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What
is a Wetland?
Inland
Wetlands
Where
are all the Wetlands?
Wetlands
for the Future
People
and Wetlands
Classroom
Activities
Facts
Links
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WHY CARE
ABOUT WETLANDS?
A wetland provides
important services to our environment; and when it disappears, so
do those services. We lose vital flood protection, water cleansing,
and food. All of the animals and plants that live in that habitat
for all or part of their lives often have nowhere else to go. Frogs
have no place to mate and lay eggs; pintail ducks lose a watering
and feeding stop on their long migrations; aquatic insects die and
all the animals that eat them must find food elsewhere.
Wetlands
and the Environment
Wetlands
cover less than ten percent of the earth's surface, but are the
source of almost one-quarter of the world's productivity. For example,
saltwater wetlands provide nursery habitat for most of the fish
and shellfish that we eat. As these habitats are destroyed, the
ability of fish populations to replenish themselves is also destroyed.
What effect do you think this could have on our food supply in the
future? Wetlands are so productive because of the amount of vegetation
they contain. Abundant plants constantly photosynthesize, converting
carbon dioxide to oxygen and producing energy and food. Nutrients
produced by the plants are distributed widely through floods, storms,
and tides. And the dead and dying plants (detritus) form the base
of food webs: Protozoa, bacteria, fungi, and larvae consume the
detritus; fish, worms, birds, and insects consume the detritus-consumers;
and so on.
The dense vegetation
of wetlands create a natural water treatment system that surpasses
anything that humans have created. As water enters a wetland, it
slows. Sediment settles out and is trapped by the wetland plants
and their roots. The plants also absorb almost two-thirds of the
nitrate and phosphorous commonly carried in stormwater runoff and
floods, especially from water that has come from agricultural areas
and their heavy loads of fertilizer.
Bacteria in
the water and soil also can neutralize wastes, including the body
wastes of animals and humans. The slowed, cleansed water of a wetland
may pass into another waterway, but much of it percolates into the
ground and recharges groundwater supplies. Such supplies provide
a majority of the drinking water for many regions of the United
States. For example, one wetland in Massachusetts was found to recharge
a shallow aquifer with more than 240 million gallons per month.
In addition
to slowing and cleansing water, the wetland's dense vegetation creates
a tough buffer zone that can deflect waves and other heavy water
surges that might otherwise erode shorelines and threaten human
habitations.
Wetlands
and Our Economy
Human
engineers have built efficient wastewater treatment facilities and
constructed elaborate flood protections: projects that cost millions
of dollars. The wetlands that these structures often replace could
have done the same work for free and provided jobs and recreation
for millions of people. Just as the nutritive value expands out
from each wetland, so does its economic value.
One healthy
saltwater marsh, for example, cleans water, recharges groundwater,
nurses millions of fish and shellfish that are then caught by thousands
of commercial and recreational anglers, and consumed by millions
of people, and provides habitat for hundreds of birds, reptiles,
and amphibians that people spend millions of dollars each year to
see, photograph, and sometimes hunt.
WETLANDS
FOR PLEASURE
Wetlands
provide another important service for people: these bountiful habitats
are also popular places for recreation. For example, birders are
the fastest growing group of outdoor enthusiasts in Idaho, and they
can often be found around wetlands watching waterfowl, songbirds,
raptors, and shorebirds. Idaho's outdoor enthusiasts have good company.
People who hunt, fish, canoe, and photograph wildlife also rely
on wetlands and contributed almost $60 billion to our national economy
in one year, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Recognizing
the importance of wetlands, the federal government now promotes
a policy of "no net loss" of wetlands; federal laws back up this
policy and direct various federal agencies to consider wetlands
preservation a priority when considering approval of construction,
development, or industry. These laws are outlined in Chapter Five;
but first, read on to find out more about wetlands in general.
Now that you've
glimpsed the reasons why wetlands are so important, check out wetlands
near you - the inland wetlands.
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