Restoration Of Iowa's Wetlands

As decades continued to pass by the wetlands change. "People have begun to realize that wetlands are valuable and productive ecosystems that fulfill an essential function for both humans and wildlife. Due to their unique characteristics, wetlands can support a wide diversity of plants, mammals, reptiles, birds and fish. They also control floodwaters and protect us from storms and hurricanes. Wetlands also improve water quality by filtering, cleaning and storing water. Lastly, many people rely on wetlands for their livelihood, as they are important centers for hunting, fishing and recreation." Referring to this from "Wetlands and Habitat Loss", we now see how wetlands are valuable and helpful to the ecosystem. The wetlands are known for our water source. Many people depend on the Everglades for a water source. We also use the Everglades for activities. These activities include fishing, recreation, and

Giving full credit to restricting the Mississippi River as the culprit for loss of wetlands is not accurate. The booming oil and gas exploration of the 1970’s and 1980’s merits a name on the marquee as well. The pipelines and canals used to transport the resources to the outside world placed a great deal of stress on the fragile wetlands. Erosion from the barges in and out of the marshes as well as the salt water allowed into the fresh water, providing a precarious habitat for fresh water species – flora and fauna alike. Plants provide root systems to hold soil in place. Fish and fowl provide an economy for the area. Enter

Wetlands provide fish and wildlife habitat. It supplies food water, along with areas that can be used for nesting or resting. Wetlands also act as a aquifer recharge and discharge area. They are able to recharge groundwater or excess groundwater is able to discharge into the wetland. Wetlands act as flood storage when rainfall and snowmelt leave an excess of water around and no place to go.

Iowa became a state in 1846 and by 1860 almost the entire state was settled and farmed by Euro-Americans. The settling led to the devastation of prairie in Iowa. The beautiful lush grasses, forbes, and sedges were being cultivated and planted with crops along with severe overgrazing and much more. Prairie is a habitat type that gets a lot of focus in Iowa today. It gets so much focus because it is such a huge part of Iowa’s ecological history. “Before the advent of white man, prairie covered approximately 84 percent of the area of Iowa”. (Aikman, 1959) “Tallgrass prairie is one of the most endangered ecosystems in North America (Sampson and Knoppf, 1996), with less less than one percent of its original extent remaining.” (Rowe, Fargione, Holland,

By the end of this report you should have a better perception on the geological landscape of Silver Creek Wetland Complex, and further in-depth knowledge on what stewardship responsibilities fall on you and your relationship with the land you use.

The wetlands does only help the wildlife and humans it helps from damaging property, Now you think I'm crazy but I'm not ok, now listen, wetland can help us by storm like hurricanes', floods, and many more. Take for example, in New Orleans, Louisiana, has suffered extremely consequence of the hurricane Katrina, one of the most powerful hurricane in the entire untied states history. Scientist believe that hurricane would did less damage if they had more wetlands, but in the 1800's they destroy the wetlands for more land and because the mosquitos that cause the yellow

The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) is the primary agency that works to conserve, protect, and enhance the nation's fish and wildlife by providing sustainable healthy environments for future generations. It is through these three basic principles of ‘conserve, protect and enhance’ the USFWS is able to bring programs that both directly affect the health and well-being of migratory birds, fish and endangered species. In most cases it is through habitat protection that enables the USFWS to carry out these three principles. The Small Wetlands Program (SWP) is one such program that the USFWS utilizes to maintain the health of migratory birds in the United States.

Everglades, the largest subtropical wetland of North America, has encountered anthropogenic perturbation since the last quarter of 19th century when canals were built and peatlands were drained for economic gain (Godfrey and Catton, 2011). Since then, the system has been exploited, drained, polluted and changed from its natural setup to escalate and widen the potential services from it. The present state is a highly regulated system to buttress economic productivity and fulfill several regional demands. The Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan, one of the world’s largest restoration initiative, aims to restore, protect and preserve the water resources of central and southern Florida (National Research Council, 2014). While the restoration program is built on a foundation of retrospective science backed by several years of sophisticated research on understanding the Everglades and similar ecosystem (Estenoz and Bush, 2015), the human dimension of restoration was not studied adequately(Clarke and Dalrymple, 2003; Kranzer, 2002; National Research Council, 2014). Particularly, the spatial extent of residents’ preference or the heterogeneity of their opinion is important for CERP as the plan aims to restore ecosystem without compromising the present services (e.g. flood control, water for agricultural, urban and industrial uses etc.), which are also spatially related.

