Importance of Wetlands

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Importance of Wetlands

• Their Preservation

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What is a wetland?

• Marsh soft-stemmed vegetation
• Swamp woody plants
• Bog freshwater, spongy peat, evergreens, mossy
  floor
• Fen freshwater, peat-forming, covered in grass,
  reeds, and wildflowers
• www.nwi.fws.gov

3
Wetlands

• The link between the land and water
• An ecosystem characterized by
• -hydrology
• -soils
• -vegetation
• Nurseries of life

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What Wetlands do for you

• Prevent/reduce flooding
• Improve water quality
• Fishing
• Maintain biodiversity and aesthetics

• Reduce soil erosion
• Serve as ground water recharge areas
• Make wonderful outdoor classrooms!

5
Despite all of these benefits, 60,000 acres of
Wetlands are lost each year, in the US alone

• The Clean Water Act of 1972
• Goal To restore and maintain the chemical,
  physical, and biological integrity of the
  nations waters
• Support the protection and propagation of fish,
  shellfish, and wildlife and recreation in and on
  the water
• The Act does not deal with ground water or water
  quantity issues
• It employs ways to sharply reduce pollutant
  discharge, finance wastewater treatment, and
  manage runoff

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Reversing the impact of degradation

• The nation behaves well if it treats the natural
  resources as assets which it must turn over to
  the next generation increased, and not impaired,
  in value.
• -Theodore
  Roosevelt
• Wetland Mitigation
• -improvement upon wetlands that is made as
  exchange for damage done to wetlands elsewhere
• Restoration
• -returning one of the wetland characteristics to
  a drained wetland site
• Creation
• -impounding water to excavated, depressed areas
  that did not previously contain wetland soils or
  vegetation

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Mitigation

• 1980s President Bushgt no net loss
• Each developer must first obtain a permit before
  beginning construction
• no net loss policy fails
• Index of Biotic Integrity (IBI)
• Army corps of Engineersgtenforce
• Fish and Wildlife Servicegtconsultants

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REstoration

• Provides landowners an opportunity to benefit
  wildlife, themselves, and community
• -USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service
  (NRCS) Wetlands Reserve Program
• Takes place where hydric soils remain
• From 1982-1992 768,700acres of wetlands gained

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CREATION

• All 3 characteristics are missing
• Difficult, costly, and often unsuccessful
• A Success Story
• -NHC/DEM Landfill, treating leachate
• -awarded CAMA grant from NC division of Coastal
  Management
• -lowers costs, and reduces 60,000gal of
  discharge from entering Cape Fear

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You may ask yourselfHow can I help?

• EPAs wetland helpline 1-800-832-7828
• EPAs wetland homepage
• www.epa.gov/owow/wetlands
• USDAs Wetlands Reserve Program
• www.wl.fb-net.org
• May is American Wetlands Month!