Are We Losing Our Wetlands Conservation Legacy?
http://blog.nature.org/science/2013/10/02/wetlands-conservation/
October 2, 2013 | by: Matt Miller | 4
Will wetlands and the services they provide remain a part of our conservation heritage? Photo:
Giuseppe Saitta
By Matt Miller, senior science writer
Purple sky reflected on rippling waters, a heron squawking from the reeds, thousands of
whistling wings overhead: can there possibly be a better place for a naturalist to spend sunrise
than a marsh?
Spend a morning on a wetland, and you can still see some of the world’s greatest bird flocks:
ducks, geese, herons, egrets, shorebirds and more stretched to the horizon, creating an
unbelievable symphony of quacks and honks and squeaks that will echo in your head hours later.
A level of abundance we usually associate with an earlier time: still here.
For now.
Have conservationists taken this wetland protection for granted? Are we at risk of losing one of
our all-time greatest conservation successes?
These questions were central at the recent Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership media
summit, an annual gathering held this year in North Dakota—near some of the best waterfowl
breeding habitat on the continent. As the summit made perfectly clear, that habitat is facing huge
risks.
Conservationists responded to the loss of wetlands early in the twentieth century. Will we rally
again?
“This is about more than ducks and fish,” says Tim Kizer, agricultural consultant for the
Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership. “This is about our water and soil, the true
foundation of our national security. This issue should be of importance to everyone. We still
have a chance to get it right.”
A Brief History Lesson
Populations of water birds like great blue herons remain healthy due in no small part due to
wetlands protection efforts established during the Great Depression. Photo: Matt Miller/TNC
In the midst of the Great Depression, things weren’t looking so good for wetlands or waterfowl.
Despite better hunting regulations and the creation of the National Wildlife Refuge System, duck
numbers continued to decline. With people starving, who could possibly care about birds?
Visionary conservationists saw wetlands draining away and gathered support to do something
about it. Political cartoonist Jay Norwood “Ding” Darling created the Federal Duck Stamp
program, a mandatory stamp for waterfowl hunters with proceeds going to purchase habitat. This
program, one of the most efficient federal programs in history, has to date protected 5.3 million
acres of habitat, much of it in the National Wildlife Refuge System.
Ducks Unlimited was formed by hunters concerned about habitat loss; the group has saved more
than one million acres of waterfowl habitat in the prime wetland habitat of the Dakotas. The
Nature Conservancy has purchased and restored wetlands across the country. I’ve stood on
former cornfields now covered in marsh, with thousands of ducks flying overhead and native fish
like alligator gar swimming below.
The result of this and other conservation work, including Farm Bill conservation programs, has
been an unqualified success. Water birds—ducks, geese, herons, egrets—are usually among the
few bright spots in the annual State of the Birds report. Their numbers are actually increasing.
The Dakotas, the heart of wetlands breeding habitat, has remained remarkably well protected.
This is part of the “prairie pothole” country: small wetlands scoured in the prairie by glaciation.
Some states, like Iowa and Illinois, have lost 99 percent of their potholes. In the
Dakotas, wetlands still dot the landscape. Adjacent prairie, often used compatibly for cattle
ranching, provides additional cover for ducks. Many call this region the nation’s “duck factory.”
It might seem like conservationists could declare “mission accomplished” on wetlands
conservation. Except the work is not done. Not at all. In fact, wetlands are currently facing their
biggest threats since the Great Depression.
A Conservation Legacy, Draining Away
Plastic tile makes it easy and inexpensive to drain wetlands.
The current story of wetlands comes down to this: the prices of commodity crops—corn and
soybeans—are soaring. The prices are high enough that land formerly considered unprofitable
to farm are now being tilled.
As Ducks Unlimited biologist Dr. Jim Ringelmann writes in his publication Potholes in Peril:
“Commodity prices, which are at or near all-time highs, provide a strong financial incentive to
bring every acre into production. In the past, the wetland compliance provision in the Farm Fill,
commonly known as Swampbuster, effectively deterred wetland drainage. But that deterrent is
now weakening.”
Ringelman also notes that “other Farm Bill programs that were once linked to wetland
protection, such as crop insurance, are no longer coupled with conservation compliance
provisions.”
The combination of profit and lack of policy has led to a perfect storm. Our wetlands are, quite
literally, draining away.