In his presentation, Cal Dueck of the Parker Wetlands conservation committee, argued that the wetlands should not be destroyed, because the ecosystem contributes to the overall health of the city and its inhabitants. His first point, to support his view, is the fact that the land serves as a natural water management system. The wetlands help regulate floods by absorbing excess water. If the land is developed, and covered in concrete, flooding may become a bigger problem in the city, and thus decrease the overall health of the city. In addition to flood control, the wetlands also help purify the ground water. The vegetation in the wetlands, per Ducks Unlimited Canada, “traps sediment and pollutants, and wetlands microorganisms break down the contaminants.” This means, that the people of Winnipeg, would have their rights to better ground water taken from them, if the land gets developed. Cal therefore argues, that when wetlands are destroyed, the well being of the cities inhabitants is also destroyed. This argument is in line with the arguments of William Blackstone, as presented by Joseph Desjardins in his book “Environmental Ethics: An introduction to environmental philosophy”. Blackstone argues that there is a need to recognize a new human right, which is the “right to a livable environment” . Furthermore, Blackstone also argues the right to a livable

Every year the Wildlife Bureau of the DNR purchases land for public use and wildlife habitats. The restoration of Iowa’s prairie land is considered important because it can restore the natural ecosystem, benefit water quality, and reduces soil erosion caused by runoff. Other farming practices such as having buffer strips near streams and cover crops have helped manage the soil erosion in Iowa, but since 1850 we have lost nearly 14 inches in topsoil depth and growing.

Natural habitat is limited on campus to a small tallgrass prairie plot that was established in the mid-2000s. That area is used as a teaching space for many environmental science classes and is maintained through yearly burnings. Otherwise, the campus commons are dominated by lawn grasses that receive routine mowing and aeration. The campus has the most concentrated greenspace in the surrounding neighborhood, which is dominated my roads, residential and commercial areas that are principally impermeable. Thus, the precipitations that does fall on the green spaces of campus percolates into the ground or runoffs into either a Drake or city of Des Moines owned drainage pipe. Moreover, precipitation that falls onto one of the campus’s roofs or parking lots typically flows directly into drainage pipes. Some of these drainage pipes flow directly into a ravine that has a stream. The stream is approximately two blocks north of the campus behind the Tennis Center Field between 27th and 24th Street and eventually joins with the Des Moines

When water flows through the wetland, the solids are trapped by the vegetation and establish themselves with the vegetation. Pollutants are transformed to less soluble form and are either absorbed by surrounding plants or becomes dormant. The wetland plants also provide the necessary conditions that allow for microorganisms to thrive on. Through a complicated development these microbes are transformed and aids in the removal of additional pollutants.

Wetlands are an eco-system that is home to both native and foreign species, especially waterbirds and are wet some of the time. The inter-tidal wetlands of Bicentennial Park may be threatened by the quality of the fresh and salt water that flushes them as a result of the human activities in the catchment and Waterways. In this report, we will explore the mangrove wetlands in Bicentennial Park, Olympic Park, Homebush. The sixty-five hectare Badu Mangroves are listed in the Directory of Important Wetlands in Australia and is an ecologically significant estuarine wetland system. The wetland was created because of a series of land reclamation over several decades, including extensive mangrove stands, open water waterbird refuge and an estuarine creek system. The park offers a variety of pathways and boardwalks for spectacular viewing opportunities, allowing the animals to live peacefully while the wetland system can be enjoyed and studied. The Waterbird Refuge is rich in bird life, and provides habitat for large numbers and species of birds, including migratory species protected under international agreements.

4. Dried leaves were retrieved and weighed. The total tissue loss from initial weight before submersion until now was recorded. Class inputs data and a class mean and standard deviation of tissue loss/ day was gathered for both wetlands for each species

I decided to test the ecological status of the wetland by gathering samples from the wetland and testing it for various aspects in the water and the plants that are found within the area.