The Swamp Stomp
Volume 16, Issue 25
Residents of the San Francisco Bay Area recently approved an unprecedented tax on Tuesday June 7 to fund the restoration of lost wetlands. Known as Measure AA, the tax is expected to raise as estimated $25 million a year for the next 20 years.
The Environmental Protection Agency has found that the Western U.S. has the country’s sickest wetlands. In the San Francisco Bay Area, wetlands have been paved, diked and invaded by weeds at a rate unmatched elsewhere in the U.S. An assessment based on more than 1000 wetland surveys conducted in 2001 concluded that while nearly half of the wetlands in the continental U.S. are in good shape, only one-fifth of the wetlands in the Western U.S. are doing well.
In California, the destruction of wetlands, has been even worse than in other areas of the west. An estimated 90 per cent of California wetlands have been lost over the last two centuries. The steep cliffs of the Pacific coast contained fewer natural wetlands than are found on the Atlantic coast.
Much of California’s wetlands were concentrated on rivers and around the banks of the San Francisco Bay. These areas have been paved over and built up. Additionally, ships in the Bay introduce invasive species, which has left the area with one of the words infestations of invasive wetland weeds in the United States.
Groups such as the Golden Gate Audubon Society use volunteers to help clean up wetlands in the San Francisco area. They host monthly workdays during which volunteers can sign up to remove invasive plants and pick up trash in areas such as the Pier 94 waterfront. The Pier 94 wetland restoration began when a shoreline on a Port of San Francisco property collapsed into the water and began to return to marshland. A decade ago, heavy trash such as pieces of pavement was cleared away, creating a place for plants to take root.
Coastal wetlands such as these may be important around the nation as sea levels rise. Coastal wetlands can help ease flooding and erosion as sea levels are getting higher. By growing taller as seas rise, marshes and other wetlands are increasingly valuable as buffers from the possible effects of climate change. It is estimated that seas may rise two to six feet over the next two centuries.
Wetlands are also helpful to filter pollution from the water and to provide habitats for multiple species of plants, fish, and animals. They improve water quality by trapping sediments and retaining excess nutrients and other pollutants such as heavy metals. These purification functions are especially important when a wetland is connected to groundwater or rivers and lakes that are in turn used for human activities and as a habitat for wildlife.
There are also economic benefits associated with the preservation of wetlands. Without wetlands communities may have to build flood control or water treatment systems to replace the functions that are naturally provided by wetlands. Is so, these costs could be much higher than those of preserving natural wetlands. Also, wetlands provide valuable fish habitats, that if lost could be detrimental to the recreational and commercial fishing industries.
Wetlands perform a number of significant ecological functions that are not known by most people. Over 100 years ago, some organizations campaigned for the elimination of wetlands, as they were considered a nuisance. Now ecologists, scientists and environmental groups recognize the environmental benefits that wetlands provide, and hence have raised the public awareness of the importance of preserving them. This type of awareness has made a difference in cities such as San Francisco where significant tax dollars are being used to restore wetlands. Because of this increased awareness and the subsequent efforts being done by some communities in the western U.S., it would be expected that we will see increased efforts to improve wetlands in the 21st century.