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Wetlands have gotten a bad rap for a long time. Think of these sayings: swamped with work, bogged down. Even the bogeyman may have come from a bog.
But words aren’t the worst part. What’s really hurt wetlands is how people see them: as mosquito-infested, disease-ridden, worthless pieces of half land, half water. For a long time, most people thought that the best thing you could do with a wetland was drain it. Then you could plant crops on it. Or pave it, or build on it. Human actions have probably destroyed over half of the original wetlands in the lower 48 states (not including Alaska and Hawaii).
Only within the last 30 years have people begun to see how important wetlands are to the way the world works. But battles are still being fought. Some want to preserve and restore the wetlands, but others think this idea stands in the way of progress. What good are wetlands? What problems do they face? What can save them?
