Expert Voices - Ducks Unlimited

A World Without Wetlands

When we remove wetlands from the landscape, we lose that natural buffer between storm waters and communities, we lose the pools that recharge our groundwater, and we lose the filters that purify our water sources, not to mention wildlife habitats and recreational opportunities. 

Without wetlands, a watershed’s runoff and its contaminants flow directly into our rivers, lakes, streams, and groundwater, degrading wildlife habitats and polluting our water sources. 

This is not something we think will happen.  This is something that is happening.  A prime example is the “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico at the mouth of the Mississippi River.  Thirty-two states and two Canadian provinces drain water into the Mississippi River, which then drains into the Gulf.  Ideally, wetlands along the Mississippi would protect the river from pollution and contamination. Unfortunately, most of those wetlands no longer exist, and tons of wastewater, pesticides, and nutrients make their way into the river.  This not only causes problems locally; many of these substances can actually travel hundreds of miles to the Gulf of Mexico.  Today, this collection of pollutants has created a “dead zone” the size of New Jersey, where the polluted waters of the Mississippi flow into the Gulf of Mexico.

The root of the problem is nutrients that originated hundreds of miles north, along the Mississippi and its tributaries.  These nutrients are basic elements of life – they exist naturally in the soil and are used on farms to fertilize crops.  But if too many nutrients are deposited in a waterway, they stimulate growth in the form of plankton blooms, and when the plankton dies, it sinks to the bottom and decays.  This decay process uses up the available oxygen, and many marine organisms are either forced to move or suffocate to death. 

The scientific name for this phenomenon is “hypoxia,” and it occurs throughout the United States in over half of the nation’s major estuaries, including the Chesapeake Bay, Long Island Sound, and San Diego Bay.  Wetlands are a major part of the solution to problems like hypoxia, flooding, and degraded water quality and quantity.

Clearly, wetlands are of critical value to this planet and its people.  Unfortunately, many people are still unaware of how important these ecosystems are, and we are still losing wetlands at an alarming rate.  The United States alone has lost more than half of its original wetlands, and continues to lose over 100,000 wetland acres every year. 

With more than a million supporters, Ducks Unlimited is the world’s largest and most effective wetland conservation organization.  Ducks Unlimited is a grassroots, volunteer-based organization.  Since its founding in 1937, Ducks Unlimited has raised $1.6 billion to conserve over10 million acres of wetlands and associated uplands.  DU’s conservation projects occur throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Latin America.  To find out how you can help Ducks Unlimited conserve wetlands, call 1-800-45-DUCKS, or visit our Web site.

The mission of Ducks Unlimited is to fulfill the annual life cycle needs of North American waterfowl by protecting, enhancing, restoring, and managing important wetlands and associated uplands. 

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