RE: NANFA-- Re: nanfa V1 #1505
Crail, Todd (tcrail_at_northshores.com)
Tue, 31 Dec 2002 13:29:54 -0500
Some links:
Mississippi River Watershed:
http://www.epa.gov/msbasin/wetlandloss.htm
Ohio (where I live) has burned thru 90% of it's wetlands... ~5 million acres to ~500,000 acres
http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/news/nov01/1129endangered.htm
I've heard even more pessimistic calculations of Ohio's loss, as most of the wetlands left in our last decade were wet prairie remnants from the Wisconsin Glacier retreat, and are now covered over in Maples and Ash due to fire suppression (in essence, complete unnatural habitat modification). So they're forested wet places in the spring if it's been wet, and pretty much dry the rest of the year because the roots suck up what remains of the water that's not been channeled down a ditch. So much for all that prime pirate perch, mudminnow, bowfin, pickeral habitat eh? The good news is... All you have to do is cut down the trees and the wet prairie errupts from no where (it's only been covered for 30-40 years in this area). When we're doing habitat restoration we always joke that "Some treehuggers we are!" :)
Hop over to www.google.com and put in "Wetland Loss [State Name]" and you'll quickly see what's not around any longer, and what some great people are trying to do with what's left. :)
Todd
-----Original Message-----
From: Denkhaus, Robert
Sent: Tue 12/31/2002 12:34 PM
To: nanfa_at_aquaria.net
Cc:
Subject: RE: NANFA-- Re: nanfa V1 #1505
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Wicked0458_at_aol.com
>
> I was wondering if anyone knows how much wetlands have been
> lost in the
> country so far, with lots of streams diverted to run under
> malls do fish
> live there in darkness. I know wet lands are very important
> to water drainage
> as well as a healty eco systems for clean water as they also
> are used as
> giant filters as well as large sponges for holding water.
Aoocrding to the publication, Status and Trends of Wetlands in the
Conterminous United States 1986-1997 (USFWS), at the time of European
settlement there was an estimated 221 million acres of wetlands in the US. In
1997, there were 105.5 million acres left. During the period from '86 - '97,
the annual loss rate was 58,500 acres.
Rob Denkhaus
Fort Worth Nature Center & Refuge
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/ For more information about NANFA, visit our web page, http://www.nanfa.org