Wetlands
Facts
Identification
Observations
Did you know?
 In the 1600s, an estimated 200 M acres of wetland
existed in 48 states, by the mid 1970s only 99 M acres
remain
 Two states in EPA Region 7 have lost more than 80%
of their wetlands
 About 96% of commercially important species of fish
depend on wetlands to live
 About 80% of America's breeding birds rely on
wetlands
Did you know? (continued)
 About 50% of the federal endangered animal species
depend on wetlands for survival
 Many species of frogs, toads and salamanders
depend entirely on seasonal wetlands for survival
 A study by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers found
that protection of 8,400 acres of wetlands would
prevent $17,000,000 of flooding damages
 Between one-half and two-thirds of America's wild
ducks are hatched in prairie pothole marshes
A Wetland walk-about at the Jacobsburg’s
Environmental Education Center
Bill Sweeney
Environmental
Educator
Bill prepares the class for
a wetland walk-about.
“WETLANDS”?
Wetlands is the collective term for marshes, swamps,
bogs, and similar areas. Wetlands are found in flat
vegetated areas, in depressions on the landscape, and
between water and dry land along the edges of
streams, rivers, lakes, and coastlines. Wetland areas
can be found in nearly every county and climatic zone
in the United States. Inland wetlands receive water
from precipitation, ground water and/or surface water.
Coastal and estuarine wetlands receive water from
precipitation, surface water, tides, and/or ground
water. Surface water sources include runoff and
stormwater.
Vernal Pool
Wetlands “Values”:
 may derive outputs that can be consumed directly,
such as food, recreation, or timber;
 indirect uses which arise from the functions
occurring within the ecosystem, such as water
quality, and flood control;
 possible future direct outputs or indirect uses
such as biodiversity or conserved habitats;
 and from the knowledge that such habitats or
species exist (known as existence value)
(Serageldin 1993).
General Definition of Wetlands
In general, wetlands are defined as lands on which water
covers the soil or is present either at or near the surface of the
soil or within the root zone, all year or for varying periods of
time during the year, including during the growing season. The
recurrent or prolonged presence of water (hydrology) at or
near the soil surface is the dominant factor determining the
nature of soil development and the types of plant and animal
communities living in the soil and on its surface. Wetlands can
be identified by the presence of those plants (hydrophytes)
that are adapted to life in the soils that form under flooded or
saturated conditions (hydric soils) characteristic of wetlands
(NAS 1995; Mitsch and Gosselink 1993). There also are
wetlands that lack hydric soils and hydrophytic vegetation, but
support other organisms indicative of recurrent saturation
(NAS 1995).
The federal regulations implementing
Section 404 of the Clean Water Act
define wetlands as:
Those areas that are:
a) inundated or saturated by surface or ground
water (hydrology) at a frequency and duration
sufficient to support, and that under normal
circumstances do support,
b) a prevalence of vegetation (hydrophytes)
typically adapted for life in
c) saturated soil conditions (hydric soils).
Plants commonly found in Wetlands
Referred to as “Obligate” wetland plants
Skunk Cabbage
Horsetail
Sphagnum Moss
Cattails
Plants commonly found in Wetlands (Continued)
Jewel weed
Swamp Buttercup
Plants sometime found in Wetlands
Referred to as “facultative” wetland plants
Jack in the Pulpit
May Apple
Invasive Wetland Plants
(i.e. occurring after settlement of Europeans)
Purple Loosestrife
(late spring)
Garlic Mustard
Purple Loosestrife
(early spring)
Trees commonly found in Wetlands
Black Willow
Sycamore
Red Maple
Green Ash
Shrubs commonly found in Wetlands
Dogwood Bushes
Spice Bushes
Visual Indicators of Wetlands
a) Standing Water
c) Hydric Soil (clay like)
b) Hydrophytes Present
Benefits of Wetlands are:
their ability to cleanse both surface and groundwater,
either by filtering surface water as it percolates
through wetland soils or by removing particulate
material;
Processes include:
i) the movement of water through the wetland into streams
or the ocean;
ii) the decay of organic matter; the release of nitrogen,
sulfur, and carbon into the atmosphere;
iii)the removal of nutrients, sediment and organic matter
from water moving into the wetland;
iv)and the growth and development of all the organisms
that require wetlands for life.
Contaminated surface-water runoff can pollute
groundwater and surface-water
1) Oil and gas in water
from a parking lot
4) Concentrated
organics from feedlots
3) Acid mine
drainage
2) Silt and clays from
building projects
5) Excess nutrients
from lawns
Engineering Solutions
Incorporating Wetlands
(1)
Wetlands bordering highways and
large parking areas can help to
breakdown contaminates before they
enter a surface water or groundwater
system.
Establishing vegetative buffers on
surrounding uplands can reduce the
movement of sediment and soluble
and sediment-attached substances
carried by runoff.
(2)
Engineering Solutions Incorporating
Wetlands (Continued)
(3)
Stalactite and stalagmites of
melanterite, an iron sulfate
mineral, containing zinc and
copper. pH of drip water was 0.7. Beaker is 2 liters.
beaker
Wetlands can act to buffer (neutralize) acid
present in mine drainage
Engineering Solutions Incorporating
Wetlands (Continued)
(4)
Wetlands, properly placed can
serve as a natural wastewater
treatment plant
(5)
Heavy nutrient laden runoff can be
easily assimilated into a wetland
environment
Other Benefits of Wetlands
1) reducing the effects of flooding by
storing stormwater and gradually
returning it to the surface flow, and
reducing the effects of erosion by
stabilizing soils and dampening
the effects of wave action;
2) Serve as critical feeding
grounds and nurseries for a
variety of fish, wildfowl, and
other wildlife.
Other Benefits of Wetlands (continued)
3) Other values may be of equal importance, such as
recreation and esthetics.