The Importance of Local Wetlands

Every year thousands of acres of wetlands are being bulldozed in order to make way for housing developments, outlet malls and roads.  In my home town of Poulsbo, Washington a ten acre wetland was paved over to make way for a highway and shopping complex.  All kinds of animals were displaced and forced to live in nearby ditches or dirty retention ponds.  It is still common to see birds of every variety hanging around the parking lot of Albertsons trying to find proper mating grounds.  There is no safe haven for ducklings to be raised anymore and they are forced to waddle across the highway in order to find a decent food supply.  In 1989 Governor Booth Gardner announced that half of the states wetlands were gone, and for every acre of wetlands that is paved over another acre of wetlands will be recreated in a different location.  He vowed that the number of wetlands would actually instead of continue to rapidly decrease.  After 21 years it is obvious that his promises have proved to be false, more and more wetlands are being filled with cement and most attempts to recreate wetlands are most often a complete failure, or nonexistent.  I for one did not see a single replacement wetland being attempted in my hometown, but did witness the destruction of several more to make room for Wall-mart, home depot and Pet-co.   Ugly retention ponds have been placed around town and it disturbs me to think that this is an acceptable replacement for miles of habitat to millions of animals such as the majestic blue heron, sandhill crane and great egret.

Most people don’t understand the profound importance that wetlands have on our planet.  The vegetation of wetlands helps anchor soils in place which prevents soil erosion which is desperately needed in a continually developing economy.  Coastline erosion is a serious threat to areas which think retention ponds are an acceptable replacement for naturally occurring wetlands.  According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), coastlines are being eroded at a rate of up to 4 feet per year.  For every foot that is lost people try to replace lost security with retention walls or other substitutions.  But there is no permanent solution because wetlands not only keep our soil from eroding from underneath of our feet, they also protect ocean waters by filtering toxins before they reach open water.  They do this by slowing water flow from the land to the sea.  When water flow is decreased, suspended particles containing toxins will drop down into the sediment layer. This action removes them from the ecosystem where they will remain inert unless the sediment layer is disturbed.  Needless to say wetlands cannot be replicated and cannot be replaced.  There have been many failed attempts and ecologists, and hopefully politicians will be forced to see the conclusion that it simply cannot be done and the destruction of wetlands has to be stopped.

-KK

Works Cited:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/hyml/localnews/2004407515_growth_wetlands15m1.html

http://www.suite101.com/content/environmental-and-economic-importance-of-coastal-wetlands-a255984