The Swamp Stomp

Volume 15, Issue 18

Researchers at the University of Waterloo in Ontario recently released a study supporting the EPA’s proposed rule for protecting discontinuous wetlands. The study demonstrated that smaller marshy areas function better when acting as part of a group.

These small wetlands create interconnected pockets that together form a mosaic-esc landscape and allow for unique habitats and safe breeding grounds for species such as salamanders and migratory birds. Traditional wetlands conservation projects often overlook the significance of such functions, and focus solely on preserving total wetland area. When this happens, the larger ecosystem suffers due to the lack of consideration given to different wetland types.

Published in Ecological Applications, a peer-reviewed journal, the study shows a strong and steady decline of wetlands, with smaller detached wetlands fronting the majority of the blow. While the number of larger wetlands continue to decrease as well, the rate of smaller wetlands is much greater.

Doctoral student Kim Van Meter and Professor Nandita Basu from the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences in the Faculty of Science argue that not only have large quantities of smaller isolated wetlands been drained, but those wetlands that have survived suffered extensive perimeter loss due to the shape of the wetland becoming much simpler.

Basu also released another paper in the journal Bioscience, that described how these small and geographically isolated wetlands act as landscape filters. Do to being located on the outer edges of ecosystems, these wetlands are able to prevent excess nutrients, sediments, and contaminants from flowing into larger waterways.

Regrettably, many restoration efforts only focus their attention on restoring wetland area without taking into consideration the type or size of the wetland being restored. While it is important to restore wetlands, it is equally important to restore the natural filtration systems that will help protect the restored wetlands.

“We didn’t expect to see such a strong, preferential loss of smaller wetlands,” claimed Basu, who is also a member of the Water Institute. “It’s not just a local phenomenon. Smaller wetlands are the least protected under most environmental regulations.”

Van Meter added, “Many people would say ‘What’s the big deal if we drain this small area’. But these smaller wetlands are integral to a larger wetland network.”

Van Meter and Basu used several high-resolution remote sensing images, elevation data, and the U.S. National Wetlands Inventory database in their paper to compare historical wetland areas with current boundaries in the Des Moines Lobe section of the Prairie Pothole Region.

Since European settlers arrived more than two centuries ago, the region has lost over 90 percent of its wetlands. Van Meter claimed that while the study pertains strictly to the prairie region, the problem extends to all regions. In Ontario, between 70 and 80 percent of wetlands have ceased to exist since the 1800’s.

Basu and Van Meter hold the belief that current restoration approaches can and must be dramatically improved. They expect to expand the framework they used in the report to southern Ontario and incorporate the results into a modeling tool in order to assist decision makers maximize restoration processes, and decide which areas ought to be preserved.