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Protecting Our Wetlands

In the past three issues of Wetland Sights & Sounds we learned about the contributions of wetlands to our environment, economy, and communities. We also discovered what people are doing all over the country to build and restore healthy wetlands in their own backyards. Since wetlands are so important to a clean environment and a healthy community, they must be well protected by local, state and federal governments, right?

Wrong. Although the Department of the Interior just announced that there has been an overall gain in wetland acreage over the past five years, its hard to share their optimism when their definition of wetlands now includes golf course water hazards and landscaped goldfish ponds. Meanwhile, we continue to lose millions of acres of swamps, marshes, and bogs across the U.S. to growing numbers of housing complexes, parking lots, and shopping malls. In other areas, prime wetland habitat is being poisoned by nutrient-loaded runoff from agricultural fields and urban developments. Ducks Unlimited estimates that we still lose about 80,000 acres of healthy, functioning wetlands every year. That’s a loss of more than seven football fields each day.

Confusion over the definition of a wetland leads us to the Supreme Court, where a pair of cases is being deliberated that will determine whether certain wetlands can be defined as “protected waterways” under the Clean Water Act. Considered to be one of our most important laws, the Clean Water Act is the first line of defense for our nation’s wetlands. Currently, landowners and developers are required to obtain a permit with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers if they plan to fill a wetland. However, as arguments about what qualifies as a protected wetland intensify, challenges to this permit process have found their way to the Supreme Court.

If the current challengers have their way, millions of acres of wetland habitat across the U.S. would no longer fall under the Clean Water Act’s definition of a protected wetland. This would mean the loss of federal protection for more than half of all streams and more than one-fifth of all wetlands, which would suddenly be vulnerable to industry pollutants, developers, and factory farm runoff. Historically, the Clean Water Act has been instrumental in safeguarding the network of streams and tributaries that make up watersheds as a whole. As Supreme Court Justice David Souter remarked, “All you’ve got to do is dump the pollutant far enough up the water system to get away scot-free.”

To show our support for the Clean Water Act, the Izaak Walton League and other conservation organizations have filed an amicus curiae brief, or “friend of the court” letter, with the Supreme Court. But wetlands need your help, too. Whether you own hundreds of acres or rent a small city apartment, there are several ways you can join us in protecting our wetland heritage.

Virginia IWLA member Mike Lane is one of many landowners who have opted to designate part of their property as a conservation easement. When you protect your land with a conservation easement, you enter into a legal contract with a land trust or government agency that limits how that land can be used in the future. By placing 140 acres of valuable forested wetland habitat under a conservation easement agreement, Lane is ensuring that the conservation value of his land is protected no matter how often his property changes hands. The flexibility of this program ensures that you can continue to practice sustainable management of your land, such as growing crops and harvesting timber. At the same time, you are protecting your land from encroaching development and mismanagement by future owners. Placing an easement on your land can also reduce your property taxes. And if your easement meets certain requirements, donating it to a land trust can qualify as a tax-deductible charitable donation. For Lane, wetlands are an asset worth conserving, both for future generations and for resident wildlife.

Don’t own land? Well, one of the best ways to ensure that wetlands remain protected is to dispel the myths about wetlands and help spread the word about all their benefits. One pervasive myth is that wetlands produce mosquitoes and West Nile Virus. On the contrary, healthy wetlands actually provide habitat for species that help eliminate mosquitoes, such as dragonflies, damselflies, and other predatory insects. Far from being pest-ridden wastelands, wetlands purify our drinking water, protect our homes from storm surges, and provide rich opportunities for recreation.

Another way to tout the benefits of wetlands is to take your family and friends to visit a local marsh, peat bog, or tidal swamp. From great blue herons to tiger salamanders, these unique ecosystems are teeming with wildlife. Whether you are into photography, painting, or simply need a quiet getaway, wetlands provide a refuge from the stresses of day-to-day life. And kids are sure to be enchanted as they catch a glimpse of Mother Nature at her wildest.

Creature Feature:
"Bringing Back the Brookie"

The brook trout is a real survivor. Its ancestors lived during the turbulent Pleistocene Epoch, when glaciers advanced and retreated over periods of thousands of years. As the ice scoured out new river channels and altered the courses of many streams, ancient brook trout populations were separated from each other. Finding themselves relocated to vastly different environments, each of these populations evolved unique traits to fit the conditions of their particular waterway. Some ended up in large rivers and lakes with plenty of food, where they grew large and lived long, leisurely lives. Others found themselves in small gravel-bed streams and brooks, where food was scarcer and life more tenuous. These populations adapted by remaining small and maturing fast. As the glaciers retreated, different populations interbred with each other, imparting the brook trout with the ability to adapt to a wide variety of conditions. This remarkable adaptability, not to mention its gorgeous olive-green speckled coloration, helps make the “brookie” of one of the most loved freshwater gamefish among America’s anglers.

Brook trout are native to eastern Canada and the eastern United States, extending west into eastern Minnesota. Their range includes the entire length of the Appalachian Mountains, where they can still be found in many high elevation streams as far south as Georgia. Due to their popularity as a gamefish, introduced brookie populations can also be found in many Western states. Typically about 8 to 10 inches long, a brook trout can grow up to 12 inches or more in larger streams and rivers. But big “river trout” are rare these days due to fishing pressure during the early 1900s and, more recently, habitat destruction.

Brook trout are particularly sensitive to the water temperature. They thrive only in streams that have average temperatures below 68 degrees. These streams are generally well shaded by trees and vegetation, and fed by cool groundwater springs. Though brook trout usually don’t live in wetlands, they depend on healthy wetland habitat to keep their streams clean and cool. Both upstream and downstream, wetlands filter out pollutants from the rainwater that flows off of farm fields and urban centers and empties into our waterways. And because healthy wetlands have a lot of vegetation, they help keep the temperature of the water low.

There is one type of wetland that is particularly important to brook trout—the fen. A fen is a type of wetland that is formed in low-lying areas or slopes, where groundwater meets the soil surface. Both fens themselves, and the streams fed by fen outflow, provide important habitat for small, newly hatched brookies. The tea-colored water found in acidic fens contains organic acids that bind with aluminum, which can be toxic to young trout.

Wetlands, streams, and rivers are all interconnected parts of a healthy watershed. Many collaborative efforts, like the National Fish Habitat Action Plan, are helping to build partnerships across state lines to protect and restore the wetlands and waterways that ensure the survival of species like the brook trout. The Eastern Brook Trout Joint Venture is the first pilot project under NFHAP, and is an excellent example of how federal, state, and local partners can team up to protect entire watersheds for both wildlife and people. You can find out more about NFHAP and the Eastern Brook Trout Joint Venture at www.fishhabitat.org.

Did you know that fish make sounds? Though no one has ever recorded a brook trout vocalization, lots of fish species are known to produce distinctive sounds—including grunts, purrs, clicks, and whines. Click here to listen to the croaking call of a silver perch. If you would like to hear other fish vocalizations, please visit Dr. Rodney Rountree’s fish ecology Web site at http://www.fishecology.org.

VOLUME TWO
Issue No. 4