Restoring Farmland to Wetlands
by Jeremy Elton Jacquot, Los Angeles on 06.25.07
Perhaps this statement best captures the thrust of a project sponsored by the Wetlands Initiative to restore wetlands in the Midwest: "It's like dialysis for water systems." The 2,600-acre project in Hennepin, Illinois, backed by the Wetlands Initiative and a motley of other major environmental groups, aims to show that restoring wetlands would be a cost-effective, and potentially lucrative, way to filter harmful nitrogen and phosphorus and remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
It would also benefit hunters and wildlife watchers by expanding the habitats for a variety of wetland residents. The project has been unofficially dubbed "nutrient farming."
"We think it's a good investment. We're confident that it'll work," said Richard Lanyon, the district's general superintendent. "We expect the state of Illinois will adopt water quality standards for nutrients and we will be obligated to meet those standards. We know wetlands remove nutrients."
The planners' challenge comes in creating an incentive strong enough to convince enough landowners to go along with the project. Establishing a market of "nutrient credits," through which businesses dumping chemicals into public waterways could compensate for polluting by defraying the clean-up costs, would be a potential solution. In addition, because the wetlands absorb carbon dioxide from the air, carbon credits could also be sold to energy-intensive industries such as power companies.
While not guaranteed to succeed (farmers and other landowners have been notoriously difficult to monitor in the past for similar projects), all agree that more needs to be done to reduce nutrient levels in the public waterways. The Environmental Protection Agency recently mandated state governments to either establish firm water quality standards for phosphorus and nitrogen or adopt proposed federal guidelines.
A similar scheme arranged at a nearby city helped bring back several endangered species and has made the area a popular birdwatcher destination. "It's a tremendous accomplishment. We would love to see this take off all along the Illinois River," said Joyce Blumenshine, a member of the Sierra Club.
Via ::Project Aims To Convert Farmland Into Wetlands (newspaper)
See also: ::AIA/COTE Top Ten Green Projects for 2007, ::Lake Inferior, Soon To Be?, ::Toronto Portlands Redevelopment Ideas Revealed, ::Duck Hunters & Tree Huggers Have A Common Interest
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for someone who grew up near swampland bordering tobacco fields in the Farmington River Valley of Connecticut (land valued for its world-renowned broad-leaf shade tobacco for cigar wrappers), I can say that although creating marshes and swamps and "wetlands" will indeed benefit the environment, I can't say I'd be a happy neighbor to hundreds of millions of newly-hatched mosquitos!
It might be difficult to also enter into an agreement with a company who is currently polluting, to have them purchase "cleanup credits" while not addressing the initial affront to the waterways; the source of pollution! That's like telling a clothing company in China that it's ok to make the river turn bright red (literally) with the dyes from your factory, as long as you install some river filters 100miles downstream. If a company is harming the environment, the should have responsibility to modify their products' lifecycle so that the problem is mitigated before it has impact on the environment to begin with! If a company wants to do the "greater good" well they can then still contribute to a project such as this.
Perhaps the CRITERIA for entering into a project with this organization be that the company has an EXEMPLARY history of environmental stewardship. Then it's a prestigious honor to be a part of wetland reclamation/creation in the community, not just a symbolic "we're helping the environment more than we're hurting it" gesture.
Heaping praise on those who seek to "do the right thing" while they continue to pollute isn't the right course of action. Corporations and their PR departments DO pay attention to what the consumers tell them, so be sure your voice is heard. Don't settle for this kind of "environmental stewardship!"
Dwight, i would say a successful wetland that is biodiverse will have the correct checks and balances to control mosquito populations. Im not saying there will be no mosquito's but there wont be swarm upon swarm. For instance Its common at my house to see 40-50 dragonflies attacking a spire of mosquito's. Sure it sucks to get bitten but its a part of LIFE
Being next to farmland where you lived i wonder if the interference from it damaged the swamp enough to affect its biodiversity.
With West Nile, yellow fever, Louisianna encephalitis, dengue, and even malaria in some parts of the US one may wonder if getting "bitten is part of LIFE". These are the fears that drive public health programs to apply larvicides and ULV adulticides.
Ewoden, True but, humans putting themselves above every other living thing at all costs can have an effect much the same even if less tangible.
Mosquito's are low on the food chain, destroy / pollute the habitat you kill off the predators and the mosquito's, mosquito's will be back before the predators and laying eggs with nothing to eat them.
I love the Connecticut River bottomland in the Pioneer valley. I don't remember too many mosquitos, but I only visit at certain times of the year. I remember all the dwellings (in Hatfield) being hundreds of yards from the river, owing to historical flooding.
You will never defeat the mosquito. He was here before us, and will be here after us. You just have to avoid the areas they live in.
Perhaps we should set aside areas and mark them out as mosquito-endemic, and bar access to them during certian seasons (like they do with the Great Swamp in NJ). This would stabilize mosquito poplulations in the broader region, minimize their population swings and migration to populated areas, encourage populations of natural predators, and prevent the breeding of super-mosquitos by the application of more and more pesticides.
2 cents: This project seems to be taking part in rural farm country, where less people live. Certainly there are small towns along the way, but I am sure keeping these things in the most rural areas would help mitigate any increase in mosquito populations.
I said that I would give his information to my friends, but that I would go to bat for him.
This would stabilize mosquito poplulations in the broader region, minimize their population swings and migration to populated areas, encourage populations of natural predators, and prevent the breeding of super-mosquitos by the application of more and more pesticides
nice photo
My observation is that they don't stay very long ... and after trying it a few times, they don't bother much at all.