Wetlands

Wetlands are places of mystery. Not quite land and not quite water, they exist as a delicate balance between the two. There are many different types of wetlands including swamps, bogs, marshes and meadows. All wetlands share a common lifeblood — water. Behind their deceptively tranquil appearance lies a whirlwind of activity that provides numerous benefits for humans and wildlife.

Wetlands are one of the world’s most valuable resources. They act as natural pollution filters that greatly improve the quality of water that millions of people drink every day. Wetlands have the power to reduce or prevent flooding. They can hold vast quantities of water in place, which can help to protect homes and businesses during times of severe storms. Many plants and animals depend on wetland ecosystems to survive. Coastal wetlands serve as nurseries for young fish and shellfish.

Wetlands are complex environments and are the focus of scientific studies. As people learn more about the benefits of these special areas the appreciation for wetlands continues to grow.

The Many Functions of Wetlands

"The productivity in an acre of marsh grass almost boggles the imagination. When you think of it, the tonnage of biomass that’s produced in the course of a calendar year, we’re talking about everything from the grass shrimp and the small killy fish, to the larger fish that use those fish, to the birds that eat all those other fish, and the grasses themselves, and all of the benthic animals that live in the mud underneath all that grass – it’s a huge amount of biological turnover going on in the course of a calendar year. Turtles and reptiles are out there too. Biologically-speaking this is a very very productive place, and these are things that we’ve only been learning as a society, I would say, in the last twenty to thirty years."
– Bill Sheehan, Hackensack Riverkeeper

"Another thing that people probably don’t think about is the importance of wetlands in reducing pollutants in the water. There are nutrients of various kinds that come in from various sources. Plants absorb those. They’re absorbed into the sediments, for example, like heavy metals. When we still drove cars that had lead in the gas, the lead was absorbed in the sediments in the marsh."
– Mary Leck, Retired Professor of Biology at Rider University

"They provide a filter; they take pollutants out of the river and out of the bay; they provide flood storage for the communities that line the river banks – wetlands can hold countless numbers of times their weight in water when there’s a big storm surge that comes in, and when there’s a big wet flat area where that storm surge can fill up, that’s much better than having it fill up somebody’s basement or somebody’s business; and of course wetlands provide the wildlife habitat."
– Bill Sheehan, Hackensack Riverkeeper