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The Wonder Of Wetlands

Wetlands provide unique opportunities for recreation, education, scientific research and personal encounters with the natural world, and for many, their beauty and intrinsic value are beyond human measure. Photo by Becky Nystrom

Wetlands are among the most complex, biodiverse and valuable ecosystems of the natural world, and include marshes, wet meadows, wooded swamps, wetland forests and bogs, as well as natural floodplains along rivers, streams, lakes and ponds. While wetlands may be described as areas where land and water meet, or where soils are saturated for extended periods, standing water may or may not always be obvious, and waterlogged soils may exist only part of the year.

Once considered wastelands, good only for draining, filling, or the dumping of hazardous wastes and garbage, wetlands today are widely recognized as vital links between the land and water, and are a priceless natural heritage legacy. Unfortunately, these special places continue to be decimated and degraded at an alarming rate. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates that in New York state, over half of our wetlands have been lost. Across the nation, more than a half-million acres per year were destroyed between the 1950s and 1970s as wetlands were drained for agriculture, housing tracts, industrial parks, roadways and shopping malls, and rivers were dredged, dammed, and dumped upon. Further degradation has occurred with the every-day deposition of silt and sediments, pesticides, fertilizers, salts, heavy metals and other pollutants from farms, lawns and other human activities. According to Ducks Unlimited, wetland losses have begun to slow, but the nation is still losing over 80,000 acres annually. This is equivalent to destroying a football field of wetlands every nine minutes — an unsustainable and devastating loss! In total, approximately 16.8 million acres of wetlands have been decimated since the mid-1950s, and more than 2 million acres of vegetated wetlands destroyed since 1986. In spite of state and federal regulation, approximately 20 percent of New York’s estimated 2.4 million acres of freshwater wetlands are currently left unprotected, with the majority of these wetlands in the Adirondacks and the lake plains of our own backyard in Western New York.

With a focus on land conservation and watershed education, the Chautauqua Watershed Conservancy has long been dedicated to preserving and enhancing the water quality, scenic beauty and ecological health of the lakes, streams, wetlands and watersheds of the Chautauqua region. To date, our organization has conserved more than 2 miles of shoreline around Chautauqua Lake and its outlet, and more than 1,000 acres of watershed lands across the Chautauqua region, including the extraordinary wetlands protected within our Prendergast Point, Whitney Bay, and Loomis Goose Creek preserves, Chautauqua Lake Outlet/Chadakoin River greenway wetlands, Sunnyside Marsh, Elm Flats, Cassadaga Fern Island, Cassadaga Creek wetlands and many more. Unfortunately, wetland losses continue in spite of our efforts. The work is urgent, and so much more remains to be done.

So why care about wetlands? Today, less than half of our nation’s original wetlands remain, and as these special places disappear, their significance and importance within the intricate web of life has become painfully clear. Serving as lush and protected nurseries for countless species of plants and animals, wetlands provide critical resting, nesting, spawning, and feeding grounds for tiny invertebrates, fish, amphibians, reptiles, aquatic mammals, and perhaps 75 percent of all North American birds. Aquatic plants and algae convert the energy of sunlight and nutrients into food for animals, and animals in turn help scatter the pollen and seeds of plants. Wetlands are home to turtles, frogs, muskrat, mink, beaver, cattail, swamp rose, waterfowl and songbirds. Damselflies and dragonflies, salamanders and snapping turtles, wetland wildflowers and weathered old trees are all woven together in an amazing web of interdependency, complexity, and connection. For many people, gifts of beauty, tranquility, and spiritual renewal are found here as well, but only IF we choose to seek them.

Wetlands provide other benefits, too. We are only now beginning to appreciate that these dynamic life-support systems regulate and recharge ground water supplies, filter out and detoxify many man-made pollutants and absorb incredible quantities of heavy metals, organic wastes and sediments. Their presence minimizes flooding and stabilizes water flow, buffers shorelines, and protects agricultural soils, reservoirs, and navigational channels by slowing water velocity and reducing erosion. Wetlands also provide unique opportunities for recreation, education, scientific research, and personal encounters with the natural world, and for many, their beauty and intrinsic value are beyond measure. Wetlands are truly wonderlands! To enjoy, protect, and restore wetlands in your community, please:

¯ Visit CWC preserves, participate in a field trip, and join our organization. For directions to our many wetland preserves, please visit our website at www.chautauquawatershed.org. Explore and learn more about these amazing places!

¯ When landscaping your property, keep wetlands in mind. Plant native grasses, trees, and gardens as buffers along any wetlands or waterway to protect and improve water quality.

¯ To reduce polluted runoff into wetlands and downstream waters, eliminate or limit the amount of fertilizers and herbicides applied to your lawn.

¯ Before altering or impacting wetlands, contact your local Soil and Water Conservation Service and NYS DEC offices for proper guidance, or contact the CWC for more information.

¯ Work with neighbors to help protect the health of a wetland near you. Help raise awareness, clean it up, keep it free of trash, and work to conserve it.

¯ Ask what your local county, town, and village governments are doing to protect wetlands in your community, and hold officials accountable.

¯ Invest in wetlands by buying duck stamps. Proceeds from these waterfowl stamps support wetland acquisition and restoration. The stamps are available on-line at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s website (www.fws.gov) or at your local post office.

Becky Nystrom is a Professor of Biology at Jamestown Community College, a long-time CWC supporter and volunteer and a founding trustee of the CWC. The Chautauqua Watershed Conservancy is a local not-for-profit organization that is dedicated to preserving and enhancing the water quality, scenic beauty and ecological health of the lakes, streams, wetlands and watersheds of the Chautauqua region. For more information, call 664-2166 or visit chautauquawatershed.org or www.facebook.com/chautauquawatershed.

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