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Why are wetlands so important in Door County? |
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to 14th Annual DCEC Essay Contest Winners
Darien Ploor
Grade 8
SS Peter and Paul
School
Now that you know what a wetland is we can discuss their value. Wetlands are a home to many fish and wildlife, they provide flood and shoreline protection, water quality protection, ground water recharge and discharge, and are important to economics. Wetlands protect water resources by filtering surface water runoff before it reaches streams and lakes and filtering runoff before it reaches the ground water supply. Wetlands also store water and release it overtime to prevent flooding and that also allows for additional time to filter any pollutants before it reaches the ground water, lakes, and streams.
The economic value of wetlands is high. In 1991, 15 billion dollars was collected from coastal wetland dependent fish processing and sales industry. $10 billion was collected from photographing and observing wetland dependent birds. In Door County, there are 50,000 acres of wetland and 17% of the acres are under protective ownership.
There are many threats to wetlands. The biggest threat is man. Many people view wetlands as a nuisance because they produce mosquitoes. Also people want to build homes on them because many wetlands have beautiful landscapes. Man is not the only threat there are a host of other threats including: dredging, stream channelization, deposition of fill material, pollutants, releasing toxic chemicals, non-native ( exotic) species, and grazing by domestic animals.
Wetlands are very important. They are an essential part of nature. Wetlands are homes to many different animals. Wetlands are kind of like rain forests, in a smaller version. Many animals live in both and each is being destroyed. Wetlands are a NESESSITY! Help save the wetlands!
Door
County Environmental Council
P
O Box 114, Fish Creek WI 54212
Phone: 920-743-6003 | FAX: 920-743-6727
Info@dcec-wi.org
