 One minute!

 Hydric soils  Anaerobic; grey in color (lacks O 2 to turn Fe particles red)  Hydrophilic plants  Bladderwart  Sedges, rushes, reeds  Hydrology  Standing water at least two weeks of the year

 Wetlands vs. rivers –  Slower water  More plant life  More shallow  May be seasonal/ephe meral

bogs and fens of the northeastern and north- central states and Alaska wet meadows or wet prairies in the Midwest prairie potholes like the Katy Prairie playa lakes of the southwest and Great Plains bottomland hardwood swamps of the south tundra wetlands of Alaska. Coastal salt marshes or tidal marshes

 Louisiana's coastal marshes produce an annual commercial fish and shellfish harvest that amounted to 1.2 billion pounds worth $244 million in 1991.

More than half of all U.S. adults (98 million) hunt, fish, birdwatch or photograph wildlife. They spend a total of $59.5 billion annually. Painters and writers continue to capture the beauty of wetlands on canvas and paper, or through cameras, and video and sound recorders.

 Historically, they were considered “wastelands”  Development  Agriculture

Half of the original wetlands have been destroyed!

 Restoration projects in our area.

 Sediment  Oxygen demanding wastes  Acids  Plant nutrients (nitrates/phosphates)

Wastewater is initially treated in an underground primary and secondary treatment system (SANTEC Model SC- 26K) before being pumped to the tertiary system. Eight of the treatment cells were planted with a variety of broad- and narrow-leaved emergent plants, and six of the cells were planted with three species of woody plants. Capacity of the system in 1994 was 6,800 galloons per day and, when plants matured, final capacity was 13,800 gallons per day.

 The Katy Prairie The Katy Prairie