Life and Death of the Salt Marsh

This article speaks about the ecological and economic benefits of salt marshes as well as the many issues that conservationist face in their preservation. "Along the eastern coast of North America, from the north were the ice packs grate upon the shore to the tropical mangrove swamps tenaciously holding the land together with a tangle of roots, lies a green ribbon of soft, salty, wet, low lying land, the salt marshes... Unfortunately, in marshes which have been disturbed, dug up, suffocated with loads of trash and fill, poisoned and eroded with the wastes from large cities, there is another smell. Sick marshes smell of hydrogen sulfide, a rotten egg odor. This odor is very faint in a healthy marsh." The writers J & M Teal emphasize on the fact that the deterioration of North America's salt marshes is purely a man made impact. "The dangers to salt marshes stem from human activities, not natural processes. We destroy wetlands and shallow water bottoms directly by dredging, filling, and building. Indirectly we destroy them by pollution. Much of this destruction is simply foolish. The marsh would often had been much more valuable as a marsh than it is in its subsequent desecrated form. The increase in population pressure along the coast will inevitably destroy more and more of the frail marsh estuarine system. We do not propose the preservation of marshes simply for the sake of their preservation. Instead, we regard them in light of their benefit of marshes will accrue to everyone, not only those who venture onto the surface of marshes but to fishermen along the coast and to consumers of fishery products who may live far inland. Some destruction is inevitable. Even for those marshes preserved as wildlife areas, an access must be constructed so that people who want to enjoy these pieces of nature can do so. Roads must be built to the marshes, along the edges of marshes, and to impoundments that are designed for mosquito control and waterfowl hunting. Also, building roads to boat-launching ramps so that the network of creeks and rivers in the wetlands can be enjoyed is not only a convenience but a preservative: damage to the marshes will be less if adequate access is provided from the waterside." This can be extremely difficult since developmental pressures usually outweigh the benefits of preservation in short term. "whatever method is used to preserve marshes, it must include safeguards against the increased pressures to develop because of the ever increasing population. There have been too many cases in which the last land in the town, land reserved for park and playground, has been diverted for industrial use. The diversion occurred because the industry threatened to move to another town or even another state if it were not allowed to secure the land. This sort of corporate blackmail is hard to withstand and will inevitably bring pressures on organizations controlling the marshes. Pressure even comes from the state officials who are trying to encourage industries to come to their area by offering filled marsh for building. The battle between the forces of development and conservation need to be won only once by the developers but must be fought and won every year for conservation to triumph."

Citations:
Life and Death of the Salt Marsh
by: John Teal and Mildred Teal

Picture:
http://saltmarshlife.com/