Why Wetlands are Important

Wetland marsh at Cartier Slough WMA, near Rexburg, absorbs lots of water that might otherwise cause issues, filters out contaminants and provides wonderful habitat.

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By the fall of 1992, the stage had been set for what is called the Great Flood of 1993, the largest flood ever recorded by this country. The upper Mississippi River drainage was already struggling with saturated soils from the autumn before and now, across nine states, rain fell almost endlessly. From June to August, some states received 12-inches of rain, some 24, and in Iowa, they nearly drowned under 36-inches of rain. On August 1, the system was totally overwhelmed. Normally placid rivers roared and dams, 1,000 levees (built to control flooding) and bridges collapsed in the floodwaters. Forty-seven people lost their lives as a direct result, 50,000 homes were destroyed and 20 million acres inundated. Seventy-five towns were completely drowned, some never to be rebuilt. Businesses such as barging and farming, were impacted for years. The cost in dollars was estimated to be between 15 and 20 billion.

The story started long before 1992 though, perhaps as much as 200 years earlier, when the first settlers to the region began draining wetlands to create more farmland. Over this time, according to an article in National Geographic, 64-million acres of wetlands have been drained, and importantly, converted to other uses, in the Upper Mississippi Basin.

This draining of wetlands deprived the region of one of the great values of a wetland: the ability to mitigate flooding by absorbing excess water. In an article published in Restoration Ecology, authors determined that 13-million acres of strategically placed restored wetlands could have changed the flooding from catastrophe to little more than an inconvenience.

Tidal marshes function to reduce flooding as well. However, their purpose is to mitigate the force of storm-ravaged seas, taming the waves before they can do damage to the shoreline or further inland.

Wetlands have other values as well, making them far more valuable than their six percent of land coverage world-wide might indicate. While there are many types of wetlands, each with its own unique characteristics, most wetlands serve as a transition between water and land. In this function, they filter and purify water, removing organic contaminants as well as chemical ones, binding them up to soil particles and within root systems or translating them into growth. Many communities are recognizing the value of wetlands and are creating new ones to serve as end-stage sewage effluent treatment, letting wetlands do naturally what would take millions of dollars and a huge footprint to accomplish industrially. Some of our favorite birding spots in Florida and Arizona are reestablished wetlands.

Wetlands, even the nutrient-poor ones, are unique habitats that support more species by far than adjacent uplands. To enter a wetland habitat is to enter another world. Just last week we took an afternoon to drive to Red Rocks Lake National Wildlife Refuge in Montana. As migration has been increasing, this is a great place to bird. We saw dozens of species of birds, including 14 species of ducks, all within the edges of the marsh habitat. The adjacent uplands had some birds too, but nothing like the wetlands.

These three things: flood mitigation, water filtration and cleansing, and superior plant and wildlife habitat, are huge. Wetlands cannot be replaced by human constructs, although they can be and should be restored whenever possible. We continue to lose wetlands at an alarming rate, often in small increments that are seemingly meaningless, yet add up to a tremendous detriment to our natural world and, as a consequence, our society. Ask someone who lived through the Great Flood of 1993 how they feel about wetlands. If they truly understand, they will be all for restoring 13-million acres as quickly as possible. The goal should be no new losses and restoration as much as possible.

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Help Idaho Wildlife

When we traveled across the state in October 2017, most of the vehicles we saw using the wildlife management areas did not have wildlife plates. Buying wildlife plates is a great way for non-hunters and hunters alike to support wildlife-based recreation like birding.

C'mon folks, let's help Idaho's wildlife by proudly buying and displaying a wildlife license plate on each of our vehicles! 

See below for information on Idaho plates. Most states have wildlife plates so if you live outside Idaho, check with your state's wildlife department or vehicle licensing division for availability of state wildlife plates where you live. 

And tell them that you heard about it from Nature-track.com!

Wildlife License Plates

Great news! as of 2024, there are three NEW designs for license plates. They still are bluebird, cutthroat trout and elk, but they are beautiful.

Idaho Wildlife license plates provide essential funding that benefits the great diversity of native plants and wildlife that are not hunted, fished or trapped—over 10,000 species or 98% of Idaho’s species diversity. Game species that share the same habitats (such as elk, deer, antelope, sage-grouse, salmon, trout) also benefit from these specialty plates.

No state tax dollars are provided for wildlife diversity, conservation education and recreation programs. Neither are any revenues from the sale of hunting or fishing licenses spent on nongame species. Instead, these species depend on direct donations, federal grants, fundraising initiatives—and the Idaho Wildlife license plates.

Both my vehicles have Bluebird Plates. I prefer the bluebird because the nongame program gets 70 percent of the money from bluebird plates, but only 60 percent of the money from elk and trout plates - 10 percent of the money from elk plates supports wildlife disease monitoring and testing programs (to benefit the livestock industry) and 10 percent from cutthroat plates supports non-motorized boat access.

Incidentally, in 2014, the Idaho Legislature denied the Department of Fish and Game the ability to add new plates or even to change the name of the elk and cutthroat plates (very specific) to wildlife and fish plates, a move that would have allowed for changing images occasionally and generating more revenue. It would seem that they believe that we Idahoans don't want a well funded wildlife program.

I think it is time we let the Legislature know that Idahoan support wildlife funding and that we would like to see these generic plates come to fruition.