Chicago is a city built on wetlands. Photo: Carolyn Duckworth 2003

Changing Attitudes

Our positive attitude about wetlands has developed mostly in the last half of the twentieth century. Prior to that time, many people in the United States considered wetlands to be dangerous, dark, damp, horrible places full of snakes that can kill you and mosquitoes that will spread diseases. Think of the name of a big wetland in southern Virginia: The Great Dismal Swamp. Today this is a National Wildlife Refuge revered by birders and botanists as a haven for wildlife and wild flora. But in the 1700s, it was described as "a horrible desert, the foul damps ascend without ceasing, corrupt the air and render it unfit for respiration."

With attitudes like this, it's no wonder that Americans-like many people around the world-dredged, drained, and filled in as many wetlands as we could. We made these lands into farms, pastures, towns, and cities. Today, when you walk many of the streets of major cities such as Chicago, Boston, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C., you are walking upon filled-in wetlands.

Camas flower. Photo: © Carolyn Duckworth 2004

Another Attitude
Native people of the Americas did not share this view of wetlands. Archeological evidence indicates that Mayans built raised fields in wetlands of Central America; the water would seep up into the raised beds to moisten the crops. The Anishinabe (the tribe's preferred name, instead of Chippewa or Ojibway) live in a land of water, in and around Lake Superior and the other Great Lakes. They gather food of the wetlands, such as cranberries, and every fall they harvest wild rice, which can grow only in healthy, clean wetlands.

Scientists think that people began occupying the Columbia River Basin of Idaho and Washington more than 12,000 years ago. Ancestors of the Nez Perce traveled to the Palouse region where they harvested camas bulbs that grow in seasonal wetlands of this fertile grassland. The Nez Perce and many other tribes continued this migration; even today they will travel to the camas meadows of the Columbia Basin for this staple. The Coeur d'Alene tribe consider the water potato so important that they celebrate it in a tribal holiday. Native people harvested other wetland plants such as alder, lovage, and horsetail. They also hunted animals of the wetlands, such as ducks and beaver.

An art class spends the day drawing wetland creatures. Photo: © Carolyn Duckworth 2004

Changing Attitudes
From farmers to power-brokers, many people now appreciate wetlands. Science has led this attitude adjustment. Since the mid-twentieth century, biologists, hydrologists, geologists, and other scientists have been studying wetlands to understand how they function, and what they contribute to ecosystems, and to human health and economy.

In this spirit, several laws have been passed to protect these valuable assets. Furthermore, a new holiday called "World Wetland Day" has been declared to celebrate the special attributes of wetlands.

Learn more about laws protecting wetlands.

World Wetland Day!
A Day to Celebrate Wetlands.

Mark your calendar for February 2nd, World Wetlands Day. This holiday celebrates a worldwide treaty to protect wetlands. Log on to www.ramsar.org to find out about activities for the next celebration. Typically, children can be involved in art contests, community clean-up days, media interviews, and letters to editors or newspaper articles.

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