Wetlands must have one or more of the following three attributes: 1) at least periodically, the land supports predominantly hydrophytes; 2) the substrate is predominantly undrained hydric soil; and 3) the substrate is saturated with water or covered by shallow water at some time during the growing season of each year.

Wetlands have different characteristics. The most common feature of all wetlands is that the water table (the groundwater level) is very near to the soil surface or shallow water covers the surface for at least part of the year. They contain plants that purify water.

All wetlands are not the same.

Description. Non-tidal marshes are the most prevalent and widely distributed wetlands in North America.

Common names for wetlands include marshes, estuaries, mangroves, mudflats, mires, ponds, fens, swamps, deltas, coral reefs, billabongs, lagoons, shallow seas, bogs, lakes, and floodplains, to name just a few!

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Despite all the government legislation, policies, and programs, wetlands will not be protected if the regulations are not enforced. Perhaps the best way to protect wetlands is to educate the public of their benefits. If the public does not recognize the benefits of wetland preservation, wetlands will not be preserved.

Wetlands and People Far from being useless, disease-ridden places, wetlands provide values that no other ecosystem can. These include natural water quality improvement, flood protection, shoreline erosion control, opportunities for recreation and aesthetic appreciation and natural products for our use at no cost.

Wetlands are among the most productive habitats on earth providing shelter and nursery areas for commercially and recreationally important animals like fish and shellfish, as well as wintering grounds for migrating birds.

When a wetland is able to capture this water before it enters creeks, streams or rivers, it functions like a natural filter. First, wetland plants slow the flow of water from the surrounding land. By trapping nutrient and sediment pollution, wetlands send cleaner water downstream.

What Is Adversely Affecting Our Wetlands? Human activities cause wetland degradation and loss by changing water quality, quantity, and flow rates; increasing pollutant inputs; and changing species composition as a result of disturbance and the introduction of nonnative species.

5 Ways to Protect Wetlands on Your Property

1. Maintain a buffer strip of native plants along streams and wetlands.
2. Use pesticides and fertilizers sparingly. Speaking of lawn care aids, try to avoid them whenever possible.
3. Avoid non-native and invasive species of plants.
4. Avoid stormwater run-off and don’t pollute.
5. Keep your pets under control.

The only safe advice available is to manage wetlands in their existing condition in a manner that retains the vegetation, hydrology/water regime, and soils as they exist. Such activities as recreation, sound forest management, and other passive uses are safe.

Besides filling them in or damming them, humans have also damaged or destroyed wetlands by planting invasive alien species around them, draining them by piping the water out to sea, or directing filthy stormwater from cities towards them.

Wetlands serve as a source of drinking water and provide protection against floods and storms, yet they have been decimated to make space for housing, factories and farms or damaged by unsustainable water use and pollution. …

Trees that absorb a lot of water

• Red maple (zones 3-9)
• Weeping willow (zones 6-8)
• Ash (zones 3-9)
• Oriental arborvitae (zones 6-11)
• Black gum (zones 4-9)
• White cedar (zones 4-8)
• River birch (zones 3-9)
• Bald cypress (zones 5-9)

If you are looking for plants that absorb a lot of water, the following ten plants are a great choice.

• 1 – Ferns.
• 2 – Lily of the Valley.
• 3 – Daylilies.
• 4 – Indian Grass.
• 5 – Cattails.
• 6 – Iris.
• 7 – Elephant Ear.
• 8 – Monkey Flower.