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What are the benefits of wetlands?
For the Client
Increases significantly the certainly of costs associated with wetland impacts
Eliminates land cost associated with wetland creation
Eliminates the ongoing responsibility, liability, and reporting required to ensure the survival of created on-site wetlands in perpetuity
Eliminates potential time delays
Allows attention to be focused on the project instead of becoming wetland experts
Eliminates water rights and issues associated with wetland creation
Eliminates potential time delays
Eliminates ecological failure (90% of all on-site mitigation fail per ACOE)
For the Environment and the Community
Visually appealing
Provide nesting sites for birds
Support biological diversity
Create critical component of the aquatic food chain
Migrating birds use wetlands as rest and nesting sites
Provide shade and cooler temperatures
Water use is non consumptive
Provide a filtering system for water borne pollutants
Cool, clean water and critical habitat for fish and amphibians
Improved water quality though physical, chemical and biological cleansing
Acts as a sponge to hold water and slow runoff
Provide corridors for migration of wildlife
Reduce weeds
Visually attractive for locals and tourists
Management of green house gases*
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80% of all birds species in the Rocky Mountains breed in wetland/riparian habitats. Our goal at Animas River Wetlands is to create more wetland/riparian habitats. |
Water storage
Wetlands store water and slowly release it over time. In the San Juan Mountains, snow melt produces a large quantity of water runoff in the spring and early summer. Wetlands help distribute the water throughout the growing season. This slower delivery of water is especially important in maintaining groundwater levels and higher stream flows during dry periods.
Flood reduction
Floods and erosion often damage property, roads and crops. Wetlands slow down water, they help reduce erosion, flooding and the damages that may result.
Water filtration
Wetlands filter sediment and pollutants from water. Suspended sediment drops out of slowly flowing water in wetlands. Dissolved substances like pesticides, herbicides, and excess nutrients are taken up by the soil microorganisms and plant roots.
Climate
Wetlands store carbon and prevent it from being released into the atmosphere as greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide. According to The Ramsar Bureau, "wetlands may store as much as 40% of global terrestrial carbon; peat lands and forested wetlands are particularly important carbon sinks."
Let Nature Take It's Course-Columbus Dispatch
Bio diversity and Wildlife Habitat
Wetlands are home to deer, elk, water fowl, songbirds, frogs,dragon flies and provide a temporary home for migrating birds.
Wetlands are nurseries for native species. Birds, fish and some mammals need wetlands to survive. Aquatic insects provide food for birds and other wetland creatures such as snails, spiders and beetles. Wetland life, from unseen by the human eye to the largest bird and tree, is all interdependent.
Source: Wetlands of the San Juan Mountain Regions
-Information and Guidance for Landowners and Other Residents
Wetlands mitigation banking can provide more cost-effective mitigation and reduce uncertainly and delays for qualified projects.
Banking eliminates the temporal losses of wetland functions.
Consolidation of numerous small, isolated or fragmented mitigation projection into a single large parcel may have great ecological benefit.
Mitigation banking can bring scientific and planning expertise and financial resources together, thereby increasing the likelihood of success.
Some information provide by Mountain Studies Institute.
For more information
Ducks Unlimited - For more information about Ducks Unlimited
The Ramsar Bureau - For more information