Management of Wetlands

1. Management of Wetlands Chapter 9

2. Previous attempts to management have simply been to drain them or harvest and burn peat. They were often considered wastelands. • The first attempts to manage wetlands began in the early 20th century out of a concern for waterfowl populations (mostly for hunting purposes). • It has taken the disasters such as the Mississippi River flooding in 1993 or Hurricane Katrina to draw attention to the importance of wetlands. • In the developing world, there are few restrictions on pollution or drainage of wetlands.

3. First Law in the US • The Swamp Land Act of 1849 gave control of wetlands and adjacent lands in Louisiana to the state. • The Federal Government did not want the hassle and thus left it up to the state to handle it. • Louisiana, in turn, sold this land very cheaply (sometimes for cents an acre) to rid itself of the problem.

4. Those private owners lobbied the federal and state government take measure to protect them from floods. • This contributed to the further distruction of wetlands. • It prevents us from sampling today from many areas adjacent to Judge Perez Road and the MRGO. • The federal government is today paying dearly to buy these lands back.

5. Work Progress Administration • A depression era program designed to give people jobs. • Some of those jobs involved manually draining wetlands. • Mosquito control • Highway development (both interstate 10 and 55 for example) • levees

6. Hydrologic Modifications • Flood Control- legislation passed in the 1920’s and 1930’s allowed for the Army Corp of Engineers to construct levees. • This drained some land nearby creating farmland for farmers. • These farmers then demanded additional drainage. • The Intercoastal waterway extends from Florida to Houston. Dredged soils were used often to build nearby roads, thus further degrading wetlands. • Industrial Activity- canals dredged to obtain access to oil fields.

7. Wildlife Management • Slow drawdowns of salt marshes in Louisiana encourage seedling growth ducks feed on. • Fall and winter flooding encourage dabbling ducks to winter there. • The idea is not to have stagnant water in marshes. Wetlands most often work better in cycles. • Wetland Engineers can sometimes open up areas for other vegetation to come in. They also affect water levels.