Taking many forms, wetlands are natural features of the landscape that provide crucial functions for both nature and humankind. We benefit directly from some of these functions:

• absorbing rainwater that would otherwise cause flooding;
• cleaning pollutants from water that runs off pavement, and absorbing nutrients from yards, farms and septic systems.
• providing vital habitat for a variety of wildlife, both plants and animals.

what does a wetland look like?

Some wetlands are large deep basins with the capacity to store vast amounts of rainwater. That water might be discharged slowly to an outlet stream, or infiltrate the ground, recharging underground reservoirs. Many wetlands do both, resulting in baseflows to streams and cold, clean groundwater.

Some wetlands are brushy or forested corridors along streams that slow down floodwaters, allowing sediments to deposit. These wetlands help maintain the vitality of streams by connecting them to their floodplains and allowing the processes of erosion and deposition to result in spawning gravels, sand bars, and other essential habitats.

Estuarine wetlands are broad flats where rivers meet the sea. They form deltas filled with sea grasses, and a network of channels. These wetlands experience flooding by salt and freshwater with dynamic cycles throughout the year.

don’t drain that swamp!

Each of these wetland types has habitat features for wildlife, based on the period of time during which a wetland is covered by water, vegetation condition, and connections to other habitats. The large deep basin wetland may provide good amphibian and/or fish breeding habitats if the water is there at the right time and the plants provide suitable niches.

The brushy riverine wetland might provide resting, feeding and refuge habitat for juvenile fish, as well as leaf litter and sediment management that support aquatic macroinvertebrates, a key part of the food web for juvenile and adult fish. Estuaries provide extraordinary migratory and resident bird habitat, as well as rearing habitat for many species of fish, forming a transition zone between freshwater and seawater worlds.

Little Stream

by Dawn Jarvela Henthorn, 2019

Your quiet trickle

moves over soft ground from

a still-water-puddle of a pool.

Gravity pulls you forward, down,

over shale rock steps,

tumbling onward,

passing through dark Sitka spruce

woods dressed in thick, downey moss

out into grey skies, mist—

then sunshine.

Onward down the hillside

sharing this stream with

living creatures—

sticklebacks,

dazzling blue dragonflies,

long-legged waterskippers—

until this little stream,

protected and safe in its edges,

dumps out into

dark waters of the lake—

unique no more,

melded with the whole.

The landscape around wetlands also affects their functions. Wetlands surrounded by parking lots do heavy lifting in managing both stormwater and filtration. However, if the wetlands overflow during storm events, unfiltered pollutants such as oil and other debris can flow directly into the secondary water outlets, reducing habitat quality for fish or amphibians. Wetlands connected with vegetated corridors to other wetlands or undeveloped uplands provide migration corridors for wildlife and habitats to support multiple life stages. For example, the western toad that hatches and grows in the wetland matures and migrates to forage in the upland woods, returning to breed in the wetlands the next season. This process is supported by intact vegetated corridors but impaired by road crossings and other developments that interrupt these corridors. Culverts and other passage barriers limit these connections for fish.

Understanding these functions and connections helps planners, developers and government watchdogs make prudent decisions that protect these invaluable wetland functions and allow the wetlands to continue to support essential wildlife habitats and the benefits they naturally provide to life as we know it.

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Thanks so much for your interest and your support.