More ponds and less wet meadows is the message from a report issued last September on the trends of wetlands. 

And trying to replace wetlands with man-made wetlands doesn’t seem to be the whole answer: “Because wetland acreage losses outpaced gains, mitigation, reestablishment or creation of wetlands has not been “in-kind” to replace wetland type or area.”

In short, if we are to appreciate the full complement of life saving services that wetlands provide, we need to do a better job at protecting those that we have and to make room for natural processes like beaver colonization to increase wetlands in our floodplains.

The picture above is a section of Gravelly Brook in Willowdale State Forest where beavers transformed a red maple swamp into a sedge meadow.  Unfortunately the beavers of Willowdale have disappeared and are no longer an active and important influence on the natural disturbance of wetlands which provide the appropriate mix of vegetation for many state-listed rare species.