Tag Archives: pending Wisconsin legislation affecting environment

A wetland is classified as any low-lying land that is flooded for at least a portion of a calendar year.  Swamps, bogs, marshes and fens all fall into this category.   An acre of wetland can store up to 1 to 1.5 million gallons of water.  Enviro Girl thinks that’s astonishing–if we would just leave wetlands alone, we’d have no need for retention ponds in most cases.  Wetlands also filter and purify water flowing into streams, lakes, rivers and oceans and they provide habitat for an amazing array of creature and plant life–everything from reptiles to insects, fungi to ferns.  Without wetlands, water sources would be more polluted and flooding becomes a problem.  In short, wetlands provide many services and resources, but they’re under-appreciated. Continue reading →