Plastic drain tiles can be easily and inexpensively installed to drain fields of wetlands, a practice
that has already emptied many states of habitat. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates
that “1.4 million small wetlands are at high risk of drainage in the eastern Dakotas.”
Given the demands for food and fuel (in the form of ethanol), is there any hope for conserving
wetlands?
“We have already started to lose what was an amazing conservation legacy,” says TRCP’s Tim
Kizer.
Beyond Ducks: Wetlands for People
A lot of wetland conservation has focused on ducks, but this habitat also provides vital services
for people. Photo: Matt Miller/TNC
There may be one problem with how the wetlands issue is so often framed: it’s often all about
the ducks.
To be clear: I am a passionate duck hunter and birder. I love waterfowl and the places they live. I
am proud that I can identify the different waterfowl species in the air, in the fog, in the fading
evening light. I lost my wedding ring in a duck marsh. I understand well the passion that has
fueled wetland conservation to this point.
However, I also know how these debates are framed today. Birds versus food. Birds versus fuel.
In such a debate, birds lose. Always.
“I grew up on a farm and am very pro-agriculture. And agriculture carries a very simple
message: ‘We’re feeding the world,’” says Kizer. “Who can possibly argue against feeding the
world? Now, I’m not sure who exactly is eating all that field corn. That aside, ‘feeding the
world’ is a very simple and compelling message.”
But Kizer believes the “ducks versus food” argument obscures a major point: wetlands aren’t
just about ducks and other wildlife.
The literature on the ecosystem services provided by wetlands is extensive. Wetlands provide a
buffer for flood control. They’re nature’s filters, removing toxins from water. Wetlands are very
effective in removing nitrates and phosphates applied to agricultural fields, as experiments by the
Conservancy on the Mackinaw River in Illinois have demonstrated.
In states like Iowa, where most wetlands have been removed, nitrates from farm fields go
directly into tile drains and on into rivers—and on into drinking water reservoirs. The city of Des
Moines spends about $8500 a day removing nitrates from drinking water. (Some cities, like
Bloomington, Illinois, recognize that wetlands can provide a more cost-effective solution to
removing nitrates).
Nitrates running off farm fields eventually end up in the Gulf of Mexico, resulting in a dead zone
that dramatically affects commercial fishing and tourism industries.
“Every wetland that is drained, every prairie acre plowed, means more nitrates and phosphates in
the water,” says Kizer. “This story of wetland drainage is one of long-term damage for shortterm gain. “
Protecting wetlands, then, is protecting clean water, Gulf Coast fisheries and even community
safety (in the form of flood control).
“The principal on our investment in wetlands conservation is clean water,” says Kizer. “The
interest we’re receiving on that investment is abundant wildlife. Ducks and fish are important to
me. Clean water is important to everyone. And everyone has a stake in this issue.”
A Future with Wetlands
The prairie potholes of the Dakotas are the most productive waterfowl breeding and nesting
habitat on the continent. But are we at risk of losing these natural treasures? Photo: Jim
Ringelman
During the last major wetland crisis, the United States faced the Great Depression. Despite that,
politicians and citizens recognized the importance of wetlands to the country’s long-term future,
and passed landmark legislation that protected them.
It wasn’t easy: many politicians ridiculed a focus on ducks when people were out of jobs.
It won’t be easy this time, either. Even a simple solution—raising the Federal Duck Stamp fee to
purchase habitat—failed in Congress. And that was despite near universal support from hunting
and birding groups, representing the people who buy duck stamps.
The Farm Bill is the largest source of conservation funding in the country, and at this time, it is
unfunded. A functioning Farm Bill will be essential in conserving wetlands and prairies for the
future.
This blog often promotes citizen science projects. Here’s a simple one: get out to a marsh.
Stand there in the dawn, and hear that loud, squawking, wonderful chorus of birds and frogs.
We all know clean water is important. The last wetland crisis was solved by people who had
made it a practice to stand in marsh muck. They knew what was at stake. They knew that simple,
common-sense measures could make all the difference.
Enjoy the marsh. Listen to that squawking, raucous chorus of birds and frogs. Feel the rush of
wings overhead. Reflect on what early conservation leaders did to make that all possible. Then
learn what you can do now. You ultimately will help decide whether the wetlands
conservation story is coming to an end, or an enduring legacy of the conservation movement.