WETLANDS, MARSHES AND SWAMPS
Many people have a negative, even a scary view of wetlands. Perhaps in the back of their minds, they have been influenced by movies that show convicts escaping into swamps. They may think of the mosquitoes that most certainly will be there if we venture into them in the summer. Others may consider their apparent lack of economic value. However, wetlands, the term which covers all kinds of places where you will get your feet wet if you walk in them, have a value, even an economic value, far beyond the popular ideas about them.
Acre for acre there is more wildlife in a healthy wetland there is in almost any other kind of habitat. They support huge numbers of insects, fish, birds, reptiles, amphibians and other animals.
The shallow water and grasses of a wetlands make an ideal nursery for many animals. Mink, muskrats and otter use the cover of rushes. sedges and cattails to raise their young. Ducks and geese use the grasses and other plants as a place to hide their young as well as for food. Red-winged blackbirds build their nests on cattails. Pickerel and bass are just two of the fish which use the weedy plants found underwater as a place to lay their eggs.
Shallow ponds that form temporarily and wet woodlands are homes to green frogs, American toads and salamanders. These places are essential for their breeding cycles. Salamanders live underground and are not easily seen except in the early spring when they travel a distance as far as two football fields to find wetlands in which to mate and lay their eggs.
If you visit a wetland in spring or fall, chances are good that you will see many different kinds of migrating birds. They rest and eat there before continuing their journey.
Most wetlands belong in three general categories. Marshes are associated with lakes. In Ohio, some of these lakes were scooped out by the glacier l3,000 years ago. Their water remains cold year round. Around their edges are typically cattails, arrowheads, bulrushes and pickerel weed. They may have large beds of floating plants such as water lilies and duckweed.
Other wet areas are associated with rivers and streams. Some spring wildflowers that prefer wet habitats are jack in the pulpit, showy lady’s slipper, trilliums, marigolds, Dutchman’s breeches, wild phlox, wild iris, trout lily and skunk cabbage. Finally, there more shallow areas such as marshes and woodland swamps inland from rivers which have many of the same wildflowers.
In addition to the interest that the diversity of life in a wetland excites, there are many other reasons to preserve and restore wetlands. They serve as flood-busters absorbing large volumes of water, like a sponge. They act like giant shallow bowls, holding water until it percolates into the ground and recharges ground water supplies.
They act as nature’s pollution control devices. Wetlands remove fertilizers, pesticides, bacteria and other impurities from surface water. They are a highly efficient, low cost alternative for sewage and animal waste treatment.
Wetlands filter and collect sediment from runoff water, helping prevent mud and silt from clogging lakes and reservoirs downstream. Along streams, rivers, and adjacent flood plains, wetlands help slow the movement of water downstream, reducing soil erosion.
Finally, wetlands provide outdoor recreation opportunities for hunters, trappers, fishermen and women, and bird watchers.
More than half of the nation’s original wetlands have been drained and converted to agricultural land or filled for industrial, commercial or residential development. Closer home, Ohio has lost ninety percent of its original wetlands. Ohio is second only to California in wetland loss in this country.
Fortunately, many people like Jean Knoblaugh, the subject of last week’s article, are working to prevent further loss of wetlands by donating wetlands to the Ohio Division of Wildlife. Other organizations like Ducks Unlimited and the Isaac Walton League are cooperating with the Ohio Division to restore wetlands. The Duck Stamp and Ohio Wetlands Habitat Stamps help provide money for their efforts.
A Caterpillar D-6H bulldozer, named “the Blue Goose” has been purchased for the Division of Wildlife by Ducks Unlimited for their joint projects to enhance areas for waterfowl nesting. Magee Marsh in Ottawa County, Metzer Marsh Wildlife Area in Lucas county, Pickerel Creek Wildlife Area in Sandusky and Pipe Creek Wildlife Area are examples of restorations using the Blue Goose near our area.
Area residents who would like advice about managing wetlands on their property can write the Division of Wildlife at 1840 Belcher Drive, Columbus, Ohio 43224-1329 or call Jim Davis (448-0059) at the District Office in Tiffin.
-- Mary