Wetlands is a collective term encompassing marshes, swamps, and bogs found within the landscape depressions of otherwise flat vegetated areas. Wetlands can be found in almost every climate condition – and in nearly every county – throughout the United States. A wetland may even exist in your very own neighborhood!
Wetlands are not always easy to identify because they are so varied.
Atlantic coastal wetland.
Riparian wetland.
Other wetland.
Some wetlands are continuously wet.
And some wetlands are periodically dry.
And some wetlands emerge overnight after it rains 18” in three hours while your husband snores through the epic thunder and your Great Dane cowers while your teenage son leaves the car windows open.
Some wetlands exist naturally, while others are altered by activities such as farming or ranching – or by a fastidious bastard named Joe who ran his industrial leaf blower from March through December and illegally built a house directly in your backyard – a house that is a full three feet higher than the allowed elevation according to the We Hate Joe Water Run-Off Guidelines.
Wetlands should be revered because they improve water quality while reducing flood and storm damage.
Wetlands also sustain important fish and wildlife habitats, such as these drowned earthworms.
So support your local Wetlands – they are natural wonders of great value.
Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Wetlands and More. Totally.
Chuckles says
February 2, 2007 at 4:27 pmYou need to divert that wetland into someone else’s yard and give them the gift that keeps on giving.
Or turn that corner of your yard into a pond. Not that it isn’t already.