleton, 166).
Flood Prevention
By soaking up and storing storm water, wetlands help prevent flooding, and this saves families and communities from tragedy and great expense. In a 1983 study, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers found that protecting wetlands along the Charles river near Boston resulted in annual savings of $17 million in flood damage prevented (Kadlec, 382).
Fisheries and Jobs
Fishing is big business and is the economic engine for many communities. All species of freshwater fish depend on wetlands either directly for food, habitat or breeding, or indirectly by consuming prey that are wetland dependent. Seventy-five percent of all commercial marine fish and shellfish depend on wetlands. Sport and commercial fishing pumps about $152 billion annually into local communities, providing two million jobs (Middleton, 231-232).
Tourism
In 1991, more than 24 million Americans reported they traveled to watch birds. Bird watching and hunting now generate over $19 billion and 220,000 jobs annually. In 1985, five birding festivals were held in the U.S., and, in 1997, more than 60. In Grand Island, Nebraska, the annual Sand Hill Crane festival brings in tourists who give a $40 million boost to the economy (Middleton, 233).
Destruction of Wetlands
In the United States, where wetlands are very largely concentrated in the eastern part of the country, with major areas around the Great Lakes, on the lower reaches of the Mississippi River, and on the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Seaboard south of the Chesapeake Bay, about half of the pre-settlement wetlands had been lost by 1975. Agriculture has been the major beneficiary from the drainage operations, while urban and suburban developments, dredging, and mining account for the rest (Middleton, 167). (See Figure 3)
Figure 3 Depiction of wetland acreage lost
Before any European settlers set foot upon the soil of North America, there were approximately 200 million acres of wetlands. The primary destruction of much of those wetlands can be explained away as ignorance as to the benefits of such areas. Still, despite their now well-understood importance to ecosystem health, wildlife, families, and communities, wetlands continue to be destroyed at an alarming rate–over 100,000 acres per year in watersheds across the country (Disilvestro, 181).
Many states have lost a high percentage of their wetlands due to government projects. For example, Mississippi has lost most of its wetlands to do drainage by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Most of these projects involve such draining in order to gain more land for agricultural production. However, private companies are responsible for a lot of the damage too. Oil companies have damaged many acres of Louisiana’s wetlands by building canals for their barges. These canals, however, often ruin freshwater marshes by allowing sea water to flow inland.
As wetlands are destroyed, so too are vital natural habitats for many species of songbirds, fish, and other birds and wildlife being destroyed. As these species and their insect-based food chain disappear, whole ecosystems are disrupted. These changes impoverish our lives and our children’s futures (Simmons, 74).
Even so, despite multiple agencies put in place by the U.S. federal government, most importantly the EPA, acres upon acres of wetlands are being destroyed every year. Such careless destruction of such important ecosystems will never cease until people are made fully aware of the dangers that they are imposing upon the environment when they destroy these wetlands.
Means Being Employed to Preserve the Wetlands
Watershed Approach
A watershed, also called a drainage basin, is the area in which all water, sediments, and dissolved material flow or drain from the land into a common river, lake, ocean, or other body of water. A watershed-based approach to water and wetlands protection considers the whole system, including other resource management programs that address land, air, and water, to successfully manage problems for a given aquatic resource (Kadlec, 241). The watershed approach thus includes not only the water resource, but also the surrounding land from which the water drains.
Along these lines, the EPA is currently:
*Developing guidance linking wetlands protection programs to watershed planning efforts
*Funding state watershed projects through State Wetland Protection Grants
*Integrating a watershed approach into federal floodplain management activities
*Supporting a series of national and regional meetings on wetlands and regional watershed planning (Kadlec, 242)
Water Quality Standards
Water quality standards are an effective tool available to states to protect the overall health of their wetlands resources and the valuable functions they provide. These standards, enforced by the EPA, include designated uses, criteria, and an antidegredation policy (Kadlec, 251).
Financial Assistance
Since 1990, the State/Tribal/Local Grant Program has supported state, tribal, and local efforts to protect wetlands by providing funds to enhance existing programs or develop new programs (Simmons, 103). Other programs that do the same thing are the Five Star Restoration Grant and the State Revolving Fund.
With the help of monetary supplements from both federal and private organizations, states and local communities have been able to make at least some headway in setting up protection plans for the wetlands in their communities. However, due to the high level of regulation, many of these funds are extremely hard to obtain (Kadlec, 272).
Restoration
Wetland restoration is an essential tool in the campaign to protect, improve, and increase wetlands. Wetlands that have been filled and drained retain their characteristic soil and hydrology, allowing their natural functions to be reclaimed. Restoration is a complex process that requires planning, implementation, monitoring, and management. It involves renewing natural and historical wetlands that have been lost or degraded and reclaiming their functions and values as vital ecosystems (Kadlec, 281).
Restoration guiding principles include but are not limited to:
*Preserving and protecting aquatic resources
*Restoring ecological integrity
*Restoring natural function
*Addressing ongoing causes of degradation
*Anticipating future changes
*Using natural fixes where possible
Conclusion
Summary of Findings
There are several types of wetlands; the most numerous being bogs, marshes, and swamps, each one having its own unique characteristics that influence its classification. The benefits that wetlands have upon the environment and people around them include habitats for birds and other wildlife, clean water, flood prevention, fisheries and jobs, and tourism.
There has been serious destruction to the U.S. wetlands since the arrival of European settlers. Since their arrival, approximately half of the 200 million acres once present in the U.S. have been destroyed due to drainage for agricultural purposes, urban and suburban development, and mining. Despite EPA controls and regulations, an estimated 100,000 acres of wetlands are still lost annually in the U.S.
Though the findings may change as the EPAis given more control and more funding to prevent wetland loss, the fact still remains that so much of our wetlands have already been destroyed. The EPA’s attempts at restoration, whether successful or not, have shown that such projects cost much more money than is put into the program on a regular basis.
Recommendations
The fact that the EPA is only one organization, no matter how many people it employs, is an important fact to remember when considering what can be done to help the wetland situation. The methods the EPA uses to attempt to stop, and even reverse, the process of the destruction of wetlands are often quite successful whenever put into use. However, considering that the EPA is a federal program, one must recognize the time and money that such attempts cost.
Despite the facts that so much wetland soil has been lost and that restoration of wetlands that have already been destroyed is so costly, there are still steps that people living around wetlands can take to attempt to ensure the survival of the wetlands for future generations:
*People living around wetland areas should be made aware of the benefits of wetlands and the ways they are being destroyed.
*Projects started by communities to protect wetlands should be able to gain federal monetary assistance more easily.
*The federal government should appropriate more funds to the EPA.
*Businesses should not be allowed to sacrifice wetlands for better productivity, whether there are endangered species there or not.
*EPA regulations should remain as strict, yet should proceed more quickly in order to keep farmers, businesses, etc. from moving ahead with or without authorization.
As we hope for better methods to be incorporated in conserving our remaining wetlands, we should do our best to do whatever we can, by learning all we can about wetland preservation, to make sure our future generations are able to enjoy the benefits of the beautiful wetlands that are part of the U.S. ecosystem.
Works Cited
Disilvestro, Roger L. The Endangered Kingdom. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1989.
Kadlec, Robert H. and Robert L. Knight. Treatment Wetlands. Boca Raton: CRC, 1996.
Middleton, Nick. The Global Casino. London: Arnold, 1995.
Niering, William A. The Life of the Marsh. New York: McGraw, 1966.
Simmons, Randy T. Endangered Species. San Diego: Greenhaven, 2002.